President Mary McAleese today welcomed today’s “deeply significant” agreement on the devolution of Northern Ireland’s policing and justice powers.
“History may well record this agreement as the moment when the peace process transitioned from potential to reality,” the President said.
“After many years of negotiation and inching forward at an often cautious and painstaking pace, a decisive move ahead has been made and, critically, it has been made by the parties themselves.”
She paid tribute to Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin, Secretary of State Woodward and their officials.
“But they will be the first to agree that the centre of gravity of this agreement rested with the Northern parties themselves, led by the DUP and Sinn Féin. That is why this development augurs so well for the future.
“Peace-building is a long haul and a long road and we are still at a very early stage of its journey, but after today’s agreement we can have more faith than ever that there is no turning back and that the most crucial ingredients for its long-term success - mutual respect and trust and a real sense of partnership - have at last begun to take root,” Mrs McAleese said.
“In this the first week of spring, it is clear that the new beginning promised in the Good Friday Agreement is becoming real and we can all take great hope and heart from that,” she added.
“The critical task now is to use the powerful platform that has been created by this agreement to give full life to the devolution project and to ensure that the dividend of peace is experienced in real terms on the ground in all communities.”