 Okay, so thank you so much everyone for joining such a big crowd in here I mean, we had our last meeting of the ypn in December, but I mean, I don't think I've ever seen a Crowd this size I was beginning to wonder when I send out the invitation Bertie for this event And it filled up in two days where we had an IAA meeting or a 2005 Finafall Ardesh, but it certainly Certainly looks like a Finafall Ardesh in here this evening, but thank you so much to everyone who's come I sent out the invitation to Bertie for this event here tonight because I read a poll In the Sunday Times in November which said that 50% of young people so those people between the ages of 18 to 24 Felt that they did not fully understand the history of the Troubles and which struck me as quite a large figure And something that I think very important for us as young people to and not only remember what happened But also that we don't forget what happened and Discussions like these here this evening and other discussions that are taking place as part of the commemorations I think are very important in achieving that And the Good Friday Agreement which was negotiated in 1998 the 10th of April 1998 Marked the beginning of a lasting peace in Ireland and Northern Ireland And it was negotiated by Bertie Herne on behalf of the Irish government Tony Blair on behalf of the British government and the eight political parties in in Northern Ireland who participated in the talks And without which I think money Thousands of people may not be here today So it's important to mark the discussion and to do it respectfully here today as well And just a bit of housekeeping before we get started and so Bertie is going to speak to us for approximately 15 minutes After which time we'll go to discussion and Q&A with the audience And for those of you in person if you'd like to take part in the discussion Please feel free to raise your hand and I'll come to you throughout the discussion and for those of you on zoom Maybe just just first of all to say I'm sorry that you can't be here this evening Sorry Sorry that you can't be here this evening just in light of the the capacity issues here today But I hope that we'll be able to welcome you to another discussion in the future So and for any of you who'd like to contribute to the discussion as well Please feel free to participate on Twitter using the hashtag at IIEA and so without further ado I'll introduce Bertie and then we get started and Bertie Herne who I'm sure you all know served as Taoiseach of Ireland from 1997 to 2008 Leading Finafall into government on three successive occasions in 1997 2002 and 2007 Amongst other roles he previously served as Tarnished out or deputy prime minister of Ireland minister for finance minister for labor minister for industry and commerce Minister for arts culture in the great hooked and the Lord Mayor of Dublin And he was a chopped the dollar for Dublin Central from 1977 to 2011 so I guess you could say Bertie is welcoming us here today in Dublin Central Given this was his old stomach run. So without further ado Bertie over to you Well, thank you very much chairman and Director-General Alex White. It's great to be here again. I've been always fond memories of this building We've had so many debates and discussions usually about European constitutional issues and the European Constitution the various referenda over the years and Chairman has given me the task of giving 800 years of history in 15 minutes So we'll skip the first 750 and and we'll try and bring it down to more modern times. I suppose to talk about the troubles and You know We wanted to now try and move it on from the troubles into where we are now and hopefully where we'll be as as you all Move to your various careers Successfully and and see how the change in Ireland works But I suppose it's worth saying There's a lot of debate and it's not I think just young people internationally. There's huge interests in in the Irish peace process and Because I suppose a lot of peace processes haven't really worked and I think our one has partially worked The peace has ended up very successfully the political side as you see jitters on and continually, but a Lot of people think that this started the troubles was mainly around The United Ireland around the border it wasn't that at all. I mean what happened was There had been an IRA campaign and don't move quickly through this period because it's 15 minutes But there've been an IRA campaign on 56 to 62 that campaign was mainly a campaign By by southern people mainly those of you who listen to ballads or Sean south of Gary own who's on Limerick so it tended to be a Southern group fighting on the border and and that when that ended up the Republican movement We're moving into really what should they be doing and she and feign who were down the road in those days We're deciding where they where they should go and what should they should do there was some lilas violence in 65 66 67, but the troubles really came out of The civil rights movement in the north which had nothing to do with United Ireland or a border power anything else It was based on what was going on in America and France at the time mainly in Paris around a quality And around fairness in society and the issues in the north were housing because it was total discrimination against nationalists It was Around a gerrymandering the constituencies probably best described it of how it worked in Derry where there was six constituencies and The nationalists had a majority and five sort of were all pushed into one in the Union Derry was good if you get away with it and and that that lasted for only a short while and people like John Hume and Austin Curry and Eddie McGrady and Paddy Devlin the people who formed it The STLP were all really fighting your labor down and social lines and it was only the reaction of the storm and administration Unionist dominated who'd almost got separated