As Northern Ireland prepares to mark 25 years of peace, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern and former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams recall the tense mood before a landmark deal was struck
Key players thought talks might collapse in final daysPolitics in Northern Ireland remains beset by crises
As Northern Ireland prepares to mark 25 years of peace, Blair, Ahern and former Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams recalled the tense mood in the cramped group of buildings at the seat of the local Northern Ireland government where the talks were held."When we turned up in Belfast that April, the thing was in a state of collapse so I didn't think we would get an agreement. Sometimes it would be on, sometimes it would be off," Blair said in an interview in London.
Ahern said the turning point came a day after Trimble drafted his letter to Blair. The Irish leader shifted Dublin's position sufficiently to get the key unionist leader back on side. The agreement, which ran to fewer than 40 pages, has largely ended three decades of violence that killed more than 3,600 people and made Northern Ireland unrecognisable economically and socially 25 years on, Blair, Ahern and Adams say.
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