Prime Ministers Office 10 Downing Street
The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement will always be remembered as one of the most extraordinary political achievements of our lifetimes.
Because step by step, faltering at first, people on all sides began to do things that were once unthinkable, in the search for peace.
But you dont need me to tell you that because many of you in this room created it.
It is humbling to be with you today.
And with the people of Northern Ireland, who have endured so much.
After three long decades where violence and terror were part of everyday life
a generation has grown up in a place that is vastly more peaceful, more prosperous, and more at ease with itself.
Of course, we meet here today in circumstances that are far from perfect.
But my argument today is this: the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement remains the best and only foundation for peace and prosperity.
And if we can take inspiration and instruction from the way peace was achieved 25 years ago
we can fulfil the true promise enshrined in that Agreement.
The promise of: Stable devolved government. A prosperous economy. And a more united society.
Thats the future for Northern Ireland we must build.
Now to do that, we must first ask why.
Why did peace talks succeed in 1998 when so many failed before?
I believe thats because people on all sides showed courage, imagination, and perseverance.
First, those who worked for peace had the personal courage to keep going in spite of daily threats to them and their families.
And the political courage to take risks in pursuit of a higher goal.
John Hume, over his entire career, never relented in his insistence on non-violence.
David Trimble took enormous risks to do what he thought was right for the union.
And they were rightly honoured as the preeminent architects of peace, with a joint Nobel peace prize.
Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness persuaded Republicans to join a constitutional, power-sharing Assembly.
And, encouraged by the intensive efforts of Mo Mowlam, the leaders of loyalism also lent their weight behind the deal.
Female leaders from the Women for Peace and the Womens Coalition worked so hard for peace.
And Bertie Ahern showed the wisdom and statecraft to see the historic opportunity.
At a critical moment, he recognised unionist concerns over the proposed North-South arrangements and stepped back.
Trimble himself, in his last public appearance, at this university, just weeks before he passed away
embraced his old counterpart and thanked Bertie for giving him the space to act.
These acts of courage were more powerful than a thousand bombs and bullets.
Because there is nothing glamorous about violence.
There is nothing glorious about terror.
Squalid acts are always justified with some false dream about what they will achieve.
But they have never worked and they never will.
Instead, let us glorify moderation; romanticise respect; and make heroes of those with the courage to reject absolutes, not kill for them.
Second, making peace required leaps of imagination.
To conceive of a system for sharing power between traditions.
To design an agreement with three strands of equal importance
To enshrine the principle of consent so that Northern Ireland remains a part of the United Kingdom for as long as its people wish
while protecting the aspirations of those who seek a different future through peaceful means.
And for the first time
the people of North and South were both given the opportunity to support this deal
and they did so, in overwhelming majorities.
And let us never forget the crucial work after 1998 to build a broader consensus helped by the leadership of Dr Ian Paisley.
Third, the peace took extraordinary perseverance.
In the aftermath of the Shankill bomb and Greysteel massacre in 1993, many thought the peace process was over
but just two months later John Major and Albert Reynolds delivered the Downing Street Declaration.
George Mitchell persuaded all parties to sign up to the principles of democracy and non-violence, without which the talks could not have begun.
In the difficult final hours, President Clintons timely interventions helped get the deal done.
And whenever people walked away, Tony Blair sought to bring them back
always committed, always attuned to the concerns of all parts of the community.
Together with Bertie Ahern, he showed us whats possible when the UK and Irish governments work together
a partnership I know will continue alongside my friend, Leo Varadkar.
And in the spirit of perseverance, its also fitting to recognise the contribution of the security forces.
Like my predecessors, I acknowledge that at times they made mistakes.
But we must also recognise their bravery, suffering, and sacrifice and that of the police.
Without their courageous service, there would have been no peace process at all.
They created the conditions that ultimately allowed their own presence on the streets to be reduced or entirely withdrawn.
So: courage, imagination, and perseverance.
Those qualities brought an imperfect but enduring peace to a place taught to believe no such peace was possible.
So to all those who led us to that peace
including those here in this hall and those no longer with us
let us take this moment to say to you:
Thank you.
For those of us, like me, who inherit this extraordinary, even intimidating legacy
our challenge today is to fulfil the promise of the work that you began.
To honour your legacy, we need to create a more stable devolved government in Northern Ireland.
And that means getting the institutions up and running.
I believe there are two tasks.
First, to remove the biggest block to the institutions returning.
Thats why, when I came into office, I made it a priority to fix the Northern Ireland Protocol.
And we were deeply conscious of the lessons of history as we did so.
Thats why our aims were to:
Balance and respect the aspirations of all parts of the community.
Protect the relationships between East and West as much as North and South.
And persist through careful, detailed negotiation.
And I pay tribute to Ursula von der Leyen who I am so pleased to see here today.
The Windsor Framework is a breakthrough moment.
It solves practical problems and, crucially, strengthens Northern Irelands place in our Union and our UK internal market.
It gives the Assembly significant new powers ready for when it sits again.
And I am confident we can build broad support for it across all communities.
So I share peoples frustration that the institutions are not back up and running.
But that points to our second task.
We must keep working to persuade all parts of the community that returning to the institutions is the best path.
And we will do that.
We will talk, we will listen, we will try to persuade and we will not give up.
And I want to speak directly for a moment to the representatives of unionism
who include many diverse voices and whose concerns with the Protocol we have focused on addressing.
I urge you to work with us to get Stormont up and running again.
Thats the right thing to do on its own terms.
And Im convinced that its also the right thing to do for our union.
I am a proud unionist.
We believe passionately that Northern Ireland is stronger within the UK
and the UK is stronger with Northern Ireland within it.
But we must also build support beyond those of us who already identify as unionists.
To do that, we have to show that devolved government within the United Kingdom works for Northern Ireland.
The fact that the institutions have been down for nine of the last 25 years should be a source of profound concern.
Over the long term that will not bolster the cause of unionism I believe that deeply.
So we need to get the institutions up and running and keep them up and running.
And let me also say to those who would seek to reform the institutions right now: I understand your frustrations.
But history reminds us that nothing in Northern Ireland has ever been achieved by trying to get round one community or another.
So any conversation about reform can only begin once the institutions are up and running again
and if it attracts widespread consent.
The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement left us an extraordinary and precious legacy.
When we look back in 25 years from now
surely we should aspire for our legacy to be nothing less than this:
That the institutions have been up and running for every single year.
Because our focus must be on the future.
Getting the institutions back up and running is our most pressing challenge to honour your legacy.
But thats only the beginning.
Together we must fulfil the true promise of the 1998 Agreement.
That future enshrined in the very words of the text - of sustained economic growth, and where we tackle the problems of a divided society.
I will give everything to help deliver that vision.
Because I talked earlier about learning the les