The Good Friday Agreement: Legacy of deal is that it didn't deal with legacy
The Good Friday Agreement was about building a better future, but that meant confronting the nightmare of the past.
Politics moved on, albeit in fits and starts at Stormont, but it left many people stuck in a history stained by bloodshed.
The Agreement opened doors at the Maze Prison and hundreds of former paramilitaries walked free. But the families of their victims were left locked inside memories that resounded to bombs and bullets.
In 1998, those families were divided over the Agreement. Some were angry that terrorists were allowed to walk free, others felt the Agreement could ensure no one else suffered their agony.
Across Northern Ireland, just about every town holds victims of the Troubles. Some bear more than their share of scars.
In Castlederg, Co. Tyrone, 30 police officers and soldiers were killed. The town’s little cemetery holds the graves of 17 of them.
Harry Monteith goes there to visit his father's grave. His dad, William, was a police reservist, shot dead by the IRA in the centre of the town in 1988.
When the Agreement was signed, Harry was angry that it meant prisoner releases. He remains disillusioned and says the anniversary is not a cause for celebration.
“They should never have allowed the terrorists to walk out Scot free," he told UTV.
"My family and thousands of other families have never had justice. So I believe the Agreement has not done me any good.”
For Harry, the anniversary of the Agreement rings hollow.
Sixty miles away in County Armagh, Eugene Reavey also feels the pain of losing loved ones to terrorism.
He lost three brothers when the UVF attacked the family home at Whitecross in 1976, but he voted for the agreement believing it would work for victims.
“My mother prayed every day for the men who murdered her sons, and my family never wants anyone else to feel the pain that we endured and keep enduring.
“I voted ‘yes’, but I believe the agreement actually let the victims down. It never tackled legacy problems, and just put victims on the back burner. We’re still on the back burner today.”
Despite that, he says he would vote ‘yes’ again.
“I’m older and I’m wary, but we have to grasp any straw that gives us a chance of living in peace.”
The Good Friday Agreement was created to build a better future, but that dream meant confronting the nightmare of the past.
Gunmen and bombers walked free, but victims' families remained locked inside memories of bloodshed. The ironic legacy of the Agreement may be that it has failed to deal adequately with legacy issues.
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