“Senator, if you are to be of any use to us, there’s one thing you must understand,” the late David Ervine told George Mitchell on his arrival to Northern Ireland: “We would drive 100 miles out of our way to receive an insult.”

Twenty years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Senator Mitchell went a few thousand miles out of his way to come back to the place where it all happened. He certainly didn’t receive an insult, but he did receive a standing ovation. Delivering a keynote talk at Queen’s University Belfast, the gratitude from the audience for his role as Chair of the All Party Talks was palpable.

You can tell that the Senator doesn’t see his work in Northern Ireland as a simply a few illustrious lines on his CV. His connection to this place is a deeply personal one.

 

Gratitude

“It is I who should be grateful,” he said. Referring to his own Irish heritage and the fact that his father was never able to visit the homeland of his parents, he explained: “You’ve filled an inner void I never knew existed.”

Later in the day, Senator Mitchell reprised his role as chairman, this time moderating a panel of three former statesmen: Bertie Ahern, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, his old boss.

“The real heroes are the people of Northern Ireland,” the Senator had observed. But he also noted that it took individual acts of leadership to lend real momentum to the peace process. His own appointment as Special Envoy to Northern Ireland by Bill Clinton reflected the first time a US president made peace in Northern Ireland a primary objective.

There were two things the United States could do to help. “We could maximise the rewards and minimise the risks of those seeking peace,” recalled President Clinton. He wanted to “listen with a friendly, caring ear to try and close the gaps” between the local parties, facilitating the process as an honest broker.

 

Success

So, was it worth the effort? Has the Good Friday Agreement been a success? The three former leaders were unequivocal.

Bertie Ahern pointed to some stark statistics. During the Troubles there had been some 50,000 violent episodes, including 15,000 bombs and 28,000 shootings. Visiting Belfast’s Titanic Quarter a few weeks ago, he reflected on the transformation of life in the city two decades later: “You feel like you’re getting somewhere.”

His British counterpart was similarly upbeat, albeit acknowledging the ongoing impasse at Stormont. “Don’t compare things to where we’d ideally like to be,” warned Tony Blair. “Where we are may not be where we want to be, but it’s a world better than where we were.”

President Clinton took an even broader view, drawing on global trends. While identity politics and tribalism pose a threat to democracy in many countries where it was once taken for granted, he argued that the Good Friday Agreement represents a “work of genius.” It provides “real democracy” by accommodating different identities in carefully designed institutions. “At no time did people call for democracy itself to be abandoned,” he added.

 

Looking ahead

Turning to the future, there was some apprehension about the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland. Tony Blair drew widespread applause from the audience when he repeated his “passionate opposition” to the UK leaving the European Union. The UK and Ireland had been brought closer together as member states since 1973, he argued, creating the need to find new ways of maintaining close cooperation.

Bertie Ahern agreed this would be difficult, but suggested that, rather than being an obstacle to Brexit, the Good Friday Agreement could provide a solution to these challenges. The North-South and East-West bodies created by the Agreement could, for example, be ‘beefed up’ to preserve the close relations built up across these islands over recent decades.

All three former leaders expressed their hope that a devolved government would be restored soon, but emphasised the need for leaders to compromise.

Politicians of today “must not let the past decide the future,” warned Blair. Bertie Ahern stressed the importance of meeting citizens’ basic expectations. “What makes life better for Joe and Mary?” he asked.

Looking into the audience, Bill Clinton pointed to the DUP’s Arlene Foster and Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald sitting in the same row as each other. “Now we just need to get them to sit beside each other,” he joked, half seriously.

Moving forward, he urged Northern Ireland’s current leaders to reset how they approach politics. “You can’t control whether you win or lose,” he said. They could, however, change how they ‘keep score’.

…

The Good Friday Agreement is a defining part of the legacy of Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern. The fact that each former leader returned to Belfast is a testament to their collective desire for it to be regarded as such.

They very nearly didn’t come. There were concerns that such a visit would be inappropriate and potentially embarrassing, given the continued absence of the power-sharing institutions created by the Good Friday Agreement. Instead, the former leaders embraced the occasion as an opportunity to send a clear message to Northern Ireland’s politicians of 2018, many of whom were in the audience: it’s up to you to make it work.

But more than that, perhaps there was a broader message to the people of Northern Ireland. At a time when we have become so apathetic and disillusioned about local politics, perhaps we might raise our hopes and expectations once more. Perhaps, 20 years after voters overwhelmingly endorsed the Agreement by referendum, the people of Northern Ireland will find a renewed appetite to see it work for them. They are the heroes, after all, and they deserve their reward.

Also published on Medium.