We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
LAST UPDATE | 14 Mar 2023
Christina Finn reporting from New York
HILLARY CLINTON HAS said she hopes the Windsor Framework will be progressed and that the Government in Stormont can be reestablished.
Speaking at an event in New York yesterday evening, where she received the Hans J. Morgenthau Award for her contribution to American foreign policy, she said she hopes the deal will mean there can be a “move on the many issues that confront the people of Northern Ireland”.
Speaking at the prize-giving event to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Clinton said the agreement “does remain a triumph of diplomacy” for both the UK and Ireland, as well as the United States.
The agreement is a “testament to the courage and determination of the people of Northern Ireland”, she added.
Referencing the war in Ukraine, Clinton said “these are trying times and it can be tempting to just walk away from these difficulties”. She thanked the Tánaiste Micheál Martin, who was at last night’s event, for Ireland’s kind response to refugees from Ukraine.
“I think all of us can draw inspiration and strength from the accomplishment of the peace accord 25 years ago that once seemed impossible,” she said.
“I’m very optimistic about what lies ahead for Northern Ireland and in a way the Good Friday Agreement and the example of everyone who took a deep leap of faith to negotiate it, to vote for it.
“To believe in it, is an example our world and our country needs right now, to see about what does happen when ordinary citizens come together to demand peace and then work to preserve it,” she said.
Gerry Adams’ visa
Clinton also referenced back to the time when former Sinn Féín president Gerry Adams was granted a visa by her husband, the then US President Bill Clinton.
Clinton famously decided to grant the former Sinn Féin leader a US Visa in 1994, much to the anger of the UK Government at the time.
British officials were said to be “apoplectic” about the granting of a US visa waiver to Adams.
Last night she said the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, who gave the award to her, were a strong advocate for Gerry Adams getting the visa in the 90s, which Clinton said was important to facilitating the beginning of the peace process.
“Your advocacy now is needed as much as ever. We need the voices that come from all of you demanding that we listen to each other, no matter how difficult it might be.
“That we try to build foundations of understanding and lasting peace, that we remain committed to conflict resolution, whenever and however we can, and that we keep in mind, the role that the committee, our country, our government played in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland,” said the former US Secretary of State.
Clinton recalls her visit to the Lamplighter cafe in Belfast in the 90s, where she met a group of women that had a profound impact on her. pic.twitter.com/xMTTZrHwAz
— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) March 13, 2023
Hillary Clinton accompanied her husband Bill Clinton to Belfast in 1995, when he became the first serving US president to visit Northern Ireland.
Hillary also took a keen interest in peace-building on the trip.
Over the years, she has been a strong advocate for Northern Ireland and in October 2018, she received an Honorary Degree from Queens University, where she is now chancellor, for her exceptional public service.
Giving an address at the same event, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that after a difficult number of years, real progress on some key issues has been made.
“I warmly welcome the agreement in principle of the Windsor Framework. Both the EU and the UK worked incredibly hard to address the genuine concerns that had arisen from the operation of the Protocol made necessary by Brexit.
“To achieve this, both the EU and the UK reached. It is a sign of what can be achieved when we come together with genuine political will,” he added.
Martin said with the Windsor Framework agreed, we now have an opportunity to bring “hope, energy and momentum back into politics for Northern Ireland”.
“It provides a stable set of arrangements to address the outworking of Brexit on Northern Ireland. It is time to focus attention on building a brighter future,” he said.
In this anniversary year of the Good Friday Agreement, the Government of Ireland is thinking, not only of what was achieved 25 years ago, but of all that can still be achieved in the 25 years to come. @NATLCOMMITTEE pic.twitter.com/rBpF0EvnJ3
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) March 13, 2023
The event entitled ‘Looking back and moving forward: Celebrating 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement’ was also attended by co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Ireland caucus, Richie Neal and the UK Trade Commissioner for North America Emma Wade-Smith.
Neal also made reference to the Gerry Adams visa last night, stating that he backed the Clinton’s decision on it.
“It worked, it worked,” he said. Speaking about the Framework, he said it is another example of “compromise” and the “spirit of trying to get to the goal line”.
While Martin met with Hillary Clinton last night, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will meet with her in Washington on Thursday, with both politicians taking part in an event at Georgetown University, titled: ‘Women at the Helm: The Unfinished Business of the Good Friday Agreement.’
The conference will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the peace deal and spotlight the role that women played in forging and sustaining peace.
It will also reflect on the unfinished nature of the peace process and generate strategies for locking in peace for the next 25 years.
Earlier today, the committee also hosted a conference on moving forward with the agreement.
The SDLP’s Colum Eastwood, the Alliance Party’s Naomi Long, Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald, and the Ulster Unionist Party’s Mike Nesbitt took part in the earlier session entitled, ‘Transatlantic Solutions to Regional Challenges’.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, McDonald said the American dimension to the peace process goes back to the earliest days, stating that “the truth is we wouldn’t have had a Good Friday Agreement but for the intervention, the support of the United States”.
“Equally when Brexit happened, when the Protocol had to be negotiated, all of that was hugely influenced by people like Nancy Pelosi, like Richie Neal, and indeed, President Biden. So that level of support, that level of interest and investment in peace in Ireland is extremely important,” said McDonald.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say