Former US senator George Mitchell has urged Stormont politicians to act with the “courage and wisdom” of their predecessors who negotiated the Belfast Agreement.
In a keynote address delivered at Queen’s University Belfast – his first public address in three years – the man who chaired the negotiations that led to the landmark peace deal said he had come to “sound that bell one more time”.
The North has been without a functioning government for more than a year due to the DUP’s refusal to re-enter the power sharing institutions over its ongoing opposition to post-Brexit trading arrangements.
On the opening day of the three-day conference marking the 25th anniversary of the peace accord that brought an end to the Troubles, Mr Mitchell acknowledged that the “the people of Northern Ireland continue to wrestle with their doubts, their differences, their disagreements”.
Majority of people in Northern Ireland say Belfast Agreement needs reform
Biden’s visit to Ireland aimed at marking Good Friday Agreement but it is also a very personal one
Putting peace on the right track: the Peace Train and civil society in Northern Ireland
Belfast Agreement is the darling of Remainers and poison to Brexiteers
But he said it was “unmistakably clear” they do not want to return to violence. “Not now. Not ever,” he added to loud applause.
Addressing more than 1,100 delegates made of global, political and civic leaders, at the university’s Whitla Hall, Mr Mitchell appealed directly to the “current and future leaders of Northern Ireland”.
“There is much in your history and in your politics that divides you. But there also is much that can bring you together, that can inspire you to continue what your predecessors began a quarter century ago ... I know that each of your parties, like all political parties in the world, have some of what I call the one hundred percenters.
“They want everything their way, all the time. To them, any compromise is a sign of weakness But I say to you that reasoned, principled compromise is essential in divided societies, and reflects a belief in democratic values. That we are all in this together.
“There is great depth in recognising that the only way to help us emerge from the rubble of conflict is that we must learn to understand one another.
“Facing the reality of the future, rather than clinging to the myths of the past, takes strength and courage and vision. Those we honour today showed those qualities a quarter of a century ago.”
He added: “The answer is not perfection, or permanence. It is now, as it was then, for the current and future leaders of Northern Ireland to act with courage and vision, as their predecessors did twenty-five years ago.
“To find workable answers to the daily problems of the present. To preserve peace.”
In a deeply personal speech, the 89-year-old said he was hospitalised with acute leukaemia three years ago but felt he had to return with his wife, Heather, to thank people in Northern Ireland for “your warmth, your hospitality, your generosity”.
Commending the “architects” of the agreement, he singled out the work of former SDLP leader John Hume, without whom, he said “there would have been no peace process”, and former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader, David Trimble, without whom “there would have been no peace agreement”.
Mr Mitchell also paid tribute to former president Bill Clinton and former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton – who is hosting the conference – as well as former taoiseach Bertie Ahern and former UK prime minister, Tony Blair, describing them as “absolutely indispensable”.
While there are some who criticise the agreement as “it did not solve every problem,” Mr Mitchell said he believed the “verdict of history will be favourable to the people of Ireland, north and south, and their leaders” for backing the peace deal.
“Peace may come dropping slowly, but when it settles it confirms the humanity in all of us.”
