Senator George Mitchell, who chaired the Northern Ireland peace talks at the behest of President Clinton and who is widely credited with creating the Good Friday Agreement, has revealed that he kept a famous promise this week.
Mitchell said that during the negotiations that he would bring his son back to the North when peace had become established and show him what he and so many others had helped create.
That day arrived this week, Mitchell said in an address to a Joint Committee of the Irish legislature.
Mitchell stated, “In my parting comments to my colleagues, I told them that the Agreement was, for me, the realization of a dream that had sustained me for what up until then had been three-and-a-half years, the longest and most difficult years of my life.
"Now, I told them, I have a new dream – and it was that I hoped to return to Northern Ireland some day with my young son, Andrew, who had been born during the negotiations.
"I told them that I would take my son and travel the country, taking in the sights and sounds of a beautiful land, and then on a rainy afternoon we would drive to Stormont and sit quietly in the visitors’ gallery in the Northern Ireland Assembly. There, I hoped, we would watch and listen as the members debated the ordinary issues of life in a democratic society: education, healthcare, agriculture, tourism.
"There would be no talk war, for the war would long have been over. There would be no talk of peace, for peace would by then be taken for granted. On that day – the day on which peace is taken for granted in Northern Ireland – I will be fulfilled and people of peace and goodwill everywhere will rejoice.
"I spoke those words 14 years ago, and I’m happy to tell you just a few weeks ago I made that journey with my son. We spent a week travelling all across Northern Ireland; we sat in the visitors’ gallery at the Northern Ireland Assembly – the only thing different is that for a week it didn’t rain, which I found extraordinary, given all the time I had spent in Northern Ireland – but as we sat in the gallery, listening to the Northern Ireland Assembly debate, we heard a calm, a peaceful, and a democratic debate.
"We heard a minister report to the assembly on a conference he had just attended. It was as dry and dust, and as boring as only a government report can be.
"But it was music to my ears, and I thought it wonderful to hear.
And it made it, truly, one of the best days of my life.”
Speaking of Northern Ireland now, Mitchell says, “I’m not objective: I favor the people of Northern Ireland. Having spent years with them I’ve come to like and admire them. While they can be quarrelsome, and often very quick to take offence, they’re also warm and generous, energetic and productive.
"The very first day of the meetings, when David Irvine – a wonderful man and a powerful contributor to peace – said to me: 'Senator, if you are to be of any use of us, there’s one thing you must know.' I said, 'What is it?'
"He said, 'We in Northern Ireland would drive 100 miles out of our way to receive an insult.' I thought he was kidding, but nobody else in the room laughed. So I took it seriously.”
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.IrelandNorth | May 01, 2012, 06:30 AM EDT
The Northern Ireland Peace Process wasn't confined to Ulster. The Good Friday Agreement was an agreement between the Government of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The "North" and "Northern Ireland" aren't synonymous. Northern Ireland isn't a country, it's a neo-provincial statelet. If Senator Mitchell favours the people of Northern Ireland, does that mean he disfavours those of us in Munster/Southern Ireland - Leinster/Eastern Ireland - and/or - Connacht/Western Ireland? Or am I proving David Irvine wrong - i.e. that Leinster/Eastern Ireland men also travel a 100 miles to be offended. If so, we may have something in common after all, if only a persecution complex. Republicans would argue that as long as there is a Northern Ireland in anything other than geographical terms, that democracy in the context is oxymoronic. Still, his task was enormous, and I do respect him profoundly.
TayandCake | Apr 29, 2012, 11:50 AM EDT
BytheBay, you're a miserable, lonely pessimist and always will be.
aloistmartin | Apr 28, 2012, 09:53 PM EDT
Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God... And so on ~
seanomelb | Apr 28, 2012, 06:39 PM EDT
bythebay the bigot lives in fear that one day he will have an Irish passport.His Norn Areland will disappear into the pages of history.
joanxis | Apr 28, 2012, 04:19 PM EDT
A lovely story and not surprising from a man of George Mitchell's standing. He is a decent man who did his best for the people of Northern Ireland just like he has done over the years for us in the state of Maine and for our country. And KilkennyCats ... of course he's a Red Sox fan. Most of us in Maine are.:) Bythebay - just curious - would you rather have had George Mitchell stay at home and done nothing? Sounds like it.
