Good Friday Agreement

Irish News , 7. May 2007

'Difficult journey' to move forward
William Graham, Irish News

"The Irish peace process is one of the most successful peace processes in the world today and I would like to think that I along with others have played my part in making this happen." Martin McGuinness

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness, sitting in his new office at Stormont, said he had had "many meetings" with Ian Paisley and they had all been conducted in "a very courteous and civilised fashion". As they say in this part of the political world, you could hardly believe your ears. Yet that is what is happening at least initially in a constructive relationship between these two men, who were once enemies.

Mr Paisley and Mr McGuinness become first minister and deputy first minister tomorrow (Tuesday). It is a joint office but of course they don't share the exact same office space in Parliament Buildings.

The office walls are somewhat bare at the moment but Mr McGuinness intends to add his own touch to the place. He is considering some pictures of Sam Maguire Cup winners.

In getting down to the business of this interview Mr McGuinness said he believed that when Ian Paisley finally decided to take part in the restoration of the institutions he would go in not for the purpose of walking out but to make things work.

Mr McGuinness admitted there would be difficult days ahead and difficult decisions to be taken. But he said that so far all of his experience in working with Ian Paisley was that both men were approaching the process in a proper frame of mind.

The restoration tomorrow of the political institutions – both power-sharing and all-Ireland – has the overwhelming support of people in the north and throughout the island, Mr McGuinness said. For him one of the most significant events of recent months was the March assembly election.

"There is tremendous satisfaction out in the community that at long last we are going to see the institutions that the people want put back in place," Mr McGuinness said.

He accepted that as well as being a momentous day, Tuesday would also be a sobering occasion with relatives of people who died in the conflict still grieving.

"I think all of us participating in the events of tomorrow will be very conscious of all of that," he said. "And very conscious of the need to ensure that we continue to move forward, that we continue to successfully move away from all of the inequalities, injustices, discrimination, violence and death of the past to a new future.
It is hard to quantify how people within the victims group feel about all of this except we do know that many many people who have been victims of the conflict are also very supportive of the political change that has happened over the course of the recent while.
Others will undoubtedly find it difficult to come to terms with all of this but I think this is a journey for everybody and it is a difficult journey but it is a journey we all have to take to move forward. We have to move forward not forgetting the past – certainly not forgetting all of those people who have been victims.
I certainly know, coming from the community I come from, there are many people out there who have had absolutely no comfort from anybody within the British government in terms of the activities of British state forces and the many killings they engaged in without anybody facing one day in prison as a result of these activities."

Later during the interview Mr McGuinness said people had to recognise that our past over the course of many centuries had been littered with conflict, injustice and inequality. At the same time he said:

"We are now at a place in our lives with every prospect of a political process being put in place which has the potential within it to prevent ever again the type of instability and injustice and conflict that we have seen in the past ever occurring again."

Asked if he had ever thought, as an IRA commander in Derry in the early years of the latest phase of the conflict, if he would end up sharing an office with Ian Paisley, he said:

"The truthful answer to that question is 'no'. But I think also the time that I was an IRA commander was over 30 years ago. That is a long period of time – three decades – and a lot has happened over the course of those three decades.
I have for the greater part of the last 15 years been involved at the highest level of leadership within Sinn Féin and Irish republicanism in an attempt to bring the conflict to an end in a way which would see all of the inequalities and injustices, instability, conflict and death a thing of the past.
Here we are. The Irish peace process is one of the most successful peace processes in the world today and I would like to think that I along with others have played my part in making this happen."