from the rest of United Kingdom and They use physical force against the civil rights movement against Predominantly nationalists who are fighting these but not only nationalists and that's embittered people The Republican movement was weak at the time which was the official Sinn Féin as it became known afterwards They splintered and the IRA Went into official IRA and provisioned IRA and then the trouble started But it didn't grow out of that I grew out of civil rights movement. The 70s were just the nightmare huge amount of people killed bombing You know, you know the statsmen 3721 people died in the troubles about 28,000 people were seriously injured And if you add in shootings and bombs it was about 50,000 was a few billion pounds worth of damage So it followed the track from the 70s and it just got worse every year the figures and you look back at them now We're horrendous in in the early 70s And it was one effort to try and bring some solution around 1974 something that that failed because the Protestant oldster workers strike brought down the regime 300,000 people in strike and heart and heart isn't a big place So they brought down the whole place then we moved on into the 80s The 80s was the hunger strike Where the Republican movement got very strong in the north and the IRA got very strong in the In the north and the our provisioned IRA at 400 members and there you at one stage At the height of the troubles And then there was another attempt made in 1985 the annual Irish agreement I take nothing from the people that were involved out of the Irish government or British government They worked really hard in those two agreements in 74 and Sunday and 85 and unfortunately both of them collapsed Not all was for the same reason, but They collapsed and we might come back to that if you're interested later And then we went through the rest of the 80s after the end of skill and bombing where the IRA blew up the Senate House up in Dennis killin and it was a horrendous case and not too many of us in the room would remember that you and I do Alex but we're you know, there was a father and And he was lying in the rubble and holding the hand of his daughter who was a nurse and He relayed an RTE and several problems afterwards just the last moments and it had a huge It had a huge effect on the population North and south because people said this is just horrendous and it was it was a human story and it you know if you ever listen back to some of those interviews on the youtuber and You just realize how horrendous it was that led the IRA to start to wonder was there another way of doing things and What promoted that was the redemptorist order in Clonard in Belfast I thought of Jerry Reynolds and follow Alex Reed to priests and started reaching out to the IRA They knew who they were And they started reaching out to the other groups as well and that started off And the peace process moving quickly into the 90s in 91 92 There was all party talks excluding Sinn Fein That didn't solve a lot of what it did was it at least got the parties in the north to say what they were in favor of rather than what they're against Arties in northern Ireland are absolutely Olympic gold medalists when it comes to the same what they're against and they're not they're not quite as Who look at explain what they're what they're for but that 91 92 effort did that That was used as the basis by Albert Reynolds in 93 To bring people together to see if they could put in one document What the aspirations of everybody was and to see if there was a peaceful means how you could do that and The it's always worked to read. I think of the Downstate Declaration For two reasons one it's a masterpiece a lot of people were about 40 people involved in in if an orphan Catholic Protestant in the center Involved in that document. Well, it's term. It's very useful because very short you read it in 10 minutes and That formed the basis for the IRA ceasefire in August 94 and for the Lila ceasefire in October 1994 Went into 95 was a bad year because the British as they they tend to do Kicked the ball over the barn instead of into the net and they they start the same with shrimp and can get into the talks Unless there's decommissioning of arms, which was a lost cause at the time So in 95 was this thing called Washington tree, which was agreed by Sir Patrick May who was Secretary of State We fell a bit into the trap of agreeing to that at the time, which we shouldn't have and then we went into 96 the ceasefires broke down and and then Nothing happened in 96 there was a well Canary Wharf cost three billion worth of damage in the center of London and a half of being in in bombing in Manchester Huge huge damage also deaths again happen not a huge amount, but in the north. So and That brings us to 97 where the change of administrations Tony Blair and I had been working in 95 in 96 saying that if we were in government And what what we could do and how we would challenge it and the plan was fairly simple one that he would have to reassure unionists Because there'd been a labor the labor had been out of government for 16 years and being touch or a major Major was a good guy, but he's very little power. He was home strong by and needing support From both right wing unionists and right wing conservatives and he just wasn't able to do what he wanted to do So and Tony Blair it was clear he was going to get a very big mandate at that time wasn't so clear I was going to get because our electoral system was also going to be tight So we said he assures the unionist I try and convince the Sinn Fein to convince the IRA to get back And a big part of that was again was Father Alex Reed and the redemptory state They played a huge Part in a lot of that we'd all kind of back channels all kind of Equal negotiations going on to try and anyway, we got there And then in September the deal was that if we got that done we'd get Sinn Fein into the