Lisa Chambers (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The former Taoiseach, Mr. Bertie Ahern is very welcome to the Chamber. It is a pleasure and a privilege for us to hear, in fascinating detail, his recounting of the lead-up to the Good Friday Agreement, the behind-the-scenes conversations and all of the detail which went into delivering what he delivered. It is important that we mark the 25th anniversary of the referendum, which took place 25 years ago yesterday. It was an all-island vote and a democratic endorsement by the Irish people of the Good Friday Agreement. We are delighted the former Taoiseach has chosen the Seanad as the place to put on the record all of the work which he and many others whom he has recounted did in achieving peace on the island of Ireland.

It is clear that after many decades of conflict, it was hugely significant to get to a point where everybody could get around the table and agreement could be reached. As Mr. Ahern said, it may have seemed simple once they got there but getting there was by no means simple. It is obvious that it took understanding and listening and that those around the table represented the people whom they represented and their communities, but that there was also a facilitation of different views and a stepping into each other's shoes to understand what the other needed.It was also quite obvious during those negotiations that it was not about the negotiators themselves, as personal issues were parked, but about achieving peace on the island and an end to conflict. The one thing that everyone agreed on from the start was that the violence had to end.

I was struck when Mr. Ahern spoke about the impact that he felt social media might have had on those negotiations if it were around at the time. He once remarked that if Twitter had existed then, we may not have had a peace agreement. That is a very good point to make and it reminds us of the different political environment that we operate in today. We should bemoan the fact that it might be difficult to achieve such compromises and agreements in future because of the far more aggressive, confrontational and acrimonious political environment we now operate in.

My understanding is that there were four distinct elements to what was achieved and where we are today. First, the parties had to design a peace agreement that they felt could actually be agreed upon. To do that, they had to step into the shoes of one another and understand each other's different perspectives. Ultimately, everybody had to want peace and that was very obvious. Second, the parties had to compromise to reach agreement. Compromising takes courage and is something of which to be proud. It is not something that one should every shirk away from. At the same time, everybody had to give something and nobody achieved everything that they wanted. Very importantly, the peace needed to be maintained and it will always be a work in progress. It is both remarkable and significant that we have made it to the 25th anniversary and we want to make it to the next 25 years and beyond. Brexit and the collapse in power-sharing have had an impact but we will get through that and are doing so now.

Finally, to move forward and assure the future of the peace, we must resolve the legacy issues for peace and reconciliation. We must re-examine the relationships between North, the South, the UK, Ireland and the EU. There has to be an all-island focus on maintaining the peace agreement.