Tánaiste’s remarks at Atlantic Council, Washington DC - 7 February 2024

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Friends,

It is good to be back in the Atlantic Council.

I don’t have to tell you that it’s been quite a foreign policy year, sadly one marked by war in Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

There are many challenges which those of us fortunate to have influence must address. Not just conflict, but the associated challenges of climate change and hunger.

It is always easier to address such challenges within agreed frameworks, through dialogue and respectful engagement.

Against this backdrop, I thought that I might start with some good news.

Last Saturday, the members of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the elected representatives of the people of Northern Ireland, came together to elect a new Speaker and appoint a new Executive.

These simple steps, these basic democratic functions, had not been possible for two years.

For two years, those elected to office were not in a position to make decisions affecting everyday life in Northern Ireland.

The absence of decisions showed. It impacted all aspects of public life. Deteriorating health care. Deteriorating infrastructure. Strikes. A decline of faith in institutions hard won through the negotiations that we call the peace process, a process whose headline achievement is the Good Friday Agreement.

Senator George Mitchell, who chaired the talks which gave us the Good Friday Agreement, described those negotiations as 700 bad days – “and one good day, which changed the course of history.”

The generation born in 1998, the year the Good Friday Agreement was reached, are now 25. For most of the seven years since they reached the age of majority they have not seen normal politics.

They now have that possibility. That makes this a good week.

Politicians in Northern Ireland, from across the community, can now make decisions to improve life for all who live there. That makes this a good week.

The possibility of the future, which George Mitchell’s one good day unlocked, has been restored.

I want to acknowledge the support and leadership of successive US administrations, Republican and Democrat, in creating and shaping an Ireland at peace and of possibility.

From the work of Senator Mitchell in the 1990s, through to Paula’s outstanding contribution as Special Envoy, and today to the work of Joe Kennedy III.

The contribution of successive US Presidents, from both sides of the aisle, has been crucial to peace on our island. President Biden’s leadership and his wise and careful words during his visit to Ireland, North and South, last April, made a very positive impact.

As the President said to university students in Belfast, “The United States of America will continue to be your partner in building the future the young people of our world deserve”.

The United States continues to bring hope in the future to Northern Ireland.

US leadership matters.

I want to acknowledge too the leadership shown by Jeffrey Donaldson in bringing his party back to the devolved institutions, the forbearance of other political parties in giving Jeffrey the time and space to negotiate with the British government, and to congratulate the new First and Deputy First Minister.

We need them to succeed. We need politics in Northern Ireland to succeed, because like all our societies Northern Ireland continues to evolve. Change is best managed when politics is working properly. That Northern Ireland has its first ever nationalist First Minister is a sign of change. That there is a growing middle ground that do not necessarily identify as either unionist or nationalist is a sign of change. That unionist concerns regarding post-Brexit arrangements have been addressed is a positive development.

Underpinning change, underpinning the potential of politics, is the Good Friday Agreement. That put in place a framework of fundamental protections for all in Northern Ireland. Principles of equality, parity of esteem and respect for human rights are at the heart of the political settlement.

The core point is that all can now compete, equally. That was not always the case.

Also important is that differences can and are resolved through politics, through negotiation, and not by the gun.

For too long Northern Ireland was blighted by misgovernance and violence, whose scars and horrors impeded the creation of a society of common purpose. This tragic and self-harming pattern is not unique to the island of Ireland, but thankfully we have moved on.

As Dr Martin Luther King observed, “Dehumanisation is a form of violence that kills the soul.” Dr King and the Civil Rights movement was a source of inspiration for those working to make Northern Ireland a more equal place. The majority, from all traditions, continued to insist on the fundamental dignity of all human life right throughout the Troubles.

In the 1993 Downing Street Declaration, the governments in London and Dublin agreed the parameters for peace in Northern Ireland. Human rights and equality for all are at the heart of the Declaration and a few years later central to the Good Friday Agreement.

That Agreement set in place also both a normative and a principles-based framework for three interlocking sets of relationships, within Northern Ireland, on the island of Ireland, and between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain.

An insistence on rights and equality and a political framework in which governments must work to the collective benefit of the people would have been very familiar to the many Ulster Scots signatories of this country’s Declaration of Independence.

Those that wrote that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”, would hear those truths echo – perhaps more prosaically - in the Good Friday Agreement, in which the parties state that they are “committed to partnership, equality and mutual respect as the basis of relationships…”.

The legal protection of human rights, including the incorporation into law of the European Convention of Human Rights, are in the Agreement as a fundamental safeguard, necessary if Northern Ireland’s new start was to succeed.

Against a backdrop where the relationship between state and citizen had broken down, the human rights provisions of the Agreement were essential for trust to grow. We saw that perhaps most eloquently in the reform of policing in Northern Ireland from a force to a service.

Key to that transition was building for the ‘whole community a place in the constitutional arrangements for accountability’, as the architect of that reform, Chris Patten, wrote. Putting human rights at the heart of policing helped deliver that transformation and acceptance of policing by and for everyone.

25 years on, those questions of fairness, of parity of esteem and accountability remain relevant in what remains a post-conflict society, with all of the complexities and challenges that this entails.

This is no surprise. Building peace, transforming societies, is hard work.

Probably the absent part of the Good Friday Agreement was an agreed overarching framework for dealing with the past. We have tried, since, to retrofit such a framework and through the various talks on this issue over many year it was clear that any path would need to be compliant with agreed human rights norms. This was at the heart of the legacy framework agreed by the Governments, the Stormont House Agreement in 2014.