talks for the very first time Sinn Fein had never been involved in the previous talks in any of them 74 85 91 92 so At that stage There were into the talks And the reason you often hear me and the radio defendant the unions and David Trimble And it's for this reason which isn't always understood when the talks started in September of 1997 Once we said Sinn Fein were coming in the dup walked out and so did the uk unionist small part But a very vocal vocal people and they had a lot of legal people who were very good at starting the muck And causing major confusion So um once they walked out it was thought that David Trimble would also walk out, but he didn't Um, and we convinced the two lilas parties davie airvine pup michael um No, no the udp gary mack mack gary mack michael of udp To to stay in the talk so uh once that happened it gave David Trimble cover And david Trimble stayed in the talks to his eternal credit because if he went out that time There was going to be no no run into the good friday agreement. So between september 97 and Easter 98 That's where the good friday agreement was born. That's where the talks took place Huge range of issues and i just mentioned them all in in in one block wonder was setting up the institutions the executive Setting up the assembly in the north The north south bodies which was the Irish government And in northern or in the executive east west British government the Irish government And then the range of problems that were there prisoners released the prisoners There was never going to be a deal and neither lilas or republicans were going to Agree to a deal that didn't deal with the prisoners issue So uh the deal was we released all prisoners within two years on license if they reoffend they they serve the Existence sentence and whatever new sentence they're in the reform of the old police service the r.u.c Into what is now ps and i which is finally Thought of the decommission of arms which took five years to to resolve and setting up the international commission and decommission The parity of esteem which kind of equaled the quality legislation Which was removing all the deconian legislation that had been on the statue book in the north People always say for the last for the previous 25 years, but most of it was on since 1920 since the government of iron tact of 1920 so The demilitarization of the north the soldiers back to barracks The taken down of the watch towers were these huge watch towers right across the border So whenever anyone went north this out south to north they were picked up you're picked up in your car Your conversation was picked up and we're also watching the helicopters Watching over the border county. So all of those issues were taken And I'm fairly well resolved. I mean the one area of the good Friday agreement that That has been a disappointment is the stop start nature of the institutions The fact that because everything is based on cross community consent Meaning that everybody has to agree If if somebody gets out the wrong side of the bed they can bring down the institutions And that's what's happened three or four times the British government brought it down once When we had this thing called storming gate, which was another nonsense and turned out to be bogus and It was set up Now I'm not going to who set it up to be here only but it was it was set up later on then um shin fame brought it down over cash for ash, which again it wasn't really to do Which was Friday agreement and then it was brought down over brexit. I suppose moving quickly Because you're probably in the mid-time business Brexit has been just a disaster. You know my view on brexit. You've heard me enough at times It was just stupid thing for the British people to do. That's my view a day of a different view That's their title to that. Um, but they regretted for a long time to come And they are regretting it. I think every day it's good to see that a lot of them are changed their attitude um, I think it it happened because Cameron made two fundamental mistakes and not happened I'm not putting in having the referendum as one of those But he rushed it He had another year to wait and he could have waited and that would have given I think public opinion a chance to take a very different view and the second issue that He didn't get a real campaign going within his his party And carbon of course was a disaster carbon made one speech in favor Or against brexit in the whole campaign and labor should have been fighting the issues the social justice issues And all of the issues but carbon was really anti-Europe anyway And in my view was useless in every way. But anyway, um, he'd probably say the same about me so so There we there there we go We have to deal with brexit and all the current issues that we've had All the stuff that you've had to listen to in the period you do remember in your life About the about the backstop and the protocol And now the Windsor agreement all have came out of brexit If it wasn't for brexit, we wouldn't have got any of that stuff I think the island of Ireland and politically where we took cross community Support down here in cross parties support. We didn't have to any longer talk about border checkpoints or you know Items coming into the north and where they where they're going to want to the south So all of these complications all arose out out of brexit and all the instability that we've had in the last seven years Has come out of brexit. Uh, it's caused us a nightmare in lots of ways. Hopefully we'll get through it Um, and now just in the last few sentences where we are now Um, I'm still hopeful hopeful It's always difficult in the north that even though the dup will vote against Um, uh, the Windsor agreement today or tomorrow Um, I still think there's room to resolve these issues. They the the issue is this it's a bit stupid Many of you here are good minds. Um, there's still about three percent Well, one