Ireland

Bertie Ahern: David Trimble’s brave stance on Belfast Agreement is his lasting legacy

He managed to stay the course in the face of enormous pressure and opposition at critical moments during the peace process

UUP leader David Trimble with taoiseach Bertie Ahern in Dublin in 2003. Photograph: Hadyn West/PA

Bertie Ahern
Mon Jul 25 2022 - 22:56

I first met David Trimble in the early 1990s. At that time he was still very much considered to be on the hard line of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), having taken very uncompromising stances on the parades issue, especially around Drumcree.

When I succeeded Albert Reynolds in 1994 and became leader of Fianna Fáil and leader of the opposition, I quickly made contact with him and began establishing a relationship. He became leader of the UUP a little after that in 1995, representing the right wing of the party, and beating the favourite, John Taylor.

Until then, Fianna Fáil had never had held a formal face-to-face meeting the UUP. We initially had an informal meeting in London before we had that famous first meeting in Glengall Street in 1995 at the UUP headquarters.

[ Taoiseach among the many political figures to pay tribute to David Trimble ]

[ David Trimble, a man whose willingness to change course helped pave the way for peace ]

We struck up a good relationship. Of course, we had many arguments, differences of opinion and battles sometimes stark – on issues. Overall, I must say that I got on well with him. I had been friendly with him and his wife, Daphne, for the past 25 years, through thick and thin, during periods of both great political hope and also of political turbulence.

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During that time he showed his considerable strengths and integrity as a politician and a person. At critical moments during the peace process he managed to stay the course in the face of enormous pressure and opposition.

When, in 1998, he was under ferocious pressure from Jeffrey Donaldson and others – who had walked out the night before the deal – he stuck by the agreement.

His lasting legacy is borne out of the courageous stance he took in 1998, which ensured that the principles behind the Belfast Agreement would become a reality

He stood his ground throughout. It cannot be forgotten that there was also constant, strident, unremitting pressure being exerted by the Democratic Unionist Party and Dr Ian Paisley throughout that whole period.

He still persevered and signed up to the Belfast Agreement, in the fact of all that criticism and argument and opposition and pressure. He emerged from it all by agreeing to sign a historic agreement that changed the context and dynamic of Northern politics and paved the way for a peaceful future.

He paid a price for it. The pressure from some sections of unionism never relented in the years after the agreement was signed. From that period from 1998 to when he lost his seat in 2005 in Upper Bann, he stood by the agreement. Consistently for the rest of his life, he defended that decision, saying he had done the right thing.

I was invited to Queen’s University Belfast to make a speech honouring Trimble in his presence only a fortnight ago. It was lovely that I was able to say that to him. He was sitting in the front seat of the auditorium.

He perhaps was not a typical, or natural, politician. He had come from a legal and academic background in Queen’s. He had what might be described as a short fuse, and he could react heatedly on occasion. On those occasions, there was a need to reason with him and try to keep calm. He could come around to such arguments.

He had two great interests in life: opera and canals. For me, they would not have been my first choices as topics of conversation. But over time, we were able to strike up great conversations, especially on a one-to-one basis. The most difficult situations for me with him, as a politician and leader, were when he was accompanied by a delegation.

His great accomplishments was helping broker peace in Northern Ireland. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. The reason was he did not waver when it came to those crucial weeks in the spring of 1998 and in the period that followed afterwards.

He encountered blows when he lost his seat and the UUP went into decline. I’m of the view that he came to terms with it. When he became a peer and took his seat in the House of Lords, he left the UUP and joined the Conservative Party.

He came in that tough way, winning the UUP leadership battle because he was a tough and difficult character. I suppose he could not complain later when people were applying the same tactics against him.

His lasting legacy is borne out of the courageous stance he took in 1998, which ensured that the principles behind the Belfast Agreement would become a reality.