Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend my colleagues, Senators Blaney and McGreehan, on tabling the motion. It is a moment of reflection and renewal that has stirred our hearts and souls in the past 12 months. We all remember the mantra, peace in our time. Coming up to the signing of the Good Friday Agreement 23 years ago, that was something we dreamt about and whispered about. We dared to dream. The world worked with us and the world rejoiced with us when, on that historic day 20 years ago, differences were put aside and we believed we could live in a different world, a world where the people on the island of Ireland could live together, respect one another and share a positive future with a new ethos of tolerance and equality.

We are reminded that peace can never be taken for granted, as we look at what is happening in Northern Ireland now. We cannot spiral back to that dark place of sectarian murders and political discord. That is why the discussion we are having today is so important. The past 23 years has been a period of building trust, developing relationships and changing attitudes. Half a million people have been born on the island of Ireland since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. They have grown up in a different world. We need to ensure we never go back.

I want to give voice to the women in the Good Friday Agreement: Monica McWilliams, Mo Mowlam, Liz O'Donnell and Bríd Rogers. Pat Hume was a tireless supporter. I heard Eileen Paisley speak about the work women did in the background and they were doing it for their children. Seamus Heaney in "The Cure at Troy" wrote:

Human beings suffer

They torture one another

[...]

History says, Don’t hope

On this side of the grave...

But then, once in a lifetime

The longed-for tidal wave

Of justice can rise up,

And hope and history rhyme.

That is what the shared unit for the island of Ireland is all about.