0:00:02 > 0:00:08This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.
0:00:08 > 0:00:13'After 48 hours, the standoff of violence and tension...
0:00:13 > 0:00:16'The first IRA attacks since it ended its ceasefire was...
0:00:16 > 0:00:22'Everyone knew the start of these talks would be difficult, but this isn't even the hardest part...
0:00:22 > 0:00:26'The RUC says it's reintroducing security measures...
0:00:26 > 0:00:30'This is the IRA statement, by way of deed, about the peace process -
0:00:30 > 0:00:34'two bodies huddled under blankets on a pavement in Lurgan...
0:00:34 > 0:00:36'Denis Murray, BBC News, Stormont.
0:00:36 > 0:00:38'Denis Murray, BBC News, Dublin.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42'Denis Murray, BBC News, Belfast.'
0:00:42 > 0:00:47I'm Denis Murray and I was the BBC's Ireland Correspondent for 20 years.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51For most of that time, I was covering the delicate and difficult
0:00:51 > 0:00:54transition from conflict to peace in Northern Ireland.
0:00:54 > 0:01:01The whole Irish story has roots going back centuries and, unlike in Britain, that past is
0:01:01 > 0:01:07much more immediate to the present and part of that was that Northern Ireland had become not just
0:01:07 > 0:01:11a divided society, in a way it was two completely different societies
0:01:11 > 0:01:14with little or no consensus between them.
0:01:14 > 0:01:19So, a key part of my job was to be the non-Ulster person's guide - a navigator if you like -
0:01:19 > 0:01:24through the maze that was the past, the Troubles and the peace process.
0:01:24 > 0:01:29And, to me, one of the most important parts of that process was
0:01:29 > 0:01:32the British and Irish governments' Downing Street Declaration.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37It was intended to secure Republican and Loyalist paramilitary ceasefires.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42That, at the time, was hugely ambitious, but in less than a year, it would.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46'It's now a month since the two Prime Ministers launched their declaration.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51'It would now seem that Republicans will not be giving a definite response to it, saying they can't,
0:01:51 > 0:01:56'without the clarification John Major says he will not provide.'
0:01:56 > 0:01:58The only question that needs to be asked is not of
0:01:58 > 0:02:02the British government or the Irish government, but of Mr Adams.
0:02:02 > 0:02:06Will he stop the violence and enter the democratic process or not?
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Everything else is fudge.
0:02:12 > 0:02:16We all knew John Major was right.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20Looking back, a ceasefire was inevitable, but getting there was tortuous.
0:02:20 > 0:02:22The governments were adamant.
0:02:22 > 0:02:26Sinn Fein was out of the picture while the IRA carried on.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35If talks exclusion was the stick, here was one of the carrots -
0:02:35 > 0:02:39Gerry Adams got a visa to visit the States.
0:02:42 > 0:02:45But it still took time for the IRA to get the message.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48It launched mortar attacks on Heathrow.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51The IRA had learned one thing - loss of life was unacceptable,
0:02:51 > 0:02:56but disruption got them the attention they craved.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00'Nobody will talk to Sinn Fein while IRA violence continues.
0:03:00 > 0:03:05'That's not going to end until such talks have taken place, so it's a stalemate.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09'The question now is how to turn what the Government's called
0:03:09 > 0:03:14'the first step towards peace, the declaration, into the next move, and that's not going to happen soon.'
0:03:18 > 0:03:23While violence and political meetings went on, the South was caught up in the soccer World Cup.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28The day before the Republic's first game in the USA tournament,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32I was in Dublin covering a meeting between British and Irish ministers.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35In the North, Loyalists shot dead three men.
0:03:35 > 0:03:39That Friday night I decided not to stay and cover football fever.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44It seemed to me, if the UVF wanted to murder Catholics, they'd pick a pub in the North
0:03:44 > 0:03:49where the game was on TV, in somewhere that had so far escaped the violence.
0:03:49 > 0:03:53- Just in case, the crew and I went home.- It came towards Coyne.