side say three the other say five and anyway, let's say five there's still about five percent of legislation or acts That would come into north of an island that will be still european And the dup don't want anything to do with europe coming directly from europe to the north They would be happy if they're codified through EU law or EU legislation um My own view I'm not across every last line of detail of this though. I do take a A close sign I do think it's worth doing that and trying to see if there's a solution to that um, because if you don't We're into the the issue That that that director general here and I would would not want to be going down the the road of joint authority um, or The joint authority won't be accepted by the british and and we're not going to accept that You're going to direct rule again So you get into an often mess and we'd all be the each other's strokes again for the next 10 years So I think it's far better. They try and resolve this around the Windsor women's Um, I was in london last week. I was up north a few days last week russia soon act And it has put a lot of effort into this. He's put a huge amount of effort Boris was a disaster as you all know And but russia soon act has genuinely worked really really hard to find a solution And I think it would be terrible if we turn them off And if the lilas and unions turn them off There's a lot of effort being made as late with a few hours ago To try and see if they can find a way to codifying These laws through the uk rather than directly from brussels to northern ire The argument is is is simple enough from a union's point of view And as has been described by me by jeffrey dunnell. So I'm just giving you what he says. He said it is entirely unreasonable um For the storm and the executive To to have to deal with issues where they have nobody in brussels where it's totally Dictat from brussels and that they have no say and that is put on top of them at the storm and break He says it's useless Half agreement on that because the storm and break won't really work. It'll be used as a veto And even if jeffrey dunnell was deputy first minister, he didn't want to change the storm and break Jim allister and some of the extremes would be so pull out the executive because you're not getting away so He has a point and I think that has to be hopefully dealt with in the next few weeks if we get over that This word you all want to hear this is where we get over all of the history of that Northern Ireland is in a brilliant position as I've said is the best trick or trick That it will have worked northern Ireland will have the island economy They'll have the uk economy Um, and they'll have the european connection. I mean it is an extraordinary there's several analysis been done by several companies some of you might be stock markets are Stock broken companies or accountancy companies But they're they're ibeck have done very good work in this chamber of commerce of iron that don't work all show The major benefits for northern Ireland and for the island economy, but particularly for northern Ireland Joe biden When he gets here if this stuff is sorted out, you know, it's already committed himself to putting a Kennedy in charge of an economic Movements to try and get more investment to the north. So it couldn't be better for the north um And you'd say well surely they must all see that but we still have to deal with the old identity issue um And and I met a lilas group recently and you know, I just relayed what they said One of the leaders among the senior former paramilitary said to me said Bertie, but you know I know you guys are trying which I have to remember You know jobs investment innovation You know new factory buildings, but that doesn't help my britishness. I'm british My father was british. My mother was british. My grandfather was british. That means more to me So you're not going to sell to me a great economy And jobs for the future to take away my britishness And you know all you can do is look at them and say cheers, but you know I'm just giving you the all terms of view and and we have to understand that all terms of view And what the good friday agreement is that you can be british. You can be Irish. You can be both but Anything anything that deludes the britishness they have a fear and so have a lot of the politicians So a lot of the politicians who we disagree with in the union side I have that fear and they think that the border pole and they think it's all a trick and they think You know champagne will come into power and you know that that they'll be caught on on all of this And so you have to go through all these scenarios. By the way, I think most of it is all rubbish But you have to I'm giving you the viewpoint of people who passionately believe in it And I don't think that's the way the future is going to work out But if it's handled right And if we can make the progress, I think northern Ireland can really flourish and it will help the island of Ireland It'll help our image abroad I offered david print terminal 25 years ago this very week That we would amalgamate the idea and invest northern Ireland as we did with the tourist boards He saw the sense of it But couldn't couldn't do it because he couldn't sell it to to his unionist party at that stage the ultra unionist party So, you know, there are these difficulties But if we were to if we were to move on from where we are now successfully, I think the northern Ireland will Dramatically expand and grow and employment terms. They'll stop the brain drain out a bit too towards the graduates for northern Ireland still emigrate and emigrate for college and then they'll come back Which is a huge loss to northern Ireland Uh, so I I think if we can deal with these issues, it will have a great future. So chairman that all is in the mouth How many how long that it will About 20 minutes, so you weren't too far No, I won't take questions