Major is confident of a lasting peace in the North

A CHANGE of government in Britain will have no effect on a final peace settlement in Northern Ireland, former British Prime Minister John Major said at yesterday’s UCC family business conference.

Mr Major said both British and Irish governments and the political parties in the North were on a path towards a definitive agreement. The odds favoured a deal irrespective of the outcome of next month’s general election in Britain, he said.

Mr Major said he was confident that the work put in over the last 10 years would pay off and that only a “collossally stupid” move by one of the players would scupper progress. He paid tribute to former Taoisigh Albert Reynolds and John Bruton, who held office while Mr Major was Prime Minister, and said Ireland had been lucky to have them as leaders. “I was lucky, but so too was Ireland, to have had two such prime ministers,” he said.