Minister Heather Humphreys delivers a speech at Inaugural Albert Reynolds Memorial Lecture in Longford's Backstage Theatre

Large crowds flocked to the Backstage Theatre today to attend the inaugural Albert Reynolds Memorial Lecture, which featured very special guest and former British Prime Minister, Sir John Major.

Also speaking at the lecture was Minister Heather Humphreys, whose speech is below:

Ladies and Gentlemen.

I am very glad to be here and I want to express my appreciation to Longford County Council for the invitation to speak on behalf of the Government.

This evening has been a welcome and fitting occasion to remember former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.

We are here in the mid-Western heartland that was Albert’s home with his wife Kathleen and their family for many years.

This is also of course the Longford-Westmeath constituency that Albert Reynolds represented in the Dáil for 25 years with great pride, dedication and skill.

I want to acknowledge Kathleen and the other members of the Reynolds family who are in attendance this evening.

I know that this is a proud and emotional occasion for you, as we recognise and remember Albert and what he achieved in his political life, with your support every step of the way.

I know that the Reynolds family are so pleased, as am I, that the address this evening was given by former British Prime Minister, the Right Honourable Sir John Major.

I am sure that everyone agrees that there is simply no one more fitting than Sir John to deliver this inaugural memorial lecture, given the close and historic relationship that he and Albert Reynolds fostered in the early 90s, as they led the British and Irish governments in partnership in one of the most critical and important phases of the Peace Process.

Sir John, I want to express a very sincere thank you on behalf of the Government for being here this evening, and for sharing your memories of the former Taoiseach and of your historic work together to advance the Peace Process.

You have also shared with us your valuable insights on the current political landscape, and relationships across these islands, as we stand at another critical moment for Ireland, for the United Kingdom, and indeed for Europe.

The Government deeply appreciates your long and enduring friendship with the people of this island, North and South; your deep commitment to peace; and your lasting contribution to the relationship between the UK and Ireland, in all of its many dimensions.

Fianna Fáil Leader Micheál Martin joins Sir John Major in Longford to honour 'the spirit and achievements of Albert Reynolds'

As someone who comes from a minority background just south of the border, I know first-hand the transformation that the Peace Process has brought to people’s lives, first and foremost in Northern Ireland but also in our shared border region, right across the island of Ireland and in the UK.

We have seen, slowly but surely, a lifting of divisions - political, physical and psychological divisions - and the emergence instead of a new dynamic of connection and cooperation.

There are of course issues and challenges to address today, but the principles and the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement will always be the fundamental framework for the Irish Government, as it is for the British Government.

In that context, I would like to briefly add to what has been said already, in Sir John’s address and by Micheál, with some reflections on behalf of the Government on the Downing Street Declaration, as we mark its 25th anniversary.

The Downing Street Declaration was a truly historic moment, the significance of which can only be fully appreciated in retrospect, given all that was able to follow in later years.

It affirmed the ‘principle of consent’ on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland, and respect for the traditions, identities and legitimate aspirations of both Unionists and Nationalists.

Through the Joint Declaration, the two Governments also confirmed that the only available course for political engagement on the island of Ireland was one of peace, with full acceptance of the democratic process.

We must acknowledge that the Joint Declaration - its language and its vision - was deeply influenced by John Hume, who worked for thirty long years to find a route to peace and reconciliation on our shared island.

History rightly records the close, trusting and productive relationships that John Hume built up with Sir John and with Albert Reynolds, and with successive Taoisigh and Prime Ministers, as a Peace Process gradually moved to fruition.

However, in 1993 there was still a very, very long way to go, and there was no guarantee of a successful outcome.

The horror of the Shankill bomb, the Greysteel attack that October, and the other brutal murders that followed in their wake, were a chilling reminder of the need for a political settlement that would bring an end to the violence and conflict that had stained so many communities across Northern Ireland for so many years.

Northern Ireland truly stood at the brink in those dark days.

Former British Prime Minister, Sir John Major to speak at inaugural Albert Reynolds Memorial Lecture in Longford today

But leadership – at community level, at political level in Northern Ireland, and between the two Governments represented by Albert and Sir John – found a way through. We are so thankful for the courage they showed at that difficult time.

Sir John has spoken about the simple power of the fact that “after twenty-four years of conflict and over seventy-years of partition … there were a set of principles which the British and Irish governments could jointly accept. This had not happened before.”

Even at the time, Sir John wrote that it ”was not designed as a blueprint for a settlement, but it paved the way.”

And from our vantage point 25 years later, we can see that you were absolutely right.  It really did pave the way. It showed us the way.

The final words of the Declaration are a straightforward joint commitment by the two Governments “to continue to work together, unremittingly” to lay the foundations for a more peaceful future. 

That commitment was no empty promise.

Albert Reynolds’s successor as Taoiseach, John Bruton, would work with Sir John in hammering out the important Framework Documents in 1995, to assist discussion between the parties.

