Tommy Gallagher was part of the SDLP negotiation team that helped to deliver the Good Friday Agreement.

25 years ago in Holy Week, politicians from all across Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the UK were gathered in a room hammering out the final details of the peace agreement now known as The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or the Belfast Agreement.

One of those in the room where it happened was SDLP man Tommy Gallagher.

The Belleek man – who went on to serve as an MLA for Fermanagh South Tyrone – was part of the SDLP negotiating team that helped broker the peace deal.

Speaking to this newspaper about the events leading up to the deal and its impact, Tommy reflected and recalled a “commitment to find a better way forward”.

He said: “People were prepared to knuckle down and make hard choices to reach decisions. It was not always easy, but there was a willingness to do that.

“The two largest parties at that time – the SDLP, and the Ulster Unionists – really put a great deal of work into it, and we were aware as the two largest parties we brought a lot of weight to it, and that if we could reach an agreement, there was a hope that the other parties would buy into it.

“That was one factor, but the other factor was the smaller parties there who were prepared to work for a solution and did buy into it.

“I am thinking of the likes of the PUP, the Women’s Coalition, Alliance.”

When asked if he still believes the agreement holds up in 2023, Tommy replied that he had “no doubt that it holds up”.

Continuing, he said: “One thing our leader, John Hume, always maintained – and we negotiated it that way – was that if the agreement was reached, that it was to put to be put to referenda in both parts of Ireland, so people had the opportunity to express their views about what the agreement contained.

“People were weary of the ongoing violence, and in addition to that, I think, were determined to express their view that there was nothing going to be achieved by it [terrorism and violence] and it was counterproductive.”

Tommy reflected on the impact of the St. Andrew’s Agreement which updated some aspects of the GFA, such as decommissioning, acceptance of the PSNI, and the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

He said he would like to see the St. Andrew’s Agreement reviewed and reformed.

“Prior to St. Andrew’s, when it came to First and Deputy First Minister, we as members of the Assembly elected individuals to the positions, which was done by a vote which required the support of Unionists and Nationalists, and that was changed to the current situation, where the largest party nominates the First Minster, and the second-largest party nominates the Deputy First Minister.

“Now there is a big scrap on to be the largest party, and people overlook the fact the positions are equal in all respects.

“The other outcome was the issue with the veto – when or if other parties in those positions can decide to pull down the Assembly.”

He added: “If there was to be a review, we would need to have the voices of civil society heard again; since St. Andrew’s, we haven’t had a civic society [voice] and it is badly missed.”