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Several events will take place in Northern Ireland as people reflect on the importance of the Good Friday Agreement. As the 25th anniversary falls on April 10, many will associate the holy day of Good Friday with the diplomatic feat that largely ended 30 years of bloodshed. Victims of the riots will gather on Co Down to watch the sunrise as they remember the deal that changed the future of the region and became a model for resolving global conflicts.
The Dublin Unitarian Church in the Irish capital will hold its annual service to commemorate all those who died in the conflict and in the times that followed.
The agreement continues to be the road map towards a dignified future for all
More than 3,600 names of people killed in Northern Ireland between 1966 and 2019 will be read from noon to 3pm and will include journalist Lyra McKee.
The anniversary of the landmark deal comes as Northern Ireland's power-sharing institutions continue to crumble, in a DUP protest against post-Brexit trade deals.
Despite a new framework agreed between the EU and the UK government earlier this year that sought to change the way the protocol would work, Stormont has not returned.
Next week, US President Joe Biden will visit Belfast on a trip to mark a quarter decade since the US-brokered peace deal.
The following week, other events will take place involving former US President Bill Clinton and his wife, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Reflecting on the reaction to the GFA in 1998, Gerry Murphy, assistant general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, said the deal was still the way forward.
He said: “When Congress responded to the agreement signed on April 10, 1998, it said that 'Congress believes that, overall, it represents an important step toward peace and reconciliation.
“In the current unprecedented circumstances, Congress is only recommending that union members vote Yes in the May 22 referendums. »
“The support we promised then is still valid. The agreement continues to be the road map towards a dignified future for all.
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