Good Friday, 10th April 2009

The last time Good Friday fell on April 10th was in 1998. That day changed all our lives as the representatives of our traditions joined in signing the Agreement.

So much has happened in the past 11 years. Hume, Mallon, Paisley, Trimble, Ken McGuinness, John Taylor and Brid Rodgers are all retired to mention just a few. Others like Robinson and Martin McGuinness are now at the height of their careers with the burden of translating the Agreement’s promise into reality. Adams continues in a strange political no man’s land shying away from responsibility at every turn and preferring to travel the world selling books then work his own land in ministerial or parliamentary office. Elsewhere Slugger notes that for possibly the first time ever An Phoblacht does not include an Easter message from the IRA. Is this a sign that this faceless killing machine has now also left the stage?

Last Month, following the murders in Antrim and Craigavon, the true meaning of Good Friday 1998 shone through. The First and Deputy First Ministers provided the joint leadership which the Agreement created, but after eleven years on what has really been achieved and what remains to be done?

On the upside the fundamental promise of the Agreement to create a different peaceful place where government is shared and rights are safeguarded is well under way. The PSNI enjoys the support of pretty much everyone and the Assembly is stable and slowly finding its feet. Nobody pickets the Equality Commission any more and parading is less contentious every year.

That said there are still some big parts of the Good Friday Agreement which remain undelivered. We still have no Bill of Rights, no community relations policy and no North – South inter-parliamentary forum. The Civic Forum is on life support and with it one of the great promises of our new institutions; to bring the people into government and to extend politics beyond our traditional political parties.