THE SIGNIFICANCE OF the historic Good Friday Agreement is to be remembered on today, 25 years to the day after it was signed.
The agreement was signed on 10 April 1998, but most commemorative events took place on Good Friday, the holy day the landmark peace deal was agreed.
The anniversary of the diplomatic achievement comes as the powersharing institutions it paved the way for remain collapsed, in a protest by the DUP over post-Brexit trading arrangements.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stressed the bravery and compromise exhibited by the leaders who secured the Agreement as he called for power-sharing to swiftly return to Northern Ireland.
Sunak noted the “difficult decisions” taken and “political imagination” displayed to end the Troubles.
“So we must get on with the business of governance,” he said in a statement today, ahead of talks to get Stormont running again intensifying.
Sunak will host US President Joe Biden in Northern Ireland to commemorate the event, which takes place despite the assembly key to the deal still not sitting.
Despite a fresh framework struck between the EU and the UK Government earlier this year that looked to tweak the operation of the Protocol, Stormont has not returned.
Speaking yesterday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that he would “intensify” his engagement with Sunak in a push to restore the powersharing institutions – based on a lesson he learned from the peace negotiations.
“One thing I’ve been struck by watching all the documentaries around the history of the Good Friday Agreement was the extent to which the Taoiseach and the Prime Minister had to be in lock-step, and now that we have the agreement on the protocol, I think it’s possible to do that,” he said.
Police in Northern Ireland have warned of the potential for dissident republicans attacking officers in Derry today.
Senior detectives said “strong” intelligence had indicated that public disorder could be used to launch attacks on officers in the city – though they added they had no indication this was a result of the GFA anniversary.
The heightened security risk also comes ahead of Biden’s visit to Belfast.
The following week, further events will be held which are to be attended by former US president Bill Clinton and his wife, former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say