Against this backdrop, we were disappointed to see the British Government move away from that Agreement and adopt instead a legal framework that has provoked serious concerns about its compatibility with the European Convention of Human Rights.

It is precisely because human rights remains at the heart of the successful process of peace and reconciliation that my Government – after exhausting every other path – took the decision to instigate an inter-State case at the European Court of Human Rights.

The victims and survivors of the Troubles deserve a framework for dealing with the legacy of the past that is compatible with human rights requirements. The legal process to test this is now underway and should be left to run its course.

In the meantime, there are many other important issues on which my Government and our colleagues in the British Government continue to work closely together – our relationship is too important and too multi-faceted ever to be defined by a single issue.

In particular, we have a duty of partnership in respect of our role as guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement to see it operate as effectively as possible across all of its strands.

But, if I may, offer some high level reflections from the Irish experience which inform my approach to the enduring challenges of peace and war in my work as Foreign Minister.

Process is important and can itself transform participants.

Rules and institutions matter. They need to be agreed, built, nurtured and protected.

If outcomes are to command confidence, then processes of reform require confidence.

Human rights are essential, particularly if transitional justice and other challenges are to be navigated. Protection of human rights is at the core of stability and security. International norms help navigate local challenges.

As I look out and reflect on how Ireland can best make our contribution at a time of turmoil, these reflections help chart a path.

This perspective also governs our foreign and security policy. Global multilateral rules and institutions matter. I have said before that, for a small, militarily non-aligned state like Ireland, the UN Charter and the rules-based international order is our greatest global security asset.

This month two years ago, Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, made absolutely clear their disdain for the UN Charter and for a predictable, stable rules-based system.

The invasion of Ukraine has had profound implications for our national security and for the stability of the European continent. The European Union has reacted with unprecedented measures, reflecting the existential nature of this threat. Our sanctions, our military assistance, our economic support, our housing of refugees, and our action at the UN, are unparalleled in our history as a Union.

All of this has been done in the closest possible cooperation with the US. The Transatlantic alliance has delivered consistently and substantively to protect the values and interests that underpin our historic bond.

We are continuing to deliver. Just last week, the European Union agreed a new macro-financial package of €50 billion for Ukraine, which will see our support put on to a sustainable and predicable footing for the next four years. We are close to agreement on an annual military support package through the European Peace Facility of €5 billion.

This is important for Ukraine of course, but it is also a clear signal to Russia. The community of nations which respect and believe in the international multilateral system, are also willing to invest in maintaining it and strengthening it.

In my meetings in Congress this week, I am emphasising that both the EU and the US, together, need to stay the course on Ukraine. Russia is relying on fatigue and attrition in European capitals and in Washington to defeat Ukraine and collapse the European security architecture. We cannot allow this to happen.

The situation in the Middle East is another testament to the need for diplomacy, multilateral institutions and respect for international law as our guiding principles. The barbaric terrorist attack by Hamas in Israel on 7 October was utterly appalling and depraved; it must be condemned unequivocally. But the scale of the loss of civilian lives, the displacement of 85% of the population in Gaza and the catastrophic humanitarian conditions facing 2.3 million Palestinians is unacceptable.

My message to those involved in the conflict in the Middle East, is exactly the same as the message you have just heard me state on Ukraine – the rules-international based international order, with the UN Charter at its core – is the cornerstone of our collective security and must be respected.

The UN Secretary-General has made it very clear; even wars have rules. International humanitarian law exists for a reason. Its overarching aim is to protect civilians. That means all civilians, everywhere.

Ireland has been clear in our call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire, the immediate and unconditional release of hostages and a massive scaling up of humanitarian aid. We see no other possible way to end this horrifying conflict and move towards a political pathway.

As difficult as it may seem, we have to maintain a longer-term perspective. This is a critical juncture.

We must do everything to avoid the prospect of the voices of extremism on all sides becoming the loudest or only voices. The voices of moderation have been drowned out for far, far too long.

A two-state solution, as imperfect as it is, remains the only pathway to a stable, long-term stability. It is only through acknowledging and supporting the equal rights to peace, security and self-determination of the Palestinian and Israeli peoples, that we can finally take decisive steps to ending this bitter and tragic conflict.

Ladies and gentlemen.

When we look at the problems dominating our news today, Northern Ireland seems like a small place with small problems.

But it is our place. They are our problems. My Government, as co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement, is wholly committed to ensuring its implementation, and helping tackle those problems.

It is also your place. You helped make the peace and you continue to help sustain it. I thank you sincerely for your support.

I am here today filled with hope for Northern Ireland and for my island as a whole.

Joe Kennedy III, the US Special Envoy for Northern Ireland has been assiduous in carrying out his responsibilities. I met him in Dublin just last Friday.

Last autumn, he brought a delegation of senior business figures to see all that Northern Ireland has to offer investors. I met them at Hillsborough Castle. They were open, interested, even excited. But some also highlighted a key missing ingredient: Northern Ireland had no Executive, no local Government.

That has changed. The Executive is in place – comprised of those who disagree, fundamentally, on many things, but who will pull in one direction to provide security and prosperity for the people of Northern Ireland.

At this time of wider difficulty and trouble, let that remind us that it is good to hope, and that with effort, with friends, with respect, hope delivers.

Thank you.