0:03:53 > 0:03:56Chance here for Houghton as he picks up a loose piece.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59Tries a left-footed shot, and it's there from Ray Houghton!
0:03:59 > 0:04:03He does a bowl over in joy, does Houghton.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07'The two gunmen from the outlawed Loyalist group, the Ulster Volunteer Force,
0:04:07 > 0:04:13'walked into The Heights Bar and sprayed it with gunfire from automatic assault rifles.
0:04:13 > 0:04:16'The attack was over in seconds.'
0:04:16 > 0:04:20The murder of six men in a small community like this,
0:04:20 > 0:04:25where everyone knows everyone else, meant the bereavement was universal.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29The pain in Loughinisland was there for all to see.
0:04:29 > 0:04:35But the real horror, behind the doors of The Heights Bar, was much less visible.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39'Inside, the scene, in the words of one man, was bloody awful.
0:04:39 > 0:04:46'Most of the pictures filmed by the BBC this afternoon are simply too horrific to broadcast.'
0:04:46 > 0:04:50I've often wondered since, should we have broadcast those pictures?
0:04:50 > 0:04:53For years there had been a debate in the BBC about this -
0:04:53 > 0:04:57how much blood, how much awful reality could be televised.
0:04:57 > 0:05:04A senior editor described it as a decent attempt to find a balance between too much and sanitising.
0:05:04 > 0:05:07Years later, I sat in The Heights Bar and met the locals,
0:05:07 > 0:05:11including the man who'd been first on the scene afterwards.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16I realised that, for them, the attack is still very real, and the emotions very raw.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21At the time, I had to argue that we included the shot of the blood on the table.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24Today, I'm glad that we didn't use any more.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43Everybody knew the ceasefire was coming because the prospect of one
0:05:43 > 0:05:48had been out there for quite some time and the ceasefire was greeted like a victory.
0:05:48 > 0:05:54Now, it wasn't a victory - it was anything but - but it had to be looked at that way by Republicans.
0:05:54 > 0:05:57The leadership knew it wasn't going to get anywhere
0:05:57 > 0:06:02with its political project while there was an IRA campaign going on
0:06:02 > 0:06:04and it took them a considerable length of time
0:06:04 > 0:06:07to persuade the grassroots that it was necessary to do so.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11The IRA ceasefire almost came out in secret.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14It was like a secret communication,
0:06:14 > 0:06:19whereas the Loyalist ceasefire was announced in public in a news conference.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22We offer to the loved ones
0:06:22 > 0:06:26of all innocent victims over the past 25 years
0:06:26 > 0:06:28abject and true remorse.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34To put it at its simplest, having thought about it, you could say
0:06:34 > 0:06:39that the Loyalists maybe felt that they had something to apologise for and the IRA didn't...
0:06:40 > 0:06:44..and that theirs was a revolution and stuff happens in revolutions.
0:06:48 > 0:06:55I am now prepared to make a working assumption that the ceasefire is intended to be permanent.
0:06:55 > 0:07:01This means we can move carefully towards the beginning of dialogue between Sinn Fein and the government.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06We shall, therefore, include proposals for an Assembly
0:07:06 > 0:07:09and, again, we shall be seeking the basis for broad agreement.
0:07:11 > 0:07:18We hope to move speedily through these discussions towards inclusive peace talks with all the parties.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22Sinn Fein met British officials for the first time
0:07:22 > 0:07:24at Parliament Buildings, Stormont,
0:07:24 > 0:07:28a powerful piece of symbolism, underlining the significance of the event.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32John Major had taken a big step, so had Sinn Fein.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37And so, too, had the parties representing the Loyalist paramilitaries.
0:07:37 > 0:07:39Within days, they were at Stormont.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46The ceasefires had made this possible.
0:07:46 > 0:07:52The best card ever played by the combatant groups, particularly the IRA, was a simple one.
0:07:52 > 0:07:53Stopping.
0:07:56 > 0:08:00A torchlight parade through the peace line in West Belfast.
