Insight
Tracey Magee: 25 years on from Good Friday Agreement there's an elephant in the room
Back in 1998 I was a newbie reporter with UTV who was only a year in post.
Over the course of the previous 12 months I’d been sent up to Castle Buildings only on the days when it was expected nothing would happen.
At that point the Northern Ireland Office had not gotten around to putting mobiles in place for the press to sit in, so on cold days myself and the camera operator and, whoever the other poor unfortunates from the BBC were, would huddle in a doorway trying to keep warm.
It was dreary and boring.
Judging from the accounts from the politicians it wasn’t much fun for those inside either.
Painstaking negotiations finally started to pay dividends as Easter 1998 approached.
I was sent up several times as the tempo changed. I remember the media circus in full swing, accents from all over the world, the drama of politicians walking in and out to face the cameras, but also the boredom of sitting around waiting for something - anything - to happen.
Since then I’ve reported on various talks processes. They all have a rhythm.
For a long time nothing seems to be happening and then, all of a sudden, something changes. The feeling in the air is different and the atmosphere crackles with possibility.
I can only imagine what it must have felt like that day - April 10th, 1998.
I had the day off and, like so many others, I was sitting at home watching TV, wondering if our politicians could pull off the unimaginable. Peace in our time.
Tony Blair had talked only days before about the hand of history on his shoulder, that evening watching the news I knew I was witnessing history play out in front of my eyes.
Gerry Adams recently told me Senator George Mitchell said prophetically at the time that reaching an agreement was the easy part and that the hard part was going to be implementing it.
How right he was.
As Northern Ireland prepares to mark what is perhaps one of the most significant peace accords in modern history – certainly in terms of Irish politics the most important development since the partition of Ireland – the uncomfortable fact is that politics in Northern Ireland is failing… again.
In 1998 the hunger for peace was reflected in the results from the referenda held on both sides of the border.
Over 71% in Northern Ireland backed the Agreement, in the Republic it was even higher, at over 94%. Was there enthusiastic support for prison releases? Police reform?
A willingness to sit in Stormont in recognition of Northern Ireland’s place in the UK? I doubt it.
It was a vote for peace, a hope for something different than the years of bloodshed and hatred which had gone before, a decision to take the risk that by backing the most uncomfortable parts of the Agreement, society could be better for the children of the future. And it has succeeded. The near daily diet of death and destruction has gone.
When I started journalism we used to list the so- called ‘punishment’ shootings carried out by paramilitary gangs with the words “And in other shootings…” generally just before the sport section.
It is beyond argument that the levels of violence have abated, although I’m sure that’s cold comfort to DCI John Caldwell’s family as they maintain their vigil beside his hospital bed.
It is an imperfect peace, no doubt, but it is peace in comparison to what I remember growing up.
To this day when I go to a bar or restaurant I sit with my back to the wall so I can see the entrances and exits.
My mother instilled that in her children as a protection as we socialised in a city where the next bomb or bullet was hard to predict.
Over the next few days there will be celebration and tributes paid to those who sat together and, against the odds, reached an agreement.
But the elephant in the room is that the institutions created in the heady days in April 1998 are not operational.
Arguments over the NI Protocol and latterly the Windsor Framework have stalled devolution yet again.
In 2017 it was the operation of the green energy scheme that led Sinn Fein to pull the plug.
By my count Stormont has fallen over six times since devolution was created and presently we have no government, no budget and no one taking decisions.
Is that the birth pains of a post-conflict society or is it the inevitable consequence of a people who failed to come to terms with the fact that the biggest promise and challenge in the Good Friday Agreement is working together?
How to turn what was undoubtedly an historic peace agreement into a workable and sustainable blueprint for government is the question now facing the current generation of politicians.
Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.