Good Friday Agreement archives — Irish Examiner view: At last, a rare opportunity for a new beginning

The Good Friday Agreement, signed 25 years ago this month, effectively brought an end to more than three decades of violence that had racked the country. Here is the Irish Examiner editorial that ran the day after the famous peace deal was signed

John Hume has been a rock of consistency, a leading conceptual thinker, and a man of courage. File picture: Leif Skoogfors/Getty Images

It was, as John Hume so succinctly put it, a very Good Friday, a truly remarkable, emotional and historic day. 

Symbolically, not since 1916 has Easter held such significance for the people of this island. The difference on this occasion is that the revolution has been peaceful, based on negotiation, persuasion, compromise and consent.