0:08:00 > 0:08:03Gates that once divided two communities opened since the ceasefires
0:08:03 > 0:08:07and the scene tonight where Protestants and Catholics came together.
0:08:09 > 0:08:15But if there was some cause for hope, the old enmities lay under a very thin veneer.
0:08:36 > 0:08:40This part of Armagh is really scenic, like a lot
0:08:40 > 0:08:43of Northern Ireland is scenic, and it is really tranquil today.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48And, actually, most days, even at its worst, things were quiet here
0:08:48 > 0:08:51during the day, as was most of the rest of the Northern Ireland.
0:08:51 > 0:08:57But this place was effectively the fuse for the powder keg that was the rest of Northern Ireland
0:08:57 > 0:09:05and all round the province, there was violence, road blocks, burning vehicles, gun fire,
0:09:05 > 0:09:09security forces stretched beyond limit.
0:09:17 > 0:09:23And just a small personal note - my colleagues and I had one thing in common with the police.
0:09:23 > 0:09:29For that fortnight around the 12th July, for nearly 10 years, all leave was cancelled.
0:09:29 > 0:09:34Anybody else who could take their holidays, who weren't interested in this place, took their holidays.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36The place emptied.
0:09:39 > 0:09:45'After 48 hours of standoff, violence and tension, finally today
0:09:45 > 0:09:50'the Orangemen of Portadown stepped out on their traditional route, exactly as would have happened
0:09:50 > 0:09:55'on Sunday when the confrontation began, though with one major difference - in silence.'
0:09:59 > 0:10:04This was the first Drumcree - the passage of the march through the Catholic area was negotiated.
0:10:04 > 0:10:06That would not happen again.
0:10:06 > 0:10:12Two of the negotiators were MPs. Both would become First Minister of Northern Ireland.
0:10:12 > 0:10:17But this day, they only represented one community.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22We are delighted to be back down the traditional route, as we expect to be again.
0:10:22 > 0:10:26That celebration served to convince the Catholic community
0:10:26 > 0:10:31that the marches, all of them, were as they had always believed - triumphalist.
0:10:31 > 0:10:35The parades issue, particularly Drumcree, would continue to be
0:10:35 > 0:10:38one of the biggest threats to the peace process.
0:10:38 > 0:10:41One of the reasons this was such a flashpoint
0:10:41 > 0:10:45was that while there were deeply held passions on both sides,
0:10:45 > 0:10:49the people involved in that period - both sides - were actually going out of their way
0:10:49 > 0:10:56to be offended by the behaviour of the other side, which is, perhaps, why it went on for so long.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02'An Anglican church on a hill in the countryside. It could be anywhere.
0:11:06 > 0:11:09'This is happening in the United Kingdom tonight.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12'In the shadow of this spiral of Drumcree Church,
0:11:12 > 0:11:17'a weekly Sunday service, because of the route to the Orangemen want to take after it's over,
0:11:17 > 0:11:19'becomes the fulcrum of politics,
0:11:19 > 0:11:26'security and relations between Catholics and Protestants right across Northern Ireland.'
0:11:30 > 0:11:33It was very difficult to explain to a British audience,
0:11:33 > 0:11:37perhaps an audience anywhere outside Northern Ireland,
0:11:37 > 0:11:44why the marching season aroused such primeval passions on both sides.
0:11:44 > 0:11:51Because while people here instinctually understood what the issues were and why it was causing
0:11:51 > 0:11:58such intense passion, it was very difficult to explain it to people outside Northern Ireland.
0:11:58 > 0:12:05And really what it came down to was that the Catholic residents saw the parades as sectarian
0:12:05 > 0:12:09and triumphalist and the Orangemen just could not understand
0:12:09 > 0:12:12why they weren't welcome to walk down a piece of road,
0:12:12 > 0:12:16which in some cases they'd walked down for decades and longer.
0:12:16 > 0:12:18And there's really no halfway house between that.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21You either have the parade or you don't have the parade.
