LONDON - Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern on Tuesday became the first leader from Ireland to address the joint houses of the British Parliament, praising Britain and its departing leader, Tony Blair for promoting peace in Northern Ireland.
He warned, however, that the week-old coalition of British Protestants and Irish Catholics in Belfast represents a fragile start to healing communal divisions following four decades of bloodshed that claimed 3,700 lives.
"We must sustain our hard-won achievements on Northern Ireland," Ahern said. "Remembering where we have come from, we must never, ever take for granted the stability and the hope that is taking root."
Ahern became the 31st foreign leader to get the opportunity to address the combined houses since the tradition began in 1939. He received a standing ovation recognizing his critical role in the peace process.
In a speech that covered eight centuries of Anglo-Irish conflict to this month's power-sharing breakthrough in Belfast, Ahern said the past decade of peacemaking overseen by himself and Blair had shown the world "that even the seemingly intractable can be overcome."
Blair said he had met many great world figures "but I've never met a bigger one than Bertie Ahern."
Blair and Ahern both gained power in 1997 and worked together in a search for peace in Northern Ireland, a part of Blair's United Kingdom. They signed a landmark 1998 peace pact in Belfast and oversaw several summits with Northern Ireland leaders from 1998 to 2006. And they were on hand last week in Belfast when a Catholic-Protestant administration was formed. Blair, 54, has announced he will step down on June 27, while Ahern, 57, and his Fianna Fail party face a struggle to retain power in a May 24 election. Ahern's audience included about 400 lawmakers from both houses, including seven former British secretaries of state for Northern Ireland stretching back to 1972. Among the approximately 100 guests were Sir John Major, Blair's Conservative Party predecessor as prime minister, and former Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds. Their summits and joint peace declaration in December 1993 spurred an Irish Republican Army's cease-fire and opened the diplomatic door to the IRA's political partners, Sinn Fein, which has evolved today into the biggest Catholic-backed party in Northern Ireland.
The predominantly Catholic south of Ireland won de-facto independence from Britain in 1922 following a two-year guerrilla war, and several months after a Protestant-dominated government took control of another new state, Northern Ireland. Initially called the Irish Free State, the south became the Republic of Ireland in 1949. Anglo-Irish relations plumbed depths during the 1930s, when the two countries boycotted each others' coal and beef exports; during World War II, when Ireland remained neutral and expressed sympathy to Nazi Germany over the death of Adolf Hitler; and during the 1970s rise of Irish Republican Army violence over Northern Ireland. Relations have gradually improved since 1973, when the United Kingdom and Irish Republic both joined the European Community and became diplomatic equals on a wider stage.
In 1985, in a bid to quell IRA violence, they forged a treaty on cooperation over Northern Ireland that, at the time, infuriated the province's Protestant majority — but, in retrospect, laid the foundation for 1990s peacemaking between Britain and the IRA's Sinn Fein allies.
He warned, however, that the week-old coalition of British Protestants and Irish Catholics in Belfast represents a fragile start to healing communal divisions following four decades of bloodshed that claimed 3,700 lives.
"We must sustain our hard-won achievements on Northern Ireland," Ahern said. "Remembering where we have come from, we must never, ever take for granted the stability and the hope that is taking root."
Ahern became the 31st foreign leader to get the opportunity to address the combined houses since the tradition began in 1939. He received a standing ovation recognizing his critical role in the peace process.
In a speech that covered eight centuries of Anglo-Irish conflict to this month's power-sharing breakthrough in Belfast, Ahern said the past decade of peacemaking overseen by himself and Blair had shown the world "that even the seemingly intractable can be overcome."
Blair said he had met many great world figures "but I've never met a bigger one than Bertie Ahern."
Blair and Ahern both gained power in 1997 and worked together in a search for peace in Northern Ireland, a part of Blair's United Kingdom. They signed a landmark 1998 peace pact in Belfast and oversaw several summits with Northern Ireland leaders from 1998 to 2006. And they were on hand last week in Belfast when a Catholic-Protestant administration was formed. Blair, 54, has announced he will step down on June 27, while Ahern, 57, and his Fianna Fail party face a struggle to retain power in a May 24 election. Ahern's audience included about 400 lawmakers from both houses, including seven former British secretaries of state for Northern Ireland stretching back to 1972. Among the approximately 100 guests were Sir John Major, Blair's Conservative Party predecessor as prime minister, and former Irish Prime Minister Albert Reynolds. Their summits and joint peace declaration in December 1993 spurred an Irish Republican Army's cease-fire and opened the diplomatic door to the IRA's political partners, Sinn Fein, which has evolved today into the biggest Catholic-backed party in Northern Ireland.
The predominantly Catholic south of Ireland won de-facto independence from Britain in 1922 following a two-year guerrilla war, and several months after a Protestant-dominated government took control of another new state, Northern Ireland. Initially called the Irish Free State, the south became the Republic of Ireland in 1949. Anglo-Irish relations plumbed depths during the 1930s, when the two countries boycotted each others' coal and beef exports; during World War II, when Ireland remained neutral and expressed sympathy to Nazi Germany over the death of Adolf Hitler; and during the 1970s rise of Irish Republican Army violence over Northern Ireland. Relations have gradually improved since 1973, when the United Kingdom and Irish Republic both joined the European Community and became diplomatic equals on a wider stage.
In 1985, in a bid to quell IRA violence, they forged a treaty on cooperation over Northern Ireland that, at the time, infuriated the province's Protestant majority — but, in retrospect, laid the foundation for 1990s peacemaking between Britain and the IRA's Sinn Fein allies.
1 comment:
IRA... what an awesome and infertile subject! I think they never cease to fight.
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