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Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern lists the continued instability of Northern Ireland's political institutions as one of his biggest regrets from the Good Friday Agreement talks. The negotiations were difficult and also created personal difficulties for Mr. Ahern with the death of his mother. As the political leader of the Republic of Ireland at the time, he was instrumental in the multi-party process to end decades of violence in Northern Ireland known as The Troubles.
One of the agreed measures was the establishment of a devolved government for Northern Ireland based on a power-sharing system between nationalists and unionists.
However, the new institutions created under the deal have repeatedly collapsed, most recently when the Democratic Unionist Party vetoed and overturned the rebate in protest of post-Brexit trade deals for Northern Ireland.
Addressing the Palestinian Authority as part of a series of talks to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Ahern said the possibility of institutions collapsing is an undemocratic issue that should not be possible and "should not have happened." .
“It is in everyone's interest that there is no mechanism to overthrow an entire parliament,” he said.
He said there was a need for sustainability and called for a review of the "choppy" institutions for next year.
Ahern added that Northern Ireland's divided society "is going to need tender love and care for a long time to come."
Reflecting on other regrets, Ahern said the fact that the deal did not speed up the dismantling of paramilitary weapons was close to his heart.
"We should have done a more orderly job on this because it went on for five years and caused endless problems," he said.
He said it caused a lot of friction and was probably why a key negotiator in the talks, then Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble, lost his seat in parliament in 2005.
He also said that "more should have been done" about the problems inherited from The Troubles, which he said "has persisted".
"I think it hasn't been given enough attention," he said, recalling a recent meeting with the Wave victims' group.
Asked what he was most proud of, Ahern said the agreed changes to Ireland's constitution "worked out well".
The Irish public voted to amend its constitution to remove an explicit territorial claim to Northern Ireland, but retained the goal of uniting the two jurisdictions under democratic consent.
He also noted that the demilitarization and downsizing of the British armed forces in Northern Ireland was giving people "a sense of freedom again".
The Northern Ireland Police Service has also been reformed in a bid to ensure greater representation from the wider community, which Ahern described as a "really huge success".
Reflecting on his role in the negotiations, Ahern said he began planning with Sir Tony Blair when they were both opposition leaders in 1995, allowing them to move "very quickly" in 1997 when they were elected heads of the Irish and British governments. .
He said his priority was to stop the violence and "put an end to this chaos of thousands of deaths" by fostering trust and a sense of humanity among the multi-party participants in the talks who were sometimes not speaking to each other. No. .
However, Ahern acknowledged that bringing paramilitary-linked Republican Sinn Fein into the process drove others out, in what "could have been a deadly moment."
He described the DUP's decision to withdraw from talks after Sinn Fein joined as a "big disappointment" but thanked Trimble for staying in talks as a union representative.
"It was a great moment. The talks process started," he said.
He said that beyond ending the violence there was an "endless list of big issues" to negotiate.
Progress has been frustrating and slow, with flashes of violence leading to the temporary withdrawal of Sinn Fein and the loyalist, paramilitary-linked Ulster Democratic Party from the process.
"It became March before we could really figure out how we're going to crack all these nuts," he said.
But suddenly, US Senator George Mitchell, who had chaired the cross-party talks, called for a resolution in April, leaving only weeks to conclude negotiations.
"It was a bit of a shock for everyone, but looking back it was probably a good thing," Ahern said.
The last week of negotiations brought many challenges, including the death of Mr Ahern's mother, Julia, following a heart attack.
Remember to go back and forth between meetings with many leaders and intensive care.
"I remember going to mass at the Gardiner Street Church and having to go straight back to the Dail to continue the meetings, and with Clinton and then back to the morgue and the move," he said.
He said there was no alternative: "I couldn't opt out, it never happened."
Ahern said one of the difficulties was when negotiations on the proposed new joint North-South institutions "entered into a crisis situation."
He said he "almost knocked the whole thing down."
He said Mitchell and his officials told him the unionists would walk out of the talks if he "didn't get up and deal with them."
"So I had to go up early on Wednesday morning and first meet with Tony Blair, then meet with David Trimble to give reassurances, then meet with Sinn Fein and SDLP so they know where we are," he said.
He then had to return for his mother's funeral at 4 pm, before resuming negotiations.
"It was a difficult moment, but I was at the center of the talks, so there was no alternative," he said.
Eventually, with an agreement reached, the parties campaigned for referendums in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Ahern said the campaign south of the border had drawn "extraordinary" support.
More than 70% of Northern Ireland voters and 90% of Republic of Ireland voters supported the deal and changes to the constitution.
"It was a fabulous result," he said.
Overall, the former Irish prime minister said he thought the deal had come to a "good conclusion".
"It means that the Good Friday Agreement is the will of the people and cannot be changed," he said.
“Those who say they are opposed, well, they have to present their own proposals and get them voted on.
"Meanwhile, the Good Friday Agreement is the gospel."
PA wire
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