0:12:21 > 0:12:28Security considerations were always foremost, and that's why you had a Parades Commission to begin with
0:12:28 > 0:12:35because the government did not like having to take the decision, and the police absolutely did not
0:12:35 > 0:12:40like having to take the decision because they were taking it on security considerations.
0:12:40 > 0:12:46Somebody once described it more recently as Northern Ireland's annual trip to the edge.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50But it was a horrible thing to report on because it was
0:12:50 > 0:12:57the place I grew up in torturing itself to death over what seemed to the outside eye not very much.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18'The tensions of the last days and weeks were evident again today
0:13:18 > 0:13:21'as the Republican march passed a police station on the Falls Road.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25'At the City Hall, Sinn Fein held their rally.
0:13:25 > 0:13:31'A Union flag was burned and at one point at voice in the crowd called out, "Bring back the IRA".'
0:13:31 > 0:13:34They haven't gone away, you know.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36Like all the journalists who were there, I jumped.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39We couldn't believe he'd said it.
0:13:39 > 0:13:43He thought it was a joke, but it came across to everyone else as a threat.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49David Trimble was a surprise choice as Ulster Unionist leader.
0:13:49 > 0:13:53The party chose him as a hard man, and he was a hard negotiator,
0:13:53 > 0:13:58but, ultimately, he would go too far for many of his own grassroots.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02Decommissioning, handing up some weapons, may not be enough.
0:14:02 > 0:14:07The dialogue is increasingly becoming an all-inclusive dialogue.
0:14:07 > 0:14:11Everybody is now talking to all the other relevant players.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21'The two Prime Ministers took months to cook up this agreement
0:14:21 > 0:14:23'and they used a recipe for fudge,
0:14:23 > 0:14:29'but as one Nationalist politician said, "What's wrong with fudge, if it works?"
0:14:29 > 0:14:34'John Major and John Bruton have simply put off resolving the crucial question that lies at the heart
0:14:34 > 0:14:38'of the decommissioning of paramilitary weapons issue.'
0:14:38 > 0:14:42We see no way other than physical beginning of decommissioning by Sinn Fein.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44That remains our position.
0:14:44 > 0:14:49A physical gesture of decommissioning of arms in advance of talks,
0:14:49 > 0:14:53while undoubtedly desirable, it is the position of our government
0:14:53 > 0:14:55that that is not an attainable objective.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01After the news conference that day,
0:15:01 > 0:15:06I asked could I go to the bathroom. About a minute after I walked in,
0:15:06 > 0:15:11in came the PM with his press secretary and as we were washing
0:15:11 > 0:15:18our hands, suddenly, out of the blue, he faced me directly and went into this impassioned speech about
0:15:18 > 0:15:22how much he cared about Northern Ireland, how much he was trying
0:15:22 > 0:15:28to move it forwards, how much that was against the grain of his own party and his backbenchers,
0:15:28 > 0:15:34about the risks he felt he was taking for the good of the process. I never saw that side of him
0:15:34 > 0:15:39outside of that one moment, because before that and ever after,
0:15:39 > 0:15:45he was always that cool, dispassionate, detached Prime Minister figure, and it was a really
0:15:45 > 0:15:50striking thing just to see very briefly the human face behind the Prime Minister's mask.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57The two Prime Ministers had gone for a twin-track approach - one,
0:15:57 > 0:15:59politics, and all-party talks -
0:15:59 > 0:16:04and two, an international body to oversee the decommissioning issue.
0:16:04 > 0:16:05Enter America.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09Bill Clinton had already appointed former US Senator George Mitchell
0:16:09 > 0:16:14as his envoy to Northern Ireland. And Mr Clinton came to town.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16My first daddy died in the Troubles.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18It was the saddest day of my life.
0:16:19 > 0:16:20I still think of him.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22Now it is nice and peaceful.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25I like having peace and quiet for a change,
0:16:25 > 0:16:28instead of people shooting and killing.
0:16:28 > 0:16:33My Christmas wish is that peace and love will last in Ireland for ever.
