The US politician who led the Good Friday Agreement talks has urged the DUP and other parties in Northern Ireland to compromise in bid to end the impasse at Stormont.
Former US senator George Mitchell urged leaders to act with the “courage and wisdom” that their predecessors had done 25 years ago – calling on them to defy the “100 percenters” who “want everything their way all the time”.
Mr Mitchell saying delivering stability in the province doesn’t require them to “love one another” in an apparent appeal to the unionists in the DUP to return to powersharing with nationalists Sinn Fein.
The DUP continues to boycott the Stormont political institutions over the opposition to post-Brexit trading arrangements in the protocol, despite the recent deal forged by Rishi Sunak and the EU to ease checks.
Mr Mitchell said: “I know that each of your parties – like all political parties in the world – have some of what I call the 100 percenters, they want everything their way all the time – to them, any compromise is a sign of weakness.”
He added: “We don’t need to love one another. We don’t even need to like one another … But we must learn to understand one another and to be able to say yes to one another, especially when the quicker and easier answer is no.”
The senior figure in the historic peace deal was delivering the keynote speech on the first morning of the Agreement 25 conference at Queen’s University in Belfast, marking the anniversary of the deal which largely ended the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
Mr Mitchell called on the “current and future leaders of Northern Ireland to act with courage and vision as their predecessors did 25 years ago”.
He added: “To find workable answers to the daily problems of the present, to preserve peace. To leave to the next generation peace, freedom, opportunity and the hope of a better future for their children.”
Mr Mitchell – speaking before a bronze bust of the peace mediator was unveiled at Queen’s University – said it was “unmistakably clear” that the people of Northern Ireland did not want violence to return.
It came as Sir Tony Blair said Northern Ireland’s leaders know in their “heart of hearts” what the right thing to do is and they should “just get on and do it”.
Without mentioning the DUP specifically, the former Labour PM told the conference. “We know the peace isn’t perfect. We know the institutions have often been rocky and unstable as they are today. We know there’s still a lot of distrust and mistrust between the communities.”
Mr Blair added: “The only thing I would say to today’s leaders is I think when you stand back and you reflect, you know in your heart of hearts, what the right thing to do is, and you should just get on and do it.”
Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern also told the anniversary conference: “Let’s hope they [the DUP] listen to what George Mitchell said today, and listen to what we’re saying, that we all just get back on the track … let’s move forward and try and make this work.”
Former US president Bill Clinton told the auidence that political leaders “winged it” on the peace process 25 years ago. Mr Clinton said people thought they were crazy to believe they could get the paramilitary groups to decommission their arms.
“We’d like to tell you that we had it all thought through but the truth is we made up a lot of it as we went along, we had to wing it,” he said. “And then when [George] Mitchell came in, he organised our efforts.”
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said he had a “useful exchange” with Mr Clinton in Belfast on Monday, but gave no sign his party were ready to return to powersharing or accept Mr Sunak’s protocol compromise.
Sir Jeffrey said he “underscored our commitment to restoring the NI Assembly on a basis that unionists as well as nationalists can support”.
He added: “Northern Ireland is a divided society. We must get the foundations right. Quick fixes without solid foundations will do a disservice to those trying to make the institutions work.”
