On 29 June 2023, the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice co-hosted an event with the Consulate General of Ireland, the California Legislative Irish Caucus and the British Consulate General in San Francisco, to reflect on 25 years of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. 

With contributions by key figures in both the USA and Ireland, the event focused on the vital role that US actors played in supporting the British and Irish governments and the local Northern Ireland parties in creating the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, and the continued efforts that are being made to ensure the revival of the power-sharing Executive that it produced. The audience included Queen’s alumni, enhancing our global Queen’s community.

Mitchell Institute Fellow (Legacy) and Senior Lecturer in the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Dr Peter McLoughlin, chaired a panel discussion with key figures involved in the peace process or the supporting US role.

Mark Durkan, former SDLP Leader, shared his experience of being a leading negotiator of the 1998 accord, and later as Deputy First Minister in the power-sharing Executive that it created. He spoke of the role that political figures like John Hume and David Trimble played in the peace settlement, but also civil society, including the voters in both parts of Ireland who provided its electoral mandate. 

Sarah Friar, CEO of the San Francisco-based company, Nextdoor, spoke about the underrepresentation of and the vital part that women like Monica McWilliams had in making the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. In addition, Sarah spoke about the role that US investment played in supporting the peace process, and the current challenges of Brexit, including the economic opportunities that the Windsor Framework provides for both Northern Ireland and US investors.

Jim Lyons replaced Senator George J. Mitchell in 1997 as the Special Advisor to President Clinton for Economic Initiatives in Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Republic. He reflected on his role in promoting economic development across the island of Ireland, and how this also incentivised compromise from the various actors involved in the peace process.

The centrepiece of the event was a Fireside Chat between the Irish Ambassador to the US, Geraldine Byrne Nason, and the former US House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi.  

Pelosi was the first woman to hold the role of US House Speaker. She has long been a supporter of the Northern Ireland peace process and led a delegation of high-ranking US politicians to Ireland in 2019, visiting both sides of the border. During that visit she stressed the importance of protecting the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement in the context of the ongoing Brexit negotiations.

Representatives from the California Legislative Irish Caucus also spoke at the event, as well as the UK government’s Consul-General for San Francisco, Joe White, and his Irish counterpart, Micheál Smith.

Dr McLoughlin is currently completing a book on the role of Irish-America and the US government in Northern Ireland.