TONY Blair has said meeting victims of the Troubles as he wrestled with his conscience over the early release of paramilitary prisoners was the most difficult aspect of striking the Good Friday peace deal.
Reflecting on the historic accord ahead of its 20th anniversary, the former prime minister said weighing the contrasting views of the bereaved was an onerous task.
Mr Blair, who cites the April 1998 agreement as one of the most important achievements of his decade in power, explained how he thought through the issue of letting killers go free.
“Some of the most difficult meetings I had as prime minister were with the families of the victims of the Troubles,” he said.
Martin Dillon: Keep peace dream alive or face terror nightmare
“They actually fitted into two categories of people. One group of people said ‘How can you be sitting down with murderers, making and deal with them or releasing people who have committed horrendous crimes against innocent people, and my family were victim of this appalling violence?’, and then there would be other people who would say ‘You’ve got to make sure this works because I don’t want other people to go through what I’ve been through’.
“This is where, in the end, as a political leader, you’ve got to decide what you think is right. These rights require choices that are difficult for the leader but they are even more difficult for the people who have been victims of the trouble.”
He added: “Of course you could make the case as to why you should never release people who are engaged in acts of violence but, the fact is, if we hadn’t had the prisoner release, we would never have had the peace agreement.”
Mr Blair said he did not believe the current problems besetting powersharing, including an impasse over the Irish language, should herald the demise of the deal and insisted that powersharing remained the best way to bring deliver devolved governance to the region.
“I can’t believe we can’t find a way through this if we really wanted to,” he said.
“My strong advice to the Prime Minister and Government is just work at this until you sort it out, because from what I am reading I can’t see anything which is an absolute barrier to sorting it out.”
He added: “People have just got to throw their minds back to what it was like during the Troubles.
“I do find it extraordinary sometimes when people say has life really improved - well, I think, yes, it has. I remember going to Northern Ireland, long before I became prime minister in the 1980s, and being shocked.
“Thinking I am going into a part of my country that is completely different from any other part of the country and is differently regarded by the people there and by the people outside.
“Every day you would end up with death, violence, sectarian acts of hatred and terrorism - every day. So the comparison is not between what we have now and what, ideally, we want to have - the comparison is between what we have now and what we had then, and I think if people keep their mind focused on that, they will be focused on the right thing.”
Mr Blair said the three days he spent ensconced in Castle Buildings, Stormont, as he attempted to clinch the deal were some of the most extraordinary of his 10 years in power.
“It was a unique few days because we were involved in this incredibly complicated and difficult negotiation which were seesawing between success and failure throughout the three days,” he said.
“What was at stake was of immense magnitude, to try to put an end to the violence in Northern Ireland that has disfigured the lives of people and cost the lives of people for many years, and it was an event which required extraordinary focus, and literally, for those three days, I think we managed six hours sleep over the whole of the time.
“We were literally camped in rooms, shuttling to and from, bringing people in, bringing them out, trying to make sure we were working on the detail of various documents at the same time as having quite high-level discussions, snatching something to eat when you could, going to the loo when you could. I’ll never forgot those three days.
“I remember when I actually finished it and we announced the agreement, I had to go abroad for an engagement in Spain.
“I remember getting on the plane, and the first thing that happened was I was passed a mobile phone and the Queen was on the other line - which was literally the only time that ever happened to me - to offer her support and congratulations on the agreement. Then I remember actually, just as we were taking off, falling asleep and not waking until we landed.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel