Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SEAMUS MALLON
DUP and Sinn Fein are demeaning 1998 deal
SEAMUS Mallon went to the houses of two friends killed by loyalists and vowed to seal the Good Friday Agreement.
Philip Allen, a Protestant, and Damien Trainor, a Catholic, were shot dead in Poyntzpass, Co Armagh, in March 1998 – just weeks before the deal.
The SDLP veteran, now aged 81, said: “It certainly strengthened my resolve about getting an agreement. The symbolism of David Trimble and myself together was a stark reminder for ourselves and for everyone else that what we were involved in the talks was essential to prevent that ever happening again.
“It provided a stark reminder of what we had to deal with and it brought a very, very potent urgency to what we were doing.”
Lord Trimble went on to become First Minister in the Executive at Stormont alongside Mr Mallon.
The closing days of the agreement negotiations were “frenetic”, Mr Mallon recalled, once having to sleep on a table.
Addressing today’s stalemate at Stormont, he added: “It is an absolute shame that so much time and opportunity has been wasted by two parties [the DUP and Sinn Fein].
“Instead, they set up their two political silos, they looked after what they would have regarded as their own and made no advances at all. In doing so they demeaned the Agreement we reached 20 years ago.”