Posted: 04 April 2008
Taoiseach marks 10th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement
An Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern T.D. delivered the keynote speech at the UCD Institute of British Irish Studies (IBIS) conference marking the 10th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement on 03 April 2008, the day after he announced that he was due to resign as Taoiseach on 06 May 2008.
Mr Ahern’s address: “From Conflict to Consensus the Legacy of the Good Friday Agreement” reflected on the Good Friday Agreement as a momentous milestone in the history of Ireland. He spoke of the 10th Anniversary of the Agreement as a valuable opportunity to reflect on the enormous progress made since 1998 and the future of relations on these islands.
Pictured (l-r): Professor John Coakley, Director, UCD Institute for British Irish Studies; An Taoiseach, Mr Bertie Ahern T.D.; UCD President, Dr Hugh Brady; Rt Hon Mr Shaun Woodward, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Introducing An Taoiseach to the conference delegates, The President of UCD, Dr Hugh Brady spoke of Mr Ahern’s achievements:
“It is the genius of Bertie Ahern that he has combined and fused so successfully the personal and the political, the local and the global. Bertie is a man of vision and a man of action – just consider three examples: the peace process, Ireland’s role and influence in Europe and Asia and Ireland’s Strategy for Science Technology and Innovation.”
“He is a man of peace who built bridges where, previously, counterparts would have hesitated to look for outline planning permission.”
“He is a man who saw the opportunity for a small country such as Ireland to serve as an honest broker and key influencer in the European project and who, as I mentioned above, was a decade ahead of his international counterparts in appreciating the emerging economic importance of Asia.”
“As with his keen appreciation that peace has to be secured as well as delivered, so in the case of economic prosperity, the Taoiseach has appreciated like few others that, to secure that prosperity, we must invest in science and technology research and development. He is the man who gave us, early in his first term as Taoiseach, the Programme for Research in Third-Level Institutions – a groundbreaking partnership with Chuck Feeney’s Atlantic Philanthropies (whose support of IBIS I should also acknowledge today). Later in that same term, the Taoiseach gave us Science Foundation Ireland and in his second term, he drove through the Strategy for Science, Technology and Innovation. These three initiatives combined should, given the appropriate ongoing support, serve to secure the legacy of that prosperity which Bertie Ahern did so much to establish.”
“There is so much more that could be said: I pass over with briefest of passing mentions of his domestic political achievement in becoming both our youngest and our second longest-serving Taoiseach.”
“A man of peace, a man of prosperity and progress, a man of vision – a man who walked with Kings but, emphatically, never lost the common touch, a man who combines the best of global leader and true Dub – indeed, to coin a phrase, a Global Dub.”
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Shaun Woodward also addressed the conference to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
