Statement on Good Friday/Belfast Agreement
Speaking in connection with the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, the President of the Methodist Church in Ireland, the Revd. David Nixon, said:
"The sense of hope for a peaceful and less divided future that accompanied the Good Friday Agreement is still fresh in many memories a quarter of a century later, and it is indeed cause of thanksgiving that an entire generation has, because of this agreement, grown up without a daily diet of sectarian violence in our streets.
"While the Agreement contained provisions which some on our island found bitter pills to swallow, the spirit of shared risk and reward, and parity of esteem for all with which the Agreement was imbued offered a foundation for a community based on common ground and unity rather than tribalism and suspicion.
"We remain hopeful that the lasting peace and prosperity offered by the Good Friday Agreement will reach its full potential. It is, however, with sadness and a sense of frustration shared by many in Ireland, north and south, that the power-sharing government which forms the heart of the Agreement is unable to currently function, and I call on all those with a will for progress to continue to strive for its re-establishment. I would also remind those holding it up that it was only through personal risk and faith that power-sharing was brought into its fullest being in 2007, when two arch-enemies pursued the greater good of all the people of this land by choosing the path of friendship and compromise.
"As we face into an uncertain future, may we do so with confidence, knowing that those that went before us made great sacrifices for the relative peace we have now, and have entrusted to us the desire of generations yet to come to create a lasting peace, with honour and prosperity, for every citizen. And may God continue to aid us in that quest."
Rev David Nixon
President of the Methodist Church in Ireland