merrion street

Speaking today, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Alan Shatter TD said, "On 22 May 1998, the people of the island of Ireland voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Good Friday Agreement. This was the first occasion in 80 years that the people, North and South, had an opportunity together for an expression of self-determination. They grasped that historic opportunity with both hands and in doing so they embraced a shared future for all on this island, a future based on peace, democracy and consent.

“Fifteen years ago today, with one powerful voice, the people of this island proclaimed a desire for a peaceful future, one in which differences are to be respected and accommodated, and disagreements are to be addressed by compromise and consensus.

“This clear expression of the popular will, freely voiced at the ballot box, swept away the fake veneer of self-justification for any groups who claim some sort of historical mandate for the use of violence in pursuit of their aims.

“This proclamation by the people is as resonant now as it was then. It states a clear instruction to the gunmen that they cannot and will never prevail. There are still tiny groups of criminal terrorists who persist in defying democracy. They represent nobody but themselves. Their selfish and self-serving aims are shared only by the criminal gangs, the shadowy drug dealers and armed robbers, who they feed off. They have, quite simply, nothing to offer.

“The endorsement of the Good Friday Agreement by the people of this island on this day 15 years ago marked the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the island. Those of us, the overwhelming majority, who are committed to the primacy of democratic politics and the rule of law, are busy building a new history for this island. There is no place in this new story for those who are stuck in a dark past."