Don’t throw away the gains of Good Friday Agreement: Mallon
FORMER Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon has urged people never to forget the “treasure of peace”.
Mr Mallon had been invited to address the Dublin Unitarian Church at St Stephen’s Green in Dublin as it held a Good Friday commemorative service for all those who died during the Troubles.
Speaking on his way into the service, he said that some people were now saying that the Good Friday Agreement had been damaged and that it was finished. “It’s not,” he insisted. “And I would make a plea that they all, instead of talking about an end to it, that we look upon it (the Agreement) as a new beginning, of the creation of something unique on this island that will respect each tradition, each religion, each ethnic grouping and make, for the first time, a pluralist society based on the
Service: Rev Bridget Spain
goodness of human beings, rather than any dogma.”
When asked what advice he would give to those trying to get the institutions back up and running, the former SDLP deputy leader said that while he had always believed that each generation had a right to write its own history, there was much to build upon. “Let’s have another look. The peace is there. The Good Friday structures are there,” he said.
“The absolute overriding objectives of the Good Friday Agreement, they are there.
“Let’s have a look straight in the eye of all of the problems.”
He pointed out the key element remained, that “the treasure of peace for people on this island should never be forgotten.”
❝ We should look at the Agreement as a new beginning... as unique
The full list of nearly 3,600 people who died between 1966 and 2016 was read out at the ceremony.
It was the 18th annual service for those who died, said Rev Bridget Spain.
She explained: “Each year we read the names of all the people who were killed in more than 30 years of violence.”