LoyalCitizen | Apr 28, 2012, 03:30 PM EDT
Maybe Mr Mitchell needs to read up on law a bit more...........If he read up on law he would understand how traitorous Irish Politicians have falsified the rule books of Ireland to allow opinions and nothing in law could be valid ever since.
Bythebay | Apr 28, 2012, 02:44 PM EDT
Mitchell didn't bring his son to Ireland. He brought his son to Northern Ireland, a different country.
Bythebay | Apr 28, 2012, 02:09 PM EDT
dickmac, just after Mitchell and his Northern Ireland Peace Treaty, the IRA bombed Omagh in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. 29 innocent people both Catholic and Protestant blown to smithereens while out shopping on a Saturday afternoon. And they continue their murders to today including a young Catholic PSNI Officer murdered for no reason but to discourage other Catholics from joining the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Bythebay | Apr 28, 2012, 02:04 PM EDT
ArmaghCity, not where you do pretending to be part of Ireland when you're not and never will be.
johnshiel | Apr 28, 2012, 12:50 PM EDT
this little story will be, I suspect, one that is remembered and retold for decades; maybe centuries.
ArmaghCity | Apr 28, 2012, 12:22 PM EDT
ByTheBay ... Where do you live, bigot?
Bythebay | Apr 28, 2012, 12:13 PM EDT
KilkennyCats, Mitchell had nothing to do with Ireland except assure Ireland had to give up all claims to Northern Ireland. He didn't come to Ireland and of course wasn't invited.
dickmac | Apr 28, 2012, 12:13 PM EDT
The people in the North deserve peace ! After these many years we pray that all will live under a better life.
donal1951 | Apr 28, 2012, 12:12 PM EDT
George Mitchell did a fantastic job in Northern Ireland, thanks in no small part to the help of controversial figures such as Gerry Adams and the Rev. Dr. Ian Paisley. The timing was right. Sadly, Mr. Mitchell did not meet the same success in the Middle East because the will for peace was not there, not his fault at all. But the Irish people, Catholic and Protestant, deserve praise.
Bythebay | Apr 28, 2012, 12:12 PM EDT
Northern Ireland is not Ireland. Mr. Mitchell went to Northern Ireland, not Ireland. The Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland, which he crafted, assured Ireland sould give up all rights to Northern Ireland. Mitchell was just mopping up the catastrophic results of 30 years of IRA terrorism.
ArmaghCity | Apr 28, 2012, 11:12 AM EDT
I am from the North and I am very grateful for this American's assistance, as well as that of Bill Clinton and so many others. Don't mind the anti-Yank crowd. As you say, they are bigots. While the American Celtic Tiger companies had self-interest in mind, of course, these gentlemen simply had a true love and passion for the people of the North.
KilkennyCats | Apr 28, 2012, 10:47 AM EDT
@Seanmor ... You are so very correct. Yet the anti-Yank ungrateful bigots on this site will unfortunately probably see otherwise. Just as they say American companies had absolutely nothing to do with fueling the Celtic Tiger. You know, the "mind your own business" lot like StevenStar Senator Mitchell, thank you for all of your efforts. You are a true gentleman and true class. Too bad you are a Red Sox fan though. :)
SeamusMor | Apr 28, 2012, 10:42 AM EDT
Senator Mitchell did an extraordinary job as a negotiator. I expect he might be the first to acknowledge the vision and efforts of the late, great, entrepreneur and philanthropist who personally sponsored the first ever gathering of representatives of the Nationalist and Unionist communities in Northern Ireland. Mitchell was the mid wife of the peace process of which Tom Tracy was the father. God bless them both!
Seanmor | Apr 28, 2012, 10:14 AM EDT
George Mitchell should receive a warm Cad Míle Fáilte in both parts of Ireland for having played a major role in the peace proces that led to G.F.A. Let us also remember Peter King's valuable contribution to arranging peace in the Partitioned nation.