Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Former US President Bill Clinton PA Wire/PA Images

Bill Clinton warns political stalemate could result in the North going 'back into the hell of the Troubles'

There are three possible outcomes if the institutions in the North don’t get up and running soon, said Clinton.

FORMER US PRESIDENT Bill Clinton has said democracy in the North will be slowly eroded away if the current political stalemate is allowed to continue.

Speaking to a packed out UCD event to mark the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Clinton said there is a possibility of three things happening if things remain as they are.

“The whole thing will fall apart and you will go back into the hell people have forgotten of the Troubles. Or, two, you can stay in purgatory, where you get denied dreams and broken hopes and you’ll just rock along, caught on a sea of lost chances.

“If you do that, slowly you will begin to lose a democracy in the North…

“Or three, everybody can rear back, settle down and make a new beginning. Whatever compromises have to be made to minimise the damage of Brexit, to keep the markets as open as possible, and share government,” he said.

Speaking as one of the key players in securing a framework to get a power-sharing government up and running in the North in 1998, he made a plea to the Irish people:

Don’t let it go. You can’t let it go by doing nothing.

Clinton highlighted the success the agreement, but said it was important that people remember the past.

“It is so easy to underestimate the fragility of the situation you have come to take for granted,” he said, adding:

So when Brexit happens, and then you can’t make a deal on these other things and then the government goes down, then everybody’s temptation is to double down and bargain harder.

No-one is thinking about the larger politics when no-one wants to be seen to compromise, he said.

But in the end, you have to be willing to give. Compromise has to become a good thing, not a dirty word. And voters have to stop punishing people who makes those compromises. And start rewarding them.

Clinton spoke about the risk of allowing both political and societal “inertia” set in in the North.

The further society moves on and gets away from the past, the easier it is to take good things have happened in the North for granted.

The Irish peace was born out of weariness of children dying and of lost chances, the further you get away from that the easier it is to take the absence of bad for granted and to live in this purgatory where we are now. It’s a big mistake.

“There is a limit to inertia, to paralysis,” he said.

So my position on this is pretty certain, I basically believe that you should celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, not for what happened but for what can happen.
Reconciliation is a process, it’s not an event.

“20 years ago, 17 hours late, some brave people cleared a space for the miraculous. You should fill it,” Clinton told the crowd.

The threat Brexit poses to the agreement was also raised by Clinton in his speech.

In the end it’s still an identity crisis, no one will drop off the face of the Earth with any of the reasonable compromises that are being discussed.

However, he added that the lack of a government and the threat of Brexit was having an impact on employment and growth in the North. He warned that when there is a lack of economic growth and prosperity, tensions can grow.

He said said you cannot “hem-in” human aspiration, but in turn, if it is stunted, it can turn into “human resentment”.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
36 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute FlopFlipU
    Favourite FlopFlipU
    Report
    Apr 9th 2021, 7:59 AM

    My goodness that is amazing how far medicine has gone

    147
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute BatMon
    Favourite BatMon
    Report
    Apr 9th 2021, 8:17 AM

    @FlopFlipU: on the flip side, it could have been a flop

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Juniper
    Favourite Juniper
    Report
    Apr 9th 2021, 11:48 AM

    @BatMon: There’s still time. To be realistic, its very unlikely that her husband was a perfectly compatible tissue match, so she will need major anti-rejection meds… and as any transplant patient would tell you, with that comes the delicate balance of preventing rejection, versus infection

    8
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brian Flavin
    Favourite Brian Flavin
    Report
    Apr 9th 2021, 6:02 PM

    @FlopFlipU: well done fantastic doctors save live patient new lungs donation, covid destroy his old lungs

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Biscuits Patinkin
    Favourite Biscuits Patinkin
    Report
    Apr 9th 2021, 10:04 PM

    @Brian Flavin: true and that’s also a good alternative headline Brian! :)

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Neil Neart
    Favourite Neil Neart
    Report
    Apr 9th 2021, 9:20 AM

    Outstanding story. I wonder if stem cells could have been used, but then again they would need weeks to become lung tissue.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall Ó Cofaigh
    Favourite Niall Ó Cofaigh
    Report
    Apr 9th 2021, 12:27 PM

    @Neil Neart: loads Is stem cell research as the solution to covid lung damage is the same as that for COPD and it has been ongoing for many years. However, there are clinics in the USA using blood stem cells which are not effective (and I believe were taken to task by US regulators for their advertising standards). In China they are looking at lung stem cells. I read that some trials show that lung tissue can be generated this way. However there is still many years to go and, from reading about the covid and COPD lung damage and trials and tests it could be a few years yet. Hopefully this will speed up as lungs so not repair damage and do not currently regenerate.

    6
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
      Next upNext up:
      News in 60 seconds