George Mitchell: My Journey's End

In late 1994, my life was about to change,

in ways I had never imagined.

I'm Senator George Mitchell.

After a long career in law, and then another in politics...

'I want to tell you, winning is a hell of a lot better!'

..I was about to settle down to a life out of the public eye.

But a friend of mine had other ideas and he could be very persuasive.

I thought he needed something to do to keep him in public life.

He was one of the most gifted people I ever knew.

I suppose I was unwittingly dishonest with him

because I said, look, George, this is not like the Supreme Court

or the Senate, it's just a part-time job!

That part-time job became the most demanding role of my life.

Initially I served as President Clinton's envoy to Northern Ireland.

Ceasefires had been announced, but there was little sign of peace.

Then in 1996, the British and Irish governments

asked me to chair peace negotiations.

It wasn't difficult to say yes, but my appointment caused a problem

for some of those already at the table.

I never thought that Ulster would be sold as it was sold tonight.

I am certainly questioning his political background

as an envoy of the United States President.

The talks continued for two years.

At times I thought we would never reach agreement.

I want to emphasise to you, this is not a matter of time.

We've been at this for two years.

It could be discussed for another two years or for another 20 years.

In 1997, when my wife gave birth to our son, Andrew,

back home in New York,

I did consider leaving Northern Ireland for good.

But I stuck with it

and finally we managed to get the Good Friday Agreement.

Northern Ireland today has the promise of a springtime of peace.

I was overcome with emotion

and before I left Belfast, I made a promise.

One day, I would return with my son, Andrew.

We would sit in the visitors' gallery,

watching the Northern Ireland assembly debate.

Today, I am back in Northern Ireland to honour that commitment.

Over the next four days, we're going to find out

how Northern Ireland has changed since 1998.

Andrew and I will visit families with whom we share a special bond.

Did the Good Friday Agreement change their lives or not?

I know the people of Northern Ireland live in more peaceful times,

but has there been the reconciliation I hoped for

back in 1998?

Andrew and I are about to find out.

# I'll take Manhattan

# The Bronx and Staten Island, too... #

See if you can find Belfast.

'At our home in Manhattan,

'my family and I are preparing for our trip to Northern Ireland.

'It's a journey I made many times during the peace talks,

'but this visit will be different.'

Well, this was the trip that he talked about early on

when Andrew was an infant.

One day I would like to go back with my young son.

The thought at that time, with an infant,

foreshadowing and looking in the future,

we didn't know then that this day would come

where they would really be peace in Northern Ireland

and that he would be able to go back with his son as a teenager.

So I think it's a very exciting trip.

In fact, it's almost unbelievable

because there were many, many times when I wondered

if an agreement would ever be reached.

When I returned home to New York for Andrew's birth in 1997,

I wasn't sure I'd ever go back to Northern Ireland.

There was always someone missing, someone protesting,

someone walked out,

someone expelled,

someone suspended,

someone came back, someone else left.

It was trying to keep it together

in a way that seemed impossible at the time.

So when the two Unionist parties walked out on Sinn Fein's entrance,

we encountered what was another problem that we hadn't had before

and we had to try to figure it out.

That was very difficult.

And it was in that context that I returned to the United States,

in the middle of October, 1997, to be present at Andrew's birth.

He was there for the birth,

which was obviously a very, very happy, happy moment.

But he did come home discouraged.

And discouraged at the point in the process,

and talked about perhaps maybe this is not going anywhere.

Maybe this is the time to, for me to just throw in the towel.

I recall clearly Andrew was born October 16th, 1997.

And as I held him on that first day,

I was, in my mind,

always thinking about this internal conflict I had,

and I began to wonder about how many children

were born in Northern Ireland on this day.

From the corridor in the hospital,

I made a call to my assistant in Belfast to find out.

The answer was 61.

It just stuck with me -

somewhere in Northern Ireland there are 61 boys and girls,

and I'm certain that each of them has parents

who have the same hopes and dreams that Heather and I do.

He was determined

not to shortchange being a husband, being a father. Doing it right.

So it was a difficult thing for him.

I think in the end...

..the prospect that we might well

have a lasting peace was so overwhelming

and he realised that events

had conspired to put him in a unique position

where both sides trusted him, at least enough

to manage this whole complex process.

And he had skills in doing so that no other available person had.

I think he decided to stick it out and it was the right decision

and the right decision for his son.

And for the world that his son would live in.

Six months later, the Good Friday Agreement was reached

and I took my wife and baby son to Northern Ireland

to mark the occasion.

I had, however, already made a promise to myself

that one day I would bring him back.

Andrew is now 14 years old

and as part of the trip he'll meet with some of those 61 children

who were born on the same day as him.

It's a chance to meet their families and to compare lives with them.

You know, it's interesting

and at some points unbelievable,

to think that there are 61 children born the same day as he is.

The exact same day. It's kind of a fun thing to think about.

-Do you enjoy school?

-Yeah. I like it, yeah.

Do you feel you have to say that because Mum and Dad are listening?

No. I like school.

