Page 87 - David Trimble News Today

PLANS by George Mitchell to visit Belfast next week to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement negotiations have been welcomed by the leaders of the two parties widely credited with delivering the accord.

LEO MCKINSTRY: As someone who grew up in Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles in the 1970s, I used to fear that peace would never come to my homeland.

In the weeks leading up to Good Friday 1998 the mood within unionism gave little indication David Trimble would be able to seal an agreement and keep his job.

One of the stars that aligned when Tony Blair felt the hand of history on his shoulder 25 years ago was the changing politics of the Irish lobby in the US. For years, American money had been funnelled to the IRA through an organisation called Noraid. When I worked for the BBC in the early 1990s, I interviewed Irish Americans

That we were trying to get their goal. i used to see people from other parties, talking to people, and saying to them afterwards, do you not know who they are? these are some of the most wanted people in europe, and you dont even know youre talking to. the ulster unionist party, led by david trimble, was the largest unionist group, and took the risk of remaining. if you had come to the conclusion that the only way you could defend your interests was to physically be at the table and negotiate th...

Mayflower Church arrived in Dallas, Texas. Advocacy groups and partners in the United States government greeted the Chinese Christians

Really travelled. - its notable that so many people involved in the story are no longer here — ian paisley, martin mcguinness, john hume, david trimble. the piece isnt perfect, power—sharing at stormont has frequently been prone to collapse and, in recent years, it has often been absent. but, political balance is now extremely rare and that is the achievement the agreement generation is passing on. the legacy is that we got peace and we stopped the killing. you had leaders that were prepared...

A fortnight before the signing of the Belfast Agreement on Good Friday 1998, 25 years ago tomorrow, two republican terrorists were waiting at the back of a supermarket in Armagh city, Northern Ireland, for Cyril Stewart. Mr Stewart was a former police reservist, medically retired the previous year after a heart attack. He was well

There was a deal on the issue of the new regional parliament, a power—sharing assembly. there is a famous picture that was captured of you embracing a party colleague. that was when seamus mallon came down from the rooms where we were negotiating and told us they had made a breakthrough on the assembly situation and trimble had agreed to it. we were so relieved. i mean, i threw my arms around him and i said, "i cant believe it!" because that had been a very tough negotiation. the deadline pass...

For this week’s 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, it briefly crossed my mind that I should write about my personal memories of that historic occasion. It appears to be all the rage for the week that’s in it.