This day 24 years ago – 10 April 1998 – the Good Friday Agreement was signed by the British and Irish governments. This “truly historic” accord recognised the “birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both.”
This day 24 years ago – 10 April 1998 – the Good Friday Agreement was signed by the British and Irish governments.
This “truly historic” accord recognised the “birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both.” pic.twitter.com/NWu8hxx5Hk
— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) April 9, 2022
7 comments
And the British foreign office decided to shit on that with DeSouzas.
I remember it well. The sense of hope and euphoria was incredible. I particularly recall Seamus Mallon’s phrase saying something like ‘this is a good Good Friday’.
The previous decade had been so miserable and depressing. It’s hard to convey now.
The 90’s was an incredible time for Ireland especially after the shitshow that was the 80’s. There was knockbacks along the way but we all felt we were riding a wave of collective confidence and that we could accomplish anything. The GFA was the icing on the cake and probably the pinnacle of that period. I remember not long after (probably a month after Omagh), playing a rugby match up North and our opponents took us out for drinks after. We walked into this pub that can best be described as a shrine to Unionism, Union Jacks and Orange Order banners everywhere. I thought we were fucked but it was all pleasant and symbolic on their end. Apparently we were the first Catholics to set foot in the place. Well, not all of us, there was a couple of Ulster Prods in our side who knew the lads that brought us there. They had planned the whole thing in advance to mark the occasion.
Things changed after that, greed crept in, confidence turned to cockiness and the Celtics Tiger mauled itself but that period between Italia 90 and Japan 02, it was magical. So much darkness had been lifted.
Isn’t there a slight correction is that everyone born Northern Ireland is recognised as British but they can also be recognised as Irish if they want.
“today is not a day for soundbites but I fell the hand of history on my shoulder”
The greatest political thing to happen in my lifetime.
Referred to with much sadness by some of the cheerleaders of empire as a “trapdoor” beneath Unionism in Northern Ireland by which the North could fall through at any time.
Sniff. Etc.
Anyway.