LAST UPDATE | 14 Mar 2023

Christina Finn reporting from New York

HILLARY CLINTON HAS said she hopes the Windsor Framework will be progressed and that the Government in Stormont can be reestablished. 

Speaking at an event in New York yesterday evening, where she received the Hans J. Morgenthau Award for her contribution to American foreign policy, she said she hopes the deal will mean there can be a “move on the many issues that confront the people of Northern Ireland”. 

Speaking at the prize-giving event to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Clinton said the agreement “does remain a triumph of diplomacy” for both the UK and Ireland, as well as the United States.

The agreement is a “testament to the courage and determination of the people of Northern Ireland”, she added. 

Referencing the war in Ukraine, Clinton said “these are trying times and it can be tempting to just walk away from these difficulties”. She thanked the Tánaiste Micheál Martin, who was at last night’s event, for Ireland’s kind response to refugees from Ukraine. 

“I think all of us can draw inspiration and strength from the accomplishment of the peace accord 25 years ago that once seemed impossible,” she said.

“I’m very optimistic about what lies ahead for Northern Ireland and in a way the Good Friday Agreement and the example of everyone who took a deep leap of faith to negotiate it, to vote for it.

“To believe in it, is an example our world and our country needs right now, to see about what does happen when ordinary citizens come together to demand peace and then work to preserve it,” she said.

Gerry Adams’ visa 

Clinton also referenced back to the time when former Sinn Féín president Gerry Adams was granted a visa by her husband, the then US President Bill Clinton.

Clinton famously decided to grant the former Sinn Féin leader a US Visa in 1994, much to the anger of the UK Government at the time. 

British officials were said to be “apoplectic” about the granting of a US visa waiver to Adams.

Last night she said the National Committee on American Foreign Policy, who gave the award to her, were a strong advocate for Gerry Adams getting the visa in the 90s, which Clinton said was important to facilitating the beginning of the peace process.

“Your advocacy now is needed as much as ever. We need the voices that come from all of you demanding that we listen to each other, no matter how difficult it might be.

“That we try to build foundations of understanding and lasting peace, that we remain committed to conflict resolution, whenever and however we can, and that we keep in mind, the role that the committee, our country, our government played in bringing about peace in Northern Ireland,” said the former US Secretary of State.

Clinton recalls her visit to the Lamplighter cafe in Belfast in the 90s, where she met a group of women that had a profound impact on her. pic.twitter.com/xMTTZrHwAz

— Christina Finn (@christinafinn8) March 13, 2023

Hillary Clinton accompanied her husband Bill Clinton to Belfast in 1995, when he became the first serving US president to visit Northern Ireland.

Hillary also took a keen interest in peace-building on the trip.

Over the years, she has been a strong advocate for Northern Ireland and in October 2018, she received an Honorary Degree from Queens University, where she is now chancellor, for her exceptional public service. 

Bill and Hillary Clinton in Belfast in 1998. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Giving an address at the same event, Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that after a difficult number of years, real progress on some key issues has been made.

“I warmly welcome the agreement in principle of the Windsor Framework. Both the EU and the UK worked incredibly hard to address the genuine concerns that had arisen from the operation of the Protocol made necessary by Brexit.

“To achieve this, both the EU and the UK reached. It is a sign of what can be achieved when we come together with genuine political will,” he added. 

Martin said with the Windsor Framework agreed, we now have an opportunity to bring “hope, energy and momentum back into politics for Northern Ireland”.

“It provides a stable set of arrangements to address the outworking of Brexit on Northern Ireland. It is time to focus attention on building a brighter future,” he said.

In this anniversary year of the Good Friday Agreement, the Government of Ireland is thinking, not only of what was achieved 25 years ago, but of all that can still be achieved in the 25 years to come. ⁦@NATLCOMMITTEE⁩ pic.twitter.com/rBpF0EvnJ3

— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) March 13, 2023

The event entitled ‘Looking back and moving forward: Celebrating 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement’ was also attended by co-chair of the Congressional Friends of Ireland caucus, Richie Neal and the UK Trade Commissioner for North America Emma Wade-Smith. 

Neal also made reference to the Gerry Adams visa last night, stating that he backed the Clinton’s decision on it. 

“It worked, it worked,” he said. Speaking about the Framework, he said it is another example of “compromise” and the “spirit of trying to get to the goal line”. 

While Martin met with Hillary Clinton last night, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will meet with her in Washington on Thursday, with both politicians taking part in an event at Georgetown University, titled: ‘Women at the Helm: The Unfinished Business of the Good Friday Agreement.’

The conference will commemorate the 25th anniversary of the peace deal and spotlight the role that women played in forging and sustaining peace.

It will also reflect on the unfinished nature of the peace process and generate strategies for locking in peace for the next 25 years.

Earlier today, the committee also hosted a conference on moving forward with the agreement. 

The SDLP’s Colum Eastwood, the Alliance Party’s Naomi Long, Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald, and the Ulster Unionist Party’s Mike Nesbitt took part in the earlier session entitled, ‘Transatlantic Solutions to Regional Challenges’.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, McDonald said the American dimension to the peace process goes back to the earliest days, stating that “the truth is we wouldn’t have had a Good Friday Agreement but for the intervention, the support of the United States”.

“Equally when Brexit happened, when the Protocol had to be negotiated, all of that was hugely influenced by people like Nancy Pelosi, like Richie Neal, and indeed, President Biden. So that level of support, that level of interest and investment in peace in Ireland is extremely important,” said McDonald.