The history of Northern Ireland in recent decades is replete with the names of hundreds, possibly thousands, of people who rose to prominence for one reason or another related to The Troubles. Here, a selection reflects on this week's developments
• Ken Maginnis is a former Ulster Unionist MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone and former member of the Ulster Defence Regiment. In 2001, he stood down as an MP and was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Maginnis of Drumglass.
"Perhaps for the first time in 30 or 40 years, I've got an overwhelming feeling of hope and expectation. But that's tinged with feelings that those who are in the political ascendancy now have held us to ransom for so long.
"I also feel that, from the O'Neill days to Sunningdale, it would have been so much better if we had adopted a more mature attitude at that time.
"If we'd gone with [ Brian] Faulkner in 1974, there wouldn't be such a thing as a Sinn Féin party - that was a creation of Ian Paisley who said 'get a mandate and I'll talk to you'.
"My hope is thus tinged with regret for the waste of 35 years."
• Maireád Corrigan was the founder (with Betty Williams) of the Peace People, a cross- community organisation which (with journalist Ciaran McKeown) organised a series of peace marches in 1976 after the three children of her sister, Anne Maguire, were killed by a car driven by a fleeing IRA gunman. The marches attracted the support of tens of thousands of Protestants and Catholics and Corrigan and Williams were subsequently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Later, Corrigan married her sister's widowed husband, Jackie Maguire.
"It's a historic moment for the people of all of Ireland. We should get this in Northern Ireland. We need to be thankful for this moment. We need, as a people, to take control of our own destiny.
"It's the beginning of the end of the gun in Irish politics and the beginning of building trust and friendship between the people in Northern Ireland.
"We've really to build the peace; a lot of the process was done with a reluctant heart. Now we have to build a wonderful place to live."
• Billy Hastings is chairman of Hastings Hotels, owners of several of Northern Ireland's premier hotels, and, with partners Martin Naughton and Lochlann Quinn, a 50 per cent shareholder in Dublin's Merrion Hotel.
"We've been struggling along here for 35 years and it's sensational that we seem to have turned around in such a short time. Belfast is absolutely buzzing - even the sun's shining! The thing now is that the politicians are talking about real issues: I haven't heard the word "border" for a long time.
"In tourism terms, my optimism has just shot up over the last three months: everyone is just so enthusiastic - they're taking out their chequebooks and investing. I can't believe it - it's sensational.
"Paisley and McGuinness are arguing how poor we are and they're making that case to the chancellor [ Gordon Brown] and good on them. But we're actually doing quite well in Northern Ireland.
"Sensational. That's the only word I can use to describe it."
• Fr Aidan Troy is parish priest of Holy Cross Church in Ardoyne in north Belfast. He rose to wider prominence North and South because of his efforts to protect Roman Catholic schoolchildren from being verbally abused by Protestant residents of a street through which they walked to school.
"There's still a sense of shock that we've got to this point, a disbelief. But there's also a deep feeling in the centre ground that this is the only way to go. There is almost a sense that it is dangerous to believe it is true.
"We've had so many false dawns . . .
"There's also a realism, a feeling that there's tough days ahead to work this all through.
"I think a lot of people are saying to themselves, 'If this can prevent my children and grandchildren seeing and doing what I did, then it's worth it."
• The Rev Harold Good is a former president of the Methodist Church in Ireland. With Fr Alec Reid from Clonard Monastery in Belfast and retired Canadian general John de Chastelain, he witnessed the destruction of the IRA arsenal, the organisation's final act of decommissioning.
"What can I say that doesn't sound trite? The day that Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams made their statements together, I said to my wife, 'Let's go out and celebrate this day'. We chose to see the film Amazing Grace because we said to each other that's the only explanation to what's just happened.
"There has been an X factor at play. There has been some act of grace that has helped people move beyond, into uncharted territory. I give great credit to those who have taken these steps. There has been a very marked change in how people relate to each other. I sense people are trying to help each other to move forward.
"There will be hard things said in the days ahead, but that's politics. There has been a change of mood and I am quite moved."
• Eamonn McCann is a Derry-based journalist, left-wing activist and was involved in the civil rights movement.
"Charles J Haughey famously described Northern Ireland as a failed political entity, but it hasn't failed Bertie Ahern or Tony Blair. Anywhere else Bertie appears and up pops Vincent Browne asking him about his money.
"Where else in the world could Tony Blair go and be hailed as a peacemaker and not what he is, a warmonger?
"Still. One doesn't want to be cynical.
"I hope the parties will live up to the pledges they gave the people - no water charges, building the transport infrastructure and so on.
"We must wait and see. We must wait and see."