Niall Ó Donnghaile (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Go raibh maith agaibh a chairde agus bainim fáilte is fiche a chuir roimh an tUasal Ahern. I welcome Mr. Ahern to the House. Like other colleagues, I do not want to just commend his address but I also want to take the opportunity on a personal level to thank him for his role in helping to secure, with others, the Good Friday Agreement. As Mr. Ahern was speaking, I thought about the period around Christmas 1997. We all have memories of conflict in the preceding decades, if not centuries, in Ireland. I remember that period very well. I remember the murder of Terry Óg Enright while he worked as a doorman to earn a few extra pounds for his young family. I remember my mother coming downstairs as we were getting ready for school and insisting that we would be getting a taxi to school that day because she was afraid for us walking into the city centre in our school uniforms, leaving the vulnerable nationalist area where we lived. That experience of fear was shared by so many families across so many communities. Terry Óg Enright lost his life on 11 January 1998, I think it was. It is hard to believe that it was just a couple of months later, in April 1998, that the agreement was signed and everything that brought about.

My colleagues on the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement will have heard me tell this story far too many times. One of the images that strikes my mind from that day is the fact that it was snowing. This was unusual for April, even in an Irish context. We were watching the television, waiting on word to emerge from Castle Buildings. It was a fast day so we were eating chip sandwiches. There were no big dinners that day in the house. I remember Mr. Ahern emerging in his black tie and the impact that had on people right across the board on a very human level, given the loss that he had experienced over the course of those final hours.

There was also a great deal of excitement. We had relatives, friends and neighbours who were political prisoners. There was a great deal of nervousness and uncertainty. As I mentioned, we were from a vulnerable community that had had to rely on itself in the first instance, to defend itself, over many years. In the midst of all of this, there was a great deal of hope for the future and what could be achieved for everyone.

The Good Friday Agreement brought permanent peace to Ireland, albeit, in those initial years, an imperfect peace. It did so because it dealt with the issues at the heart of the conflict and set an all-Ireland institutional framework for their resolution, the North-South Ministerial Council, the Executive and Assembly and the east-west arrangements. These frameworks are based on respect, inclusion, equality and human rights. It also provides, as other colleagues have mentioned, for a referendum North and South to allow the people of Ireland to decide the constitutional future of Ireland. These novel arrangements are crucial and are making an invaluable contribution to reconciliation, respect and dialogue between the unionist and nationalist people of this island. This dialogue is ongoing and progress is being made despite all of the challenges. The all-Ireland referendum in 1998 was the correct response to consolidating peace at that time. An all-Ireland referendum, will in its time, contribute to resolving the constitutional question on the same basis of peace as the referendum did in 1998. It is important and appropriate that Mr. Ahern is here in the Seanad to address us today. However, it is important that the Dáil and Seanad play their part in the ongoing debate about this country's constitutional future.

It is crucial that the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement are re-established. It is also crucial that the seismic and historic results from last week's local government elections in the North and the message they send, are not only recognised and understood, but delivered upon. While the Good Friday Agreement is a punctuation point in our history, it is by no means a lán stad, a full stop. As Gerry Adams said recently, it was an agreement to a journey. Here we have rightly marked the last 25 years of that journey. It has been a challenging one with its ups and downs, but I for one, am glad you all decided to make it together.

The key now will be to chart the next part of the journey and the course ahead for all of us. The Good Friday Agreement points the way for constitutional change and a new and agreed Ireland. It is time we planned for that. The only thing I would disagree with Mr. Ahern on is just a word.Mr. Ahern would expect me to say this. I do not disagree with any of the sentiments, just the one word. From those negotiations he will know how important words can be. The issue of constitutional change is no longer a dream. It is not something to be dreamt of or to be slept on; it is something to work for and plan for. It is a project that we can win and, like the Good Friday Agreement, win for us all.