Good Friday Agreement: Bertie Ahern says political instability is one of his greatest regrets 

Former taoiseach hails peace process but says parties should not be able to collapse democratic institutions in the North 

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said lingering political instability is among his greatest regrets about the Good Friday Agreement signed on April 10, 1998.  Picture: Niall Carson/PA

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern regards lingering instability of political institutions in the North as one of his biggest regrets from the talks leading up to the Good Friday Agreement which was signed on April 10, 1998.

The final week of negotiations brought many challenges for Mr Ahern, including personal grief on the death of his mother Julia following a heart attack.

As then taoiseach, Mr Ahern was instrumental in the multi-party process aimed at ending decades of violence in the North. 

One of the measures agreed was the establishment of a devolved government for the North based on a system of powersharing between nationalists and unionists.

However, the new institutions created under the agreement have collapsed several times, most recently when the DUP exercised a veto and brought down devolution in protest at post-Brexit trading arrangements for the North.

Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern said one of the things he was most proud of was the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which was approved by over 94% of voters in the Republic. Picture: Niall Carson/PA

Speaking during a series of interviews to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Mr Ahern said the ability to collapse the institutions is an undemocratic issue that should not be possible and “shouldn’t have happened”. He said: 

It’s in the interests of everyone that there shouldn’t be a mechanism where you pull down a whole parliament.

He said there is a need for sustainability and called for a review into the “temperamental” institutions by next year.

Mr Ahern added that the divided society in the North is “going to need tender love and care for a long time”.

Reflecting on other regrets, Mr Ahern said the agreement’s failure to deliver swifter decommissioning of paramilitary weapons was an issue that stood out to him.

“We should have done a tidier job on that because it went on for five years and caused endless problems,” he said, adding that it caused a lot of friction and was likely the cause of a key negotiator in the talks, then Ulster Unionist Party leader David Trimble, losing his seat as an MP in 2005.

Mr Ahern also said that “more should have been done” on legacy issues of the Troubles, which he said have “lingered on”.

“Not enough attention I think was given to it,” he said, recalling a recent meeting with Wave, a victims’ and survivors’ group.

Asked what he was most proud of, Mr Ahern said that the agreed changes to the Constitution “worked well”.

On April 10, 1998, voters in the Republic passed the 19th Amendment to the Constitution which removed an explicit territorial claim over the North, but maintained an aim to unite the two jurisdictions under democratic consent.

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Mr Ahern pointed to the demilitarisation and reduction of British armed forces personnel in the North as providing people with “a sense of freedom again”.

Policing in the North was also reformed with the aim of ensuring more representation for the whole community, something Mr Ahern described as a “really huge success”.