Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I am old enough to remember the worst days of the conflict. I knew people who were killed, maimed and imprisoned, with communities and futures destroyed. Individuals or members of a Government or political party who threaten, by their actions or inaction, to bring us back to those days need their heads examined.

I was secretary of the Sinn Féin delegation to the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation some four years before the Good Friday Agreement. One of my remaining impressions of that period was the reticence and awkwardness between delegations about talking to each other outside the room, and this was between those who showed up and took part. Political unionism was represented by the Alliance Party and there was a representative who spoke reflecting loyalist prisoners. I also took part in talks and negotiations in Dublin, the North and Downing Street.

If there was one thing I would go back and change, it would be to inject a greater focus on reconciliation. We built a peace process, a process that is still going, but sometimes it feels like we are further apart than when we started. We spent a lot of time discussing how to end conflict without examining the core causes of the conflict. There is still so much inequality and poverty that drives a wedge between communities, hampering any efforts to build the peace into something more.

Deprivation west of the Bann is as relevant today as it was 30 years ago. The lack of investment the North has seen for generations continues to haunt every step forward. Poverty and inequality will always be the greatest stumbling block to change. It holds us back and means the peace walls have only grown higher in some people’s minds since 1998. That slowness of change is possibly my greatest regret when it comes to the Good Friday Agreement.

Something that should not go without mention is the role of some very important strong women in getting the Good Friday Agreement over the line. I remember Liz O’Donnell in particular, a self-assured woman from Dublin, being the target of some ire from unionists. They hated her because she was a Minister from Dublin and because she was a woman. Mo Mowlam, a woman suffering from cancer, was an integral part in breaking down barriers between delegations. I remember her going from room to room in Hillsborough Castle late at night while people were trying to get what sleep they could on chairs or on floors. She got curtains somewhere and gave them out as blankets. I remember the crucial efforts of Lucilita Bhreatnach, Bairbre de Brún, the late Siobhan O'Hanlon, Rita O’Hare and many other women within our own delegation. Everyone had their part to play and nobody should be airbrushed from history. Peace came at a price for so many, but we need to build collectively on the sacrifice of so many.

See this speech in context