0:16:37 > 0:16:42You must say to those who still would use violence for political objectives,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45"You are the past. Your day is over.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48"Violence has no place at the table of democracy.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51"And no role in the future of this land."
0:16:51 > 0:16:55By the same token, you must also be willing to say
0:16:55 > 0:16:58to those who renounce violence
0:16:58 > 0:17:02and who do take their own risks for peace,
0:17:02 > 0:17:07they are entitled to be full participants in the democratic process.
0:17:07 > 0:17:10This was the key political moment of the whole visit
0:17:10 > 0:17:13because nobody knew whether the leader of the free world
0:17:13 > 0:17:17would shake hands with the public face of the IRA.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19So it was the shot we all wanted.
0:17:19 > 0:17:22Bill Clinton's speeches were brilliant,
0:17:22 > 0:17:26incredibly well informed, and he challenged all sides.
0:17:26 > 0:17:30Have the patience to work for a just and lasting peace.
0:17:30 > 0:17:32Reach for it.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35The United States will reach with you.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:17:40 > 0:17:43This was the stuff of the President's wildest dreams
0:17:43 > 0:17:47he and Hillary Clinton still refer to it as a high point of his presidency.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04That was a real pleasure to be involved in that presidential visit,
0:18:04 > 0:18:08the first time a serving US president has come to Northern Ireland.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10And the whole thing had a good feel to it.
0:18:10 > 0:18:14There was a certain amount of movie-star appeal to Bill Clinton.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17There's no doubt he had great charisma,
0:18:17 > 0:18:20but thousands and thousands of people turned out to watch that
0:18:20 > 0:18:25and there was such a good feeling around it all that even the most cynical of journalists
0:18:25 > 0:18:28began to think maybe this process might just work after all.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31But what we didn't know at the time but found out later
0:18:31 > 0:18:35was that the IRA was already planning the Docklands bombing.
0:18:40 > 0:18:45'The first IRA attack since it ended its ceasefire was at Canary Wharf in London.
0:18:45 > 0:18:51'The destruction of life and property by Irish terrorists in what they see as the enemy's heartland.'
0:18:52 > 0:18:56The implications of the bomb are clear.
0:18:56 > 0:19:03It's an indication from the IRA that they continue to be prepared to threaten the peace process,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07but what THEY must understand is the legislation will go ahead,
0:19:07 > 0:19:10the talks will go ahead, the process of seeking a permanent peace
0:19:10 > 0:19:13in Northern Ireland will go ahead,
0:19:13 > 0:19:16and those discussions will go ahead
0:19:16 > 0:19:19without the participation of Sinn Fein.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23Sinn Fein was shocked by the Irish Government's reaction to the bombing,
0:19:23 > 0:19:26and while contacts with officials continue,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29the door to the Irish Cabinet Room has shut on Republicans.
0:19:29 > 0:19:30Dennis Murray, BBC News...
0:19:30 > 0:19:33That was just an ordinary Friday night,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37I was getting ready to go home. We'd been kicking around ideas,
0:19:37 > 0:19:40would our subject matter change, would there be different stories
0:19:40 > 0:19:44from Northern Ireland, would we have to find different ways of doing them?
0:19:44 > 0:19:48A lot of people in the newsroom were going to a formal dinner that night.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51Then we had the Docklands bombing and they had to go back to work,
0:19:51 > 0:19:56so the newsroom was full that night of people in dinner jackets and ballgowns.
0:19:56 > 0:19:59But there was a real sense that night that having felt we might
0:19:59 > 0:20:03be out of the woods finally, there we all were, back at square one.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06Nobody else, though, was prepared to let that happen.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09It was anything but an easy or harmonious start,
0:20:09 > 0:20:10but it was a start.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14The British and Irish governments, Unionists, Nationalists
0:20:14 > 0:20:18and those representing the loyalist paramilitary groups
0:20:18 > 0:20:21all round the same negotiating table.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24One set of chairs was empty - Sinn Fein's.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27Forget policy, forget talks one thing Sinn Fein did better
0:20:27 > 0:20:30than anyone else was image making.
