Seanad report:A note of discord was sounded by a Fianna Fáil member as tributes were paid on all sides of the House to politicians, past and present, for the powersharing agreement reached in Belfast on Monday.
Mary White began by saying that she had been a member of the Fianna Fáil national executive in 1993 when Albert Reynolds, who was then taoiseach, told them at their monthly meetings that he was reaching out to republicans and loyalists.
Ulick Burke (FG): "As far as Colombia."
Ms White said Mr Reynolds had brought a businessman's pragmatic approach to politics and had banged the heads of both sides together. When she went on to say that they should remember the lives of the thousands of innocent victims of the Troubles and that Margaret Thatcher had been very slow in dealing with the issue, cathaoirleach Ruairí Kiely made clear his view that they could not go back over history.
Ms White responded that she had been a volunteer on the ground during the time of the peace process.
Mr Kiely: "An agreement has been reached and we cannot go back over it."
Ms White persisted: "Owing to the political failure of Mrs Thatcher, people died on hungerstrike and the violence escalated."
Mr Kiely called another speaker. Ms White told the House: "I was there and was involved as a volunteer."
Brian Hayes, FG leader in the House, said a great advantage of this week's agreement was that it had been brokered between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party.
Joe O'Toole (Ind) said the process had taken a very long time to reach the present point. He recalled meeting a very lonely John Hume almost 20 years ago when no leader in any of the parties would speak with him because he had opened up talks with Sinn Féin.
"It is worth remembering that today, and that he took the initiative and took the risk."
John Dardis (PD) said they should salute the Taoiseach and the British prime minister for the extraordinary patience and determination they had brought to the process.
Shane Ross ((Ind) said tribute was undoubtedly due to Bertie Ahern, but they should not forget Albert Reynolds who was "one of the great unsung heroes of this agreement".
Pascal Mooney (FF) said it was a humbling experience to be part of living history. "What was significant about yesterday was that it was the ending of partition- a partition of the mind in that two mindsets have now mellowed and where they can stay together."
House leader Mary O'Rourke said she agreed with Maurice Hayes (Ind) that Monday's event at Stormont had been very moving. She was not ashamed to say that tears had come to her eyes as she had watched the historic happening on television.
Martin Mansergh (FF) said that what had been achieved had an international resonance. Many groups in Sri Lanka, the Basque country and the Occupied territories in the Middle East would be looking to see if they could learn some of the lessons that might be learned from what had been done in Belfast.
While every situation had its own specificities, the Paisley/Adams deal would be held up "as an example internationally of how very difficult and seemingly intractable situations could make progress in the end refuting the pessimism attributed to a former British prime minister, Lord Salisbury who said, I think apropos of Ireland, to some problems there is simply no solution."
Dr Mansergh said he thought it was an enormous tribute to a partnership and co-operation of the prime minister's Tony Blair and Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern - a really historic, 10-year partnership which was now drawing to a close and which, subject to what happened on May 8th, looked like being crowned with success.