Engine of progress can’t be left to rust

THE Good Friday Agreement was a moment of enlightenment in a journey through several blood-stained decades. It was never meant to be a finishing point, but was a historical landmark for all that. Finding a route-map out of a cul-de-sac that had ghettoised politics since the foundation of the State took vision, nuance, exhaustive energy and the serendipitous geo-political alignment of Ireland, Britain, the US and even the EU.

If, as they say, nothing exists without its opposite, then 20 years on, that is where we stand today. Hope and vision had triumphed; where everything had been either nailed down or slammed shut, suddenly there were openings, but all that has since atrophied.

Where there was a sense of possibility and potential, stagnation and sterility have taken hold.

In Sunningdale in 1973, there was a spark of hope, but it was quickly snuffed out; then in 1985 with the Anglo Irish Agreement again there was a glimmer and only that; but by 1998 people were finally free to believe in a brighter future. And they embraced it: teenagers could go out to a disco at night without being harassed or bullied by squaddies at checkpoints; women could proudly push their babies in buggies past parked cars, without the stomach-churning fear of being blown up.

The shadow of the gunman receded as the new light of change dawned. All that red-eyed burning of the midnight oil in the chilly corridors of Stormont in the small hours had paid off. But a full 20 years on, where is that shared sense of purpose and optimism? As Brexit threatens to up-scuttle all, the current custodians of that hard-won legacy of unity and solidarity have gone Awol.

The engine of reconciliation driving progress and opportunity has been immobilised and put on breeze blocks. Today’s keepers of the Good Friday Agreement can’t even be bothered to clock in for work.

The shared institutions are abandoned. Sinn Féin is missing in action in two theatres of power, both at Stormont and Westminster, leaving the DUP with a free hand to guide the destiny of voters as Theresa May’s fractured government grapples with Brexit, the defining issue of our time.

SO while the Good Friday Agreement has made life better for everyone it is no longer worth the candle, if you are to go by the order of priority or interest it is given by too many who ought to know better. Sectarianism and deep tribal division did not disappear in 1998, but they miraculously found room to be accommodated. A place that had been defined by difference was making the headlines for a commitment to consent. All this was achieved by dialogue, a readiness to see the view of the other side. Not to embrace it or share it but be willing to live with it. Conflict gave way to accommodation. Where is that readiness now?

Getting to that point took courage and commitment. It took strength to question and challenge and it took wisdom to recognise sacrifice could be transformed into something strong and durable that would leave everyone the richer instead of the poorer; that something was peace. It was hammered out on a brutal anvil of shared suffering and pain. If the Troubles could be becalmed then the prize would be worth striving for. So all those who forged every link in this chain of events deserve our deepest thanks.

They believed their efforts would endure long after they had left the stage. Those who traded in violence thankfully saw the value of peace. So while today should be a celebration of the primacy of politics, few corks will be popping. If there are backs to be slapped, they belong to those who built the bridges over our troubled waters decades ago, and not to those intent on sealing them off.