If attacks are carried out 'in the glare of publicity, their effect is maximised' says former chief of the general staff Lord Dannatt - adding 'that's why, quite sensibly, security levels in NI have been raised'. 📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233
It was a seismic political deal that brought an end to 30 years of violence and strife.On its 25th anniversary, Sky News examines its legacy.WAITING FOR A BREAKTHROUGH"Carry on, carry on, can you hear the people singing? Carry on, carry on, peace will come again."
I’ll never forget the expression on the face of the then Northern Ireland Secretary, Mo Mowlam, as she stepped out of the talks to join the singing. The friendly rivalry on air did not reflect the camaraderie behind the scenes, with each news network taking it in turn to do the pizza run. She used rather colourful language with party leaders when they were slow to compromise and on one occasion, gave my cameraman the two fingers when we had to do a second take of a question during an interview.
Flanked by the British and Irish prime ministers, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern, President Clinton’s peace envoy, Senator George Mitchell, who had chaired the talks for nearly four years, uttered the most significant 19 words I have ever reported. It significantly reduced violence in Northern Ireland, bringing the number of deaths down from around 3,000 during The Troubles to fewer than 200 afterwards.
The agreement codified in law that people from both communities had equal rights after years of discrimination.And it stipulated that Northern Ireland would remain a part of the UK, only to be changed by a referendum vote. It was carried out by the"Real IRA" - a splinter of the original group that didn't agree with the ceasefire.
"A small number of people remain determined to cause harm to our communities through acts of politically motivated violence," they said. "We needed an end to the conflict and this was the best deal that he could obtain. It didn’t give him everything he wanted. It didn’t give anyone everything that they wanted but that’s the nature of negotiation and compromise."
Four years later, the IRA decommissioned weapons and eight years later, the DUP’s Rev Ian Paisley was governing alongside his lifelong adversary, Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness, a former IRA commander.But power-sharing does not come naturally in a divided society and a quarter of a century on, the devolved government collapses on a regular basis.
Unionists achieved the principle of consent - that Northern Ireland would remain part of the UK until a majority voted otherwise. Nationalists achieved the power-sharing they had long campaigned for.
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