Bertie Ahern, one of the architects of the Good Friday agreement, has said he supports a review of the historic peace accord but said it can only happen if the Democratic Unionist party returns to Stormont.
Speaking just days before the anniversary of the 1998 deal that ended 30 years of bombing and bloodshed, the former taoiseach said there was a “logic and a rationale for taking a look at the institutions and some of the mechanisms around it at this 25-year juncture”.
His remarks, at the Brexit Institute in Dublin, come just weeks after he urged politicians “not to fall into the trap” of starting a debate about changes to the Northern Ireland peace deal, warning that to open a debate now would give unionists a further excuse to continue their boycott of devolved government, with “fatal” consequences for power sharing.
In the past decade Stormont has been out of action for more than four years, with Sinn Féin walking out for three years and the DUP boycotting the assembly for the past 14 months.
Reflecting on the past quarter of a century Ahern said the peace deal, considered a model for ending conflict around the world, had worked in all but one respect: “It is the politicians who have let us down.”
He said all other aspects of the agreement had worked, including the IRA decommissioning their arms, the withdrawal of British troops in 2007 and the replacement of the Royal Ulster Constabulary by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
The former taoiseach will be in Belfast in the coming days to celebrate the 25th anniversary along with Tony Blair and Bill Clinton, two other drivers of the peace deal. Joe Biden will arrive in the city on Tuesday with a wave of US investment expected to follow to cement Washington’s desire for an enduring peace.
Ahern said a review could address concerns that some of the elements of the Good Friday agreement are outdated, including the requirement that those elected to the Northern Ireland assembly designate themselves as either “unionist”, “nationalist” or “other”.
This rule was designed to ensure decisions reflected the views of previous warring communities but over 25 years the political landscape has changed. He said a review of the agreement was now needed to cement devolved government for future generations and ensure the institution cannot collapse if one party walks out.
“There is a need for a review to look at how we can stop this issue [of repeated collapse of power-sharing] from rising again,” he said.
The nonsectarian Alliance party, which came third in last May’s elections, has no input on who becomes first or deputy first minister and has said the power-sharing structure envisioned in 1998 allows the two largest parties to hold the assembly and the executive to ransom when they remove themselves as first or deputy first minister.
Ahern, who spent years in domestic political wilderness after the 2010 financial crash in Ireland, has again emerged as a potential international peace broker, having stayed in touch with Northern Irish parties over the past 25 years.
He has spent the past 15 months talking to the parties about changes and said nothing would happen without cross-community consent, noting that “trying to impose these things won’t work in Northern Ireland”.
