FORMER TAOISEACH BERTIE AHERN
ADDRESSES CAPACITY CROWD AT
25th ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION
OF THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT

By Veronica Corr

Former Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Bertie Ahern received a rousing welcome from a packed function room on Monday night in The Shirley Arms Hotel, Carrickmacross. He was there at the invitation of Dr. Rory O’Hanlon and South Monaghan Fianna Fáil, but it was a public event and people from different traditions, with no political affiliations, were welcomed too. This was not a party political broadcast. Rather it was a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which ushered in a new era of peace on the island of Ireland.

Mr. Ahern had a controversial political career, but he is credited as being one of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement. Professor Terence Dooley, Department Head of History at Maynooth University, a native of Killanny, engaged Mr. Ahern in an-hourlong conversation in-front of a live audience.

The historian asked some fascinating questions and it was a very interesting event to attend because Bertie Ahern made history and was able to recall the events of 25 years ago with ease. He also spoke naturally and concisely off-thecuff, and he even threw in a few laughs along the way. The evening was divided into three sections, as Professor Dooley so eloquently explained: “On 10th April 1998, almost 25 years ago, the Good Friday Agreement or the Belfast Agreement came into being. It was actually a pair of agreements, a multiparty agreement between most of…