The following year, with the appointment of Senator George Mitchell as an independent chair by the two Governments, talks commenced at Castle Buildings in Stormont in 1996.

Ultimately, the Good Friday Agreement was reached in 1998, which secured a lasting peace in Northern Ireland and the transformation of relations across these islands, following the overwhelming endorsement of the Agreement by the people of this island, North and South, in the referendums of 22 May 1998.

The Northern Ireland power-sharing Institutions, as well as the North-South Ministerial Council and the East-West institutions - and the constitutional provisions that were envisaged in the Joint Declaration - were also all agreed through the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

As John Hume has said: “When people are divided, the only solution is agreement.”

That agreement was definitively reached and endorsed by the people in 1998, but, of course, it was by no means the end of the peace process, which has continued every day since then.

In the two Governments which I have been privileged to serve in since 2011, we have worked in partnership with the British Government and all of the parties in Northern Ireland, on the negotiation and conclusion of the Stormont House Agreement in 2014 and the Fresh Start Agreement in 2015, and on implementation since then.

We have come a very great distance on that journey since 1993, but as everyone here is aware, there are also real challenges to tackle today.

The Taoiseach and Tánaiste have worked tirelessly - with the British Government and the parties in Northern Ireland - to support the reaching of an agreement on a new power-sharing Executive, following the breakdown in relations in January 2017.

Watch Live | Sir John Major speaks in Longford for the inaugural Albert Reynolds Memorial Lecture

Some might suggest that the wider context is not so supportive of the parties in Northern Ireland reaching the necessary agreement.

However, that same suggestion was made at the time of the Anglo Irish Agreement in ‘85; the Downing Street Declaration in ’93, and indeed in the run-up to the Good Friday Agreement in ’98.

The partnership of the two Governments, which underpins the Peace Process, has always succeeded in moving the process forward successfully, and getting the institutions operating again, and we will do so again.

As Sir John has said, we are also at a critical moment in the Article 50 process on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union.

The Withdrawal Agreement that has been endorsed by the European Council, and that was approved by the Dáil last week, is now being considered by the UK Parliament.

The Irish Government of course respects that process.

It is for the UK Parliament to decide on whether it can accept this deal.

However, it is important that all of us take our responsibility in order to see this deal ratified.

The Withdrawal Agreement is the best way of ensuring an orderly exit, which is in everyone’s interest.

The negotiations have been difficult and long, with flexibility and compromise shown on both sides.

Ireland’s key objectives for this stage in the negotiations - the protection of the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts and the avoidance of a hard border on the island of Ireland - have been achieved.

The Agreement also secures the transition period, which is hugely important in giving certainty to citizens and businesses.

There is also agreement on the rights of EU and UK citizens, as well as on the financial settlement.

The Government hopes that we can now look ahead to the future relationship and focus on the considerable work that is required to agree it.

It is very welcome also that, in the Political Declaration on the future EU-UK relationship, both sides express the hope that this should be as deep and comprehensive as possible.

The Government will continue to work to see that achieved in the next phase of the negotiations.

On a final note, I would like to acknowledge that the European Union has played a very important part in the Peace Process, and in how our two Governments have worked together over the last four decades.

Indeed, this was an important element in the Downing Street Declaration in 1993, which referred to the significance of European integration for the Peace Process with “Ireland and the United Kingdom as partners in the European Union.”

While we therefore regret the decision of the UK to leave the European Union, it is one that we accept.

The Withdrawal Agreement between EU and the UK will protect the Good Friday Agreement, and the Declaration on the Future Relationship affirms that this will remain a huge consideration.

That is critically important.

However, Ireland and the UK will also have to find new ways to maintain the cooperation that was formed and honed between us in the European Union.

The Irish and British Governments - through the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference -  are now working to ensure that the high level of bilateral co-operation between us is maintained and strengthened following the exit of the UK from the EU.

So, the context will be changed after Brexit, but the commitment and the goals of the Irish and British Governments to protect all that we have achieved through the Peace Process - and more broadly over recent decades - could not be firmer.

The promise made by Sir John as Prime Minister and Albert Reynolds as Taoiseach 25 years ago – that our two Governments would “work in unremitting partnership” - was a brave and necessary one, which has been honoured. 

In honouring it, we have helped to build peace for a rising generation who have known nothing else. 

But the vision of the Declaration was for ‘a more peaceful and harmonious future, devoid of violence and bitter divisions…’.

That prize is still to be fully won. 

That partnership is still necessary. 

That promise must still be kept. 

And it will be. 

That is the message that I would like to conclude with on this evening, 25 years since the Downing Street Joint Declaration.  Here with Sir John and in the home place of Albert Reynolds.

Thank you, Sir John, for being here and for your wonderful address this evening. 

And thank you to Longford County Council for your excellent initiative and the opportunity to participate in this inaugural occasion in memory of Iar-Thaoiseach, Albert Reynolds.

Ar dheis Dé a anam dílis.