Good Friday was the 25th anniversary from the signing of one of the world’s most important peace deals, nicknamed the Good Friday agreement. Indeed, the signing of that peace agreement brought decades of bloodshed in Northern Ireland to an end. What seemed to be a trance became a reality. Indeed, even for the World War II charismatic leader, Sir Winston Churchill, resolving the Northern Ireland situation seemed somewhat unreachable.
However, as the English saying goes ‘where there is a will there is a way’ and the emergence of fresh, young and objective leaders such as Tony Blair as UK Prime Minister giving peace a chance, indeed came through. Credit is also due to the late David Trimble as leader of the Unionists and Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness for Sinn Fein (the political arm of the then IRA), as well as Bertie Ahern, Republic of Ireland’s Taoiseach between 1997-2008.
It is noteworthy to point out that Tony Blair has his roots in Ireland and had committed himself to do everything possible to give the people of Northern Ireland, whether Catholic or Protestant, a possibility of living side by side in peace and prosperity.
Following his successful election as Prime Minister on May 1st, 1997, Tony Blair, immediately set the ball rolling to achieve as soon as possible a peace deal. Taking on board the valid work achieved on this matter by his predecessor, the Conservative PM John Major, Tony Blair managed to strike a peace accord in less than a year. It is truly remarkable that at the beginning of April 1998 following negotiations over four days and four nights that the Good Friday agreement came into existence. In essence, it established the Northern Ireland Assembly that incorporated Sinn Fein becoming part of the power-sharing Northern Ireland Executive.
In recent years, that peace accord was in jeopardy with Britain’s decision to exit from being a full member of the European Union. With the Republic of Ireland being itself a full member, Northern Ireland represented a mainland border with the EU. Given that the EU has strict rules relating to food, border checks become necessary to permit certain goods – such as milk and eggs – to leave a non-EU country and land themselves in an EU country. To mitigate the creation of a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, a deal had to be struck to prevent checks being introduced. Given the sensitivity of the troubled political past within Northern Ireland, fears ran high that introducing cameras or border posts as part of checks on goods could turn back the hand of time, triggering yet again political unrest in Northern Ireland.
Initially, the divorce agreement brought into place an arrangement referred to as the Northern Ireland protocol. Unfortunately, as weeks and months progressed after January 31st 2020, it became clear that the provisions within that protocol were far from satisfactory. Most businesses complained of the increased costs being incurred as well as unnecessary delays.
It became clear that the deal negotiated by then PM Boris Johnson necessitated going back to the drawing room and re-negotiate with the EU a better deal, which would not only make life easier for the people of Northern Ireland but also keep the Good Friday agreement intact.
To the credit of the current PM, Rishi Sunak, the Windsor Agreement signed at Windsor Castle with current EU Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, a better deal has been struck for Northern Ireland. The fact that the Labour Party in opposition has expressed outright support for the agreement in parliament is clear evidence that the provisions of the agreement carry weight.
With this new framework, apart from improving the way trade flows are conducted, it is hoped that the Democratic Unionist Party will return to Stormont and re-engage in Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government as per Good Friday Agreement. In so doing, the peace and prosperity the people of Northern Ireland have got used to over the past 25 years will continue to exist.
Ivan Grixti is a senior lecturer in Financial Accounting at the University of Malta