CLINTON PLEA
FORMER PRESIDENT URGES NI PARTIES TO KEEP PUSHING FOR DEAL TROUBLES’ VICTIMS DEMAND AN END TO MARGINALISATION
BILL Clinton has urged politicians to “take a breath” and keep working towards restoring the Assembly.
The former US President also said the ongoing negotiations around Brexit were hampering the restoration of Stormont because the terms of the withdrawal agreement remain unclear.
Mr Clinton was making an address in Dublin to mark the 50th anniversary of aid agency Concern Worldwide.
He also spoke of how the Good Friday Agreement was a model for “inclusive tribalism”.
Northern Ireland has been without a government for 20 months, triggered by a row over the RHI scheme.
Since then, attempts to restore the power-sharing institutions have been curtailed by issues such as legacy and the Irish language.
After a series of failed negotiations between Sinn Fein and the DUP, fresh talks are due within weeks.
Addressing the audience at Dublin Castle yesterday, Mr Clinton said: “If you were a Northern Irish politician, you probably wouldn’t want to go into government either if you didn’t know the details of Brexit and how it will affect Northern Ireland or how it will affect the relationship between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
“Because how would you know what the terms of the agreement would be?
“There are still cranes up in Belfast and nobody wants to go back to the bad old days.
“So I think everybody should take a deep breath and keep working.
“It’s almost impossible to solve real problems if there is no basic trust.
“If people are smart enough to realise that you didn’t have to have a document that would solve every problem, that would permit some solutions to emerge.
“The most important thing to me is that the Irish peace process and the work of Concern is rooted in both our common humanity and our notion of what
I call inclusive tribalism.”
Mr Clinton (right) first visited Northern Ireland in 1995, when he switched on the Christmas lights at Belfast City Hall.
That was just over a year after paramilitary ceasefires and when the peace process was still in its fledgling stages.
He added that Brexit has created uncertainty on the island of Ireland and about how it would impact on the peace process and reconciliation.
“Therefore, it is a good time to be reminded of first principles, and I think the example of the Good Friday Agreement is as good a place to start as any,” Mr Clinton stressed.
He said that what made the peace process work in Northern Ireland was people willing to compromise, as well as the persistence of ordinary people and the “courage of local leadership”.
Mr Clinton explained: “For me, the understanding of what the world should become starts with the Good Friday accord and ends with the movie Black Panther.
“The Good Friday accord worked first because it came from the bottom.
“People desperately wanted peace, and the citizens weren’t just expressing their wants, they were doing things.
“I still don’t think the women’s groups involved in the Northern Ireland peace process have got the credit they deserve.”
Speaking about the legacy of Concern, Mr Clinton described it as Ireland at its best.
“It’s about inclusive tribalism, inclusive economics, inclusive social policy and personal empowerment,” he said.
“You can’t expect a pat on the back every day. You have to do it because it’s right, because you know it’s right and understand what you are dealing with.”
Mr Clinton was presented with a Dublin GAA jersey by footballer Michael Darragh Macauley following his side’s All-Ireland win last Sunday.