It was Happy Bertday in the Oireachtas on Tuesday.
And much deserved it was too.
The former taoiseach was feted in the Seanad during a special session on the 25th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement, and later he joined a stellar cast of veterans of the talks at a panel discussion hosted by the Ceann Comhairle in the Members’ Restaurant.
There were standing ovations for him in the Seanad in what was a lovely outbreak of cross-party unanimity and accord from those Senators who turned up to hear him deliver a detailed inside account of how the historic deal was eventually done.
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It wasn’t a packed house, by any stretch, but the goodwill and appreciation was genuine from those who spoke.
The event turned into something of a love-in between the former taoiseach and his former tánaiste, minister for justice and attorney general, Senator Michael McDowell. The two politicians soldiered together in the difficult aftermath of the agreement when the various parties involved had to find ways of making it work.
Meanwhile, over in Dáil Éireann, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald pointed out that it was 25 years ago to the day when the votes were being counted in referendums North and South to ratify the agreement. She thanked the Ceann Comhairle for organising an event to mark the significance of the date.
Oh, and wasn’t there another big vote recently? Not that the TDs from the Government parties across the floor needed reminding.
Mary Lou thought she’d mention it anyway. “A few days ago, the North went to the polls again and delivered a seismic change in local government elections, and the clear message is that Ireland has changed and is changing,” she noted, without being so vulgar as to shout from the rooftops that Sinn Féin delivered the earthquake.
But she radiated contentment. Later, she would be joined on cloud nine by her predecessor, Gerry Adams, who was in for the panel discussion.
But the “clearer message” from the vote, she said, is that people want the Executive back up and running and there is a critical need now for the Taoiseach and British PM to focus on restoring the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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Already in hand, it seems.
Leo Varadkar told her he discussed the issue with British prime minister Rishi Sunak when they met briefly in Iceland last week. They are meeting next week at the European Political Community summit in Moldova and will continue the effort to get things moving.
In the spirit of the Seanad and its embrace of peacemaker Bertie, Leo was on the same page as his Opposition rival.
“Because I do firmly agree that the message is clear from the people of Northern Ireland that they want the Executive up and running.”
Also in full agreement is former taoiseach Ahern, who was greeted with applause and a standing ovation when he entered the Upper House to address Senators for the first time in a long time.
As he made his way to his seat through the sparsely populated chamber (that wouldn’t have happened when he was the taoiseach) he startled Fine Gael’s Joe O’Reilly with a friendly thump on the back.
Sitting in the middle of the front row of the VIP gallery was former TD and senator Donie Cassidy, faithful to the last.
Impresario and dancehall proprietor Donie regularly stepped in to MC the impromptu hooleys which broke out at Fianna Fáil parliamentary party events in Bertie’s day.
Seanad Cathaoirleach Jerry Buttimer welcomed his guest, who “never gave up in despair and never gave up hope”. He remembered the leaders from across the political traditions who also had the courage to take the political risk and deliver the peace process.
Jerry singled out the late Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin for special mention as Tuesday would have been his birthday.
Bertie, in his usual self-deprecating way, began by acknowledging that an awful lot has been said about this anniversary in recent months. Maybe too much?
“Those of you who follow these things have probably been noting that there’s been a fair degree of column inches and screen time and even – dare I say it – podcast hours devoted to marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday agreement... But I do not believe that we have overdone it and I think it’s right and proper that we should use this spring and summer of 2023 to give a focus to marking that seminal moment in Anglo-Irish history of 25 years ago.”
He repeatedly stressed how this was a team effort, namechecking as many of the people involved as he could. They included McDowell, “who soldiered” with him for eight years from 1999 to 2007.
“And I must say there are really big advantages to having somebody who is physically tall, who is very strong so when tough things need to be said he can say them with such ferocity that is really helpful,” confessed Bertie of Knuckles McDowell.
The mind boggles.
“I won’t go into what meetings they were but he will recall them himself very well and there were many meetings where we had to cross fire and, by God, there was fire.”
He didn’t divulge details, although he presumed they will emerge eventually when information is released under the 40-year rule.
“You honoured me and trusted me to participate with you in the implementation of the Good Friday agreement,” McDowell replied, thanking him for his fascinating account of what happened 25 years ago.
“It’s one which I hadn’t heard in detail before.”
The former tánaiste saw at first hand the hard work put in by Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair to make the agreement a success.
“Ireland and Britain are extremely lucky that two men came into office at a crucial time who trusted each other, were friendly with each other and, above all, were friendly to the interests of both of these islands and could see the future. We were very, very lucky indeed.”
Bertie confessed that if he had said everything he wanted to say in his speech it would have lasted an hour and a half. He managed to get it back to around 40 minutes.
But he still gave an invaluable, blow-by-blow, behind-the-scenes account of the days leading up to the signing of the agreement.
“I said to myself, having done endless interviews and programmes and stuff on the 25th anniversary that I would, once, put it all on the record somewhere. And I want to take time to set it out as I have from my perspective on this seminal time. I can think of no more meaningful place than the floor of the Seanad from which to make that speech.”
It’s all there for posterity now.
