The Good Friday Agreement: A Vision for a New Order in Northern Ireland

Abstract

Harold Wilson said a week is a long time in politics. I have learned since becoming secretary of state for Northern Ireland that some weeks never end. And others, like deadlines, just become extended. I was struck recently by the observation of another elder statesman about the Northern Ireland peace process. At one of many difficult moments he made a speech in Northern Ireland in which he said: I realize full well that we are asking much of the parties of the Assembly to work together in the interests of the whole community in Northern Ireland. But I must tell you quite frankly that, having taken the necessary steps to enable a resumption of the political life of Northern Ireland, the people of Britain will not understand any reluctance to take full advantage of it. I was struck, not because of the words he used, but because this was Edward Heath, speaking in August 1973, as he struggled to create a power-sharing Executive for Northern Ireland. That Executive was duly set up after intensive negotiations at Sunningdale in December 1973, but despite the best efforts of its members, it collapsed in May 1974 in the face of widespread unionist opposition. The intervening years have been cruel. Since the day that Sunningdale fell apart 2,259 men, women and children have been killed in the Troubles. Many thousands more have been injured. And countless people have lost family and friends and lost all hope of any respite. All the result of political failure. For many, memories of 1974 are still fresh. These are anxious days. I recognize the widespread concern that this process is beginning to falter. The people of Northern Ireland like the Good Friday Agreement, they are proud of their Executive. They like having local voices in charge of local affairs and they want that to continue. It is our duty to make it work, and that of all those who signed up to the Agreement. The prime minister and the Taoiseach, my Irish colleagues and I are doing everything in our power to find a way through these difficulties. But, if there are no clear changes for the better to give confidence that decommissioning will happen, I will put on hold the operation of the institutions in seven days’ time.