The 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday agreement provides an opportunity to reflect on the immense contribution of David Trimble and John Hume, and in 2007, Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness. Northern Ireland’s power-sharing governance and cross-community institutions miss their courage, commitment and leadership. Today, Northern Ireland needs the vision and values of these sadly departed leaders to resolve the current absence in democratically elected self-government.
The Good Friday agreement is built on the principles of consent, cross-community power-sharing and respect for the identities and traditions of all the people of Northern Ireland. The current representative deficit at Stormont shows that the agreement is not perfect – neither in the breach nor the observance. But in a world of flux and uncertainty, the agreement delivered a hard-won but increasingly fragile peace.
