This Easter weekend marks the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, an agreement that brought an end to violent conflict in Northern Ireland. But today, the British province is paralyzed, in political stalemate. In question, the blocking of institutions in Stormont, the seat of the Northern Irish executive in Belfast, an indirect consequence of Brexit, of the exit of the United Kingdom from the EU.
Two of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement, Irishman Bertie Ahern and Britain’s Tony Blair speak to the press on the 25th anniversary of the deal, awaiting a visit from the deal’s US sponsors , next week, President Joe Biden and former President Bill Clinton.
Questioned by Politico, Tony blair urges the unionists of the DUP, viscerally attached to the membership of the province within the United Kingdom to show leadership. The DUP has been blocking the functioning of the executive for more than a year now by refusing to participate in government until they win their case on Brexit.
Bertie Ahern, meanwhile, believes in the Guardian that certain aspects of the Good Friday agreement could be reviewed today but only if the DUP, again, returns to sit in Stormont.
The whole of Northern Irish society today suffers from this situation of paralysis. The education sector is particularly affected. This is a report from Laura Taouchanov at Notre-Dame de Saint-Patrick high school in Belfast.
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