0:20:30 > 0:20:34The day the talks started, their leaders posed for the media
0:20:34 > 0:20:39at Stormont's gates - but it was the IRA's actions that'd excluded them.
0:20:39 > 0:20:40What did they expect?
0:20:40 > 0:20:43The principles of non-violence established months earlier
0:20:43 > 0:20:46by George Mitchell made that inevitable.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Maybe the IRA didn't care.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50Making a point with violence, to them,
0:20:50 > 0:20:53was more important than progress.
0:20:53 > 0:20:55The talks went on at Castle Buildings,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58part of the Stormont estate - without Sinn Fein.
0:20:58 > 0:21:02It was going to take something remarkable to get them back in.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08CHEERING
0:21:08 > 0:21:11New Labour's huge majority in the general election gave
0:21:11 > 0:21:15Tony Blair much more room for manoeuvre than his Tory predecessor.
0:21:15 > 0:21:19His victory had been anticipated, but not what came next.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21Not only that he came to Northern Ireland
0:21:21 > 0:21:24as almost his first move in office, but what he said.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27The settlement train is leaving.
0:21:27 > 0:21:29I want you on that train.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32But it is leaving anyway,
0:21:32 > 0:21:34and I will not allow it to wait for you.
0:21:34 > 0:21:38You cannot hold the process to ransom any longer.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40So end the violence
0:21:40 > 0:21:42and end it now.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46What the PM was doing in that brief statement was that he was
0:21:46 > 0:21:50offering Sinn Fein talks with Government officials without
0:21:50 > 0:21:54a declared IRA ceasefire. Now that was completely unprecedented,
0:21:54 > 0:21:58a huge leap in the dark for a British Prime minister to take.
0:21:58 > 0:21:59And I still think that it was
0:21:59 > 0:22:03the biggest risk that Tony Blair took in the entire peace process.
0:22:03 > 0:22:08This is the IRA statement by way of deed about the peace process.
0:22:08 > 0:22:14Two bodies, huddled under blankets on a laneway pavement in Lurgan.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16Constables John Graham
0:22:16 > 0:22:20and David Johnston were community officers - shot from behind.
0:22:20 > 0:22:22The act of a coward and deeply cynical,
0:22:22 > 0:22:25deliberately timed ahead of Drumcree.
0:22:25 > 0:22:28Everyone in Northern Ireland knows
0:22:28 > 0:22:33someone killed or injured in the Troubles - it is a small place.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35The question in most hearts tonight,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39is why should any more children and families suffer?
0:22:45 > 0:22:47The misery for many continued.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50But if there was change in British politics, there was
0:22:50 > 0:22:53change in Irish politics, too.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Within weeks of Tony Blair becoming Prime Minister of the UK,
0:22:59 > 0:23:02there was a new man at the Irish Parliament, Bertie Ahern.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05And he had this in common with Tony Blair -
0:23:05 > 0:23:09whether you love him or loathe him - they had the energy, the patience
0:23:09 > 0:23:15and the dedication to stick with the peace process through some of the most difficult times.
0:23:17 > 0:23:19- Gerry!- Gerry!
0:23:19 > 0:23:21Somewhat against expectation,
0:23:21 > 0:23:26the IRA ceasefire was restored, and this cessation was to last.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30But would the Unionists take the Provos at their word?
0:23:30 > 0:23:35It looks now as if we have got Sinn Fein into the talks process.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39I do not acknowledge or admit that the Unionists are yet lost.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46The violence didn't stop completely, but the focus became
0:23:46 > 0:23:50the politics - and that was in a way that hadn't been seen for more than
0:23:50 > 0:23:5220 years, arguably in a way not seen before at all.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Castle Buildings was the centre of it.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00Oddly, while my colleagues and I were covering the biggest story of our careers,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03none of us actually got inside.
0:24:03 > 0:24:06But we did get into one place - the Maze Prison -
0:24:06 > 0:24:09the men of violence were still part of the process.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Mo Mowlam worried the Loyalist ceasefire was at risk.
