LAST UPDATE | 18 Apr 2023
THE RESTORATION OF the Stormont Assembly can “fairly easily be done if we want to”, former US president Bill Clinton has said.
Addressing an audience in Derry marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Clinton said an excuse can always be found to say no.
It comes against the ongoing deadlock in Stormont.
Crowds gathered outside the Guildhall and an invited audience inside the building rose in a standing ovation as Mr Clinton arrived.
The Making Hope And History Rhyme event, organised by the John and Pat Hume Foundation, also heard musical performances and addresses by young people.
The former US president paid tribute to those who came together for the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, and said the “gift of the agreement” was “lifting our lives, our children’s lives and our grandchildren’s lives”.
He said it is important to get Stormont back up and running.
“Based on what I’ve heard it can fairly easily be done if we want to, but we can always find an excuse to say no,” he said.
“If you’re having a fight in your home, you can always find an excuse to say no, if you’re struggling with any kind of relationship or struggle, you can always find an excuse to say no, getting to yes is humanity’s great trial and great goal.
“The people we honour today got to yes.”
Ash lead singer Tim Wheeler dedicated a performance of his hit Shining Light to journalist Lyra McKee on the fourth anniversary of her death.
Clinton also paid tribute to the murdered journalist.
The former president and his wife Hillary attended a special screening in Belfast of a film about McKee yesterday evening, which he described in his address as “wonderful”.
He said her life is a testament to the unlimited potential of the people of her generation.
“Her death is a powerful reminder that there are few permanent victories in politics or life,” he said.
“We owe it to her to, in her words, to say goodbye to bombs and bullets once and for all.”
Clinton has already taken part in a three-day conference in Queen’s University Belfast to mark the anniversary, alongside former UK prime minister Tony Blair and former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
The UK government today issued its strongest appeal yet to unionists in Northern Ireland to restore the region’s power-sharing government.
But the DUP reiterated that it will not be pushed into returning to powersharing.
The party has said it will not participate in the Assembly until its concerns around the Northern Ireland Protocol are addressed.
It has expressed concerns over the Windsor Framework, which the UK agreed with the EU earlier this year in an attempt to persuade the DUP to call off its Assembly boycott.
Clinton paid tribute to those who came together for the historic 1998 accord, particularly John Hume, who led the SDLP and David Trimble, who led the UUP.
He described the “gift of the agreement” as “lifting our lives, our children’s lives and our grandchildren’s lives”.
“If you’re having a fight in your home, you can always find an excuse to say no, if you’re struggling with any kind of relationship or struggle, you can always find an excuse to say no, getting to yes is humanity’s great trial and great goal.
“The people we honour today got to yes.”
Clinton said he can remember virtually every encounter with Hume and Trimble, adding that the latter was “so modest” and never got “the credit he deserved”.
U2 frontman Bono also paid tribute to Hume and Trimble at the event.
In a video message paying tribute to Hume, Bono said: “We were looking for a giant and found a man who made all our lives bigger.
“We were looking for some superpowers and found clarity of thought, kindness. We were looking for a revolution and found it in the parish halls with tea and biscuits and late night meetings. We were looking for a negotiator who understood that no-one wins unless everyone loses something.”
Paying tribute to Trimble, he said: “A man with faith in the future.
“The man who celebrated the Good Friday Agreement by going for a quiet meal with his family in a fish restaurant was not just a product of Presbyterianism, he was an expression of it.”
He added: “A politician who was seen as a hardliner who, when the moment came, made the hard choice for peace.”
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