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The North has been rife with conflict for decades, plagued by ethnic rivalries and civil war. Amidst this chaos, the murder of two best friends was the final straw that spurred a significant push for peace in the region. The gruesome killing of the two young men by rival factions drew widespread condemnation, and there was a growing call for a resolution to the conflict. This article explores how the death of these two individuals became a catalyst for change and ended up setting the stage for an eventual peace agreement in the North.
A new two-part documentary on RTÉ highlights how the murders of two best friends, one a Catholic and the other a Protestant, helped push politicians to conclude the Belfast Agreement negotiations. The programme, entitled ‘The Agreement’ and presented by Miriam O’Callaghan, examines the tumultuous period of negotiations leading to the agreement in April 1998, and the subsequent campaign to publicly endorse it. Despite fears that the public would resist, 71% of voters said yes to the agreement, which ended three decades of sectarian violence.
The murders of Philip Allen and Damien Trainor on 3 March 1998 by Loyalist Volunteer Force gunmen, led DUP leader David Trimble and SDLP Deputy Leader Seamus Mallon to visit the families of the two men together. They sought to show that their joint revulsion at the attack transcended the usual sectarian divides. Former SDLP leader and Northern Ireland Finance Minister, Mark Durkan, said that the appearance of a unionist and a nationalist leader coming together to show compassion ultimately spurred politicians to reach a deal. In particular, Durkan saw the images of the two leaders as prompting the idea of there being a joint office of first ministers.
Other key figures from the era are also featured in the documentary, including former US President Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Bertie Ahern, Jeffrey Donaldson, and Gerry Adams. Audience accounts of the concert featuring U2’s Bono, which took place at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, also play a significant role. David Kerr, who was the Ulster Unionist Party Director of Communications at the time, felt that Trimble and Mallon had been united by the tragedy, and he felt the need to do something to combat the resistance to the agreement. Negative press surrounding prisoner releases had soured public opinion, particularly amongst unionists, and the campaign was in need of a boost. Tim Attwood, an SDLP councillor, thought a concert was needed to demonstrate that Northern Ireland could work, and proposed reaching out to U2. Prior to the concert, Bono asked Trimble and Hume to say nothing when he raised their hands aloft. This image of unity was beamed worldwide and gave a boost to the campaign for the agreement.
Reflecting on the importance of the Good Friday Agreement, former Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams explained during the documentary that “…the agreement was never a settlement. It’s an agreement on a journey, without agreement on a destination.” Meanwhile, the chairman of the talks, former United States Senator George Mitchell, highlighted the scale of the achievement: “In the 25 years preceding the agreement, 3,500 people in Northern Ireland were killed and an estimated 50,000 were injured. In all the years since the agreement, the total number of violent deaths is about 145.”
The two part series, ‘The Agreement’, was broadcast on RTÉ One on 3 April and 4 April.