0:24:12 > 0:24:18I reminded the prisoners that the only way their concerns can ever be addressed
0:24:18 > 0:24:22is through the negotiating skills of their political representatives at the talks.
0:24:24 > 0:24:28I'd been Ireland Correspondent for ten years and I'd always been busy.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31But 1998 stands out as a year that saw so many events,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34both political and violent.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36And it wasn't just the amount, it was the scale -
0:24:36 > 0:24:43many of them lead stories right round the world.
0:24:44 > 0:24:47There were times here when everyone looked miserable
0:24:47 > 0:24:50and I don't mean the journalists - the politicians.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53But that was because they were still finding their feet.
0:24:53 > 0:24:59The DUP didn't like George Mitchell as chairman, they couldn't bear to sit in the same room as Sinn Fein,
0:24:59 > 0:25:01so they were in the talks and then left.
0:25:01 > 0:25:07The Unionists and Loyalist parties eventually took a huge leap in the dark and decided they would,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10which made the whole thing possible, but that's one of those things,
0:25:10 > 0:25:18what you once could not do suddenly became doable and ho-hum, routine and happened every day.
0:25:18 > 0:25:22There were bad phases for all parties -
0:25:22 > 0:25:25this was the first time that that generation of politicians
0:25:25 > 0:25:30had all sat down in the one room and actually had to listen to somebody else's point of view,
0:25:30 > 0:25:34and not just listen, but take it on board and do something about it.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36There was real dialogue.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48A day like today, it's not a day for sound bites...
0:25:48 > 0:25:52but I feel the...I feel the hand of history upon our shoulder.
0:26:01 > 0:26:05'Agreement - the impossible was done late this afternoon.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08'And in the end, after 36 hours of non-stop, no sleep,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11'all night and day negotiation,
0:26:11 > 0:26:13'it was as close a call as can be imagined.'
0:26:13 > 0:26:16Even now, this will not work
0:26:16 > 0:26:19unless in your will and in your mind,
0:26:19 > 0:26:20you make it work.
0:26:20 > 0:26:23Rollercoaster doesn't begin to do justice
0:26:23 > 0:26:27to the nature of this process. It was a done deal in the early hours,
0:26:27 > 0:26:29a matter of time at lunchtime
0:26:29 > 0:26:31and on the verge of collapse in mid-afternoon.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33And that's just one day.
0:26:33 > 0:26:36Now come the referendums and the Assembly election,
0:26:36 > 0:26:42an entirely new form of government for the most tortured part of these islands.
0:26:45 > 0:26:47The Northern Ireland Referendum,
0:26:47 > 0:26:5222nd May 1998.
0:26:52 > 0:26:54The percentage votes given
0:26:54 > 0:26:56was as follows.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00Yes - 71.12%...
0:27:00 > 0:27:04UPROARIOUS APPLAUSE
0:27:04 > 0:27:08'The three main Yes leaders of massively different tradition
0:27:08 > 0:27:10'and background knew it was enough.'
0:27:10 > 0:27:14CHEERING
0:27:14 > 0:27:18'And even the political opponents of the main Nationalist leader
0:27:18 > 0:27:22'accept that he's been the chief architect of the process.'
0:27:22 > 0:27:28It's a very clear statement from our people that they want the foundations laid for lasting peace and stability,
0:27:28 > 0:27:32and how those foundations should be laid are spelled out in this agreement.
0:27:36 > 0:27:40One of the core skills a journalist must have
0:27:40 > 0:27:43is the ability to remain detached.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47And that day, it was impossible not to feel, yeah, that's good, that's a good thing.
0:27:47 > 0:27:53But as we all know now, the Agreement certainly marked the end of something,
0:27:53 > 0:27:55it was also a beginning.
0:27:57 > 0:28:00The Good Friday Agreement, whatever its flaws,
0:28:00 > 0:28:03remained the template for everything that followed.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06But as Senator George Mitchell predicted, on the day,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09implementing it would prove at least as difficult as agreeing it.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:28:31 > 0:28:34Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk