A Letter from Ireland
a Chara,
Do you remember where you were on April 10th, twenty seven years ago? I do. It was the day the Good Friday Agreement was signed.
I was a community organizer with the Falls Community Council in West Belfast. We were closing for a couple of days over the Easter Holidays. The rest of the staff were upstairs having a couple of drinks to welcome the long weekend.
I was in an office downstairs with three of my friends who were part of an RTE TV vox pop of young people. Yes, I was young once.
We were a generation that had grown up knowing only conflict. We had friends and family killed or in jail. Despite the ceasefires the British Army was still on the streets and police harassment was part of the daily routine. Questions were aplenty. Would the agreement deal with prisoner releases, truth, justice, policing reform, and demilitarisation?
Throughout the negotiations, Unionist leaders had refused to talk directly with Sinn Féin. Would they act in good faith in government? The night before the interviews, the DUP, led by Ian Paisley, who had walked out of the negotiations as Sinn Féin walked in, promised to bring down any deal.
As the shape of the Agreement was made known it was met with a mix of hope and trepidation.
In the days that followed, there was much discussion and debate. In one conversation, I asked where the guarantees that the British and Unionists would honor the Agreement were. The answer stayed with me for all of those years, “Do not expect them to freely honor the agreements, the only guarantee would be ourselves and our activism”.
Reaching an agreement was one phase, implementing it would be another. But we had powerful allies in the EU, the International Community, and in particular the US.
There were those on the Unionist and republican sides that rejected the Agreement. They failed to bring it down. It was endorsed by the vast majority, North and South. It remains the democratic will of the people who share our island.
The Agreement is not a settlement. It is a set of checks and balances to manage past, present, and future political engagements. It asserts the primacy of politics, democracy, and equal rights over conflict, discrimination, and exclusion.
We have faced many challenges. Progress has been frustratingly slow. But progress has been made, and society has been reshaped.
There is further to travel to realize the fully transformational potential of the Agreement. The British continue to cover up their actions during the years of conflict and hold back the processes of acknowledgment and reconciliation. Elements of unionism believe that slowing down progress is more important than shaping the future.
The next step in implementing the Agreement will be the securing and winning of unity referendums North and South. The right of the people to determine their constitutional future is part and parcel of the agreement. The agreement provides that the question can be put to the people at any time. It also states that the British MUST hold a referendum when a majority will support Irish Unity.
We once again look to ourselves and our allies in the US to realize the rights of the people to vote for their constitutional future. Asking the people to determine their future should not be a matter of last resort. It is a right for all. A right that the US in its support of the Good Friday Agreement has endorsed.
It is time to challenge the Irish Government to act on what was agreed twenty-seven years ago and to plan and prepare for unity referendums. For the British Government to honor their obligations.
All those years ago I didn’t know if the Agreement would hold. I am thankful that it did and thankful for the support of our allies. Now is the time to write the next chapter and build a new and united Ireland.
Have a great weekend.
Is mise,
Ciarán
Ciarán Quinn is the Sinn Féin Representative to North America. Each week he writes a letter from Ireland with news and analysis. It is featured in the weekly Friends of Sinn Féin USA Newsletter. Be sure you are subscribed to stay up to date.