-He is class president now.

-Yeah.

-Very good.

-For this term. There are three different terms.

What does the class President have to do?

Well, it's basically what happens is there's a class president,

each class elects a person

And there's a meeting with the class

and the class says we want this, or this needs to be fixed.

And then we - the class presidents -

meet with the headmaster and we will tell him

and he'll write it down and then,

theoretically, you know, fix or do the stuff.

Most of it has to do with food and lunch period.

Politics runs in the family.

Well, I was never elected class president at that age.

-So I'd say he's quite a bit ahead of me already.

-HEATHER:

-Yeah.

And will you be seeking re-election?

No you can't. You can only do one term.

Well, I'm looking forward to going to Ireland and Northern Ireland,

and sort of seeing where my dad was for all those years

when I was a little baby.

I think it'll be interesting to see all the people who where born on the same exact day as I was.

And see how their lives are different from mine.

I want my son to see and learn about Northern Ireland.

Because Northern Ireland means so much to me

and my son means so much to me that I want the two of them to be acquainted.

It's the first day of the trip.

Andrew and I begin with a taxi tour of west Belfast.

I'm going to meet an old friend

who represented the loyalist para- militaries during the peace talks.

-Are you Andrew? Please to meet you, Andrew.

-Nice to meet you.

-Hello, Plum.

-Hello, Senator.

-How are you?

-How you doin'?

-Good to see you.

-Long time!

-You look really good.

-You think so?

-You've lost a lot of weight.

-Oh, yes, well, I'm a diabetic, so...

You look very good.

'Plum Smith works with former prisoners from both sides of the community here.

'He's also involved in telling tourists about the area's political and cultural history.

'Ironically, the peace wall is now an attraction.

'The wall is adorned with graffiti and personal messages

'left by the thousands of tourists who come to see it.'

Most of the messages are positive.

I see "Make love not war."

As we leave our mark, we are joined by the man who formally announced

an end to the IRA's campaign.

He now works at a community level with Plum and other loyalists -

for me it's a clear sign of how times have changed.

My name is Seanna Walsh. I was an IRA prisoner at the time of the GFA

and I was released as a result of the GFA.

I currently work with coaiste

which is the Irish Republican ex-prisoners association.

And ourselves and Epic and some of the other groups

are constantly involved in engagements -

hopefully to break down some of the walls in peoples heads

before we can tackle the walls that exist here on this part of the road.

Seanna and myself have been working over the last couple of years with coaiste,

making joint tours, joint seminars, joint discussions, etc.

-Involved in a lot of projects.

-Great.

-That's the peace process.

I think all of us can learn a lot from what you are doing.

I'm delighted to see how some things have changed,

but this peace wall shows how other things have stayed the same.

On my first ever trip, in February 1995,

I visited the peace wall in Belfast.

It was one of the most depressing structures I've ever seen.

Despite all the progress in Northern Ireland,

its still surprising that there are now

MORE so-called peace walls than there were in the 1990s.

See the cages at the back of the homes?

The way the homes are fortified. Still to this day.

Because we're still not completely at the end game,

but we are getting there.

Andrew, what's your initial reaction when you see the cages and the wall?

-I'm sure you've never seen that before.

-No.

I've never really seen that.

-Would you like to live like that?

-Not really.

-What do you think the people feel?

-I can't even imagine.

-It's a very depressing sight still, isn't it?

-It is. Yes, it is.

And, of course, for someone who has never seen this,

what is striking is the immediacy.

This is right up against these houses.

This wall goes right through the middle of an urban area.

I think everyone's objective ought to be to reach the time when the wall is gone, the cages are gone,

and neighbours are neighbours

whichever side of the street they are on.

In the meantime, we all have to do our best

to make sure there's no sliding back into conflict.

We're off to rural County Fermanagh.

We're going to meet one of the families I had on my mind

when Andrew was born 14 years ago.

Hello, I'm Martin. We're the Robinson family.

We live outside the village of Derrygonnelly in County Fermanagh.

I'm Mary and I'm the mum.

I'm Adrian. I'm Conor's brother.

I'm Conor, I'm the youngest in the family and I was born on the 16th of October, 1997.

The Robinson family has lived at their home outside the village of Derrygonnelly for 19 years.

Mary, is a nurse at the local hospital in Enniskillen

and Martin, originally from South Armagh, is on the farm.

Their son Conor loves animals.

When he's not at school,

he spends his spare time with the pets the family keep on their land.

-Hello.

-Hello, Senator Mitchell. You're very welcome to the Robinson household in Glenashaver.

Such a privilege. I never thought I'd see the day Senator Mitchell would be in Glenashaver!

Thank you. Very nice to be here.

'The surroundings here are very different from Manhattan,

'where we now live.

'But the green fields do remind me of my home state of Maine.'

..but also it's very nice here.

Every one knows every one about here, and they're all friends,

and help out everyone

around their places and properties.

In our school there's people that, like, every one knows, every one's friends with.

There's nobody, like, we don't know.

-You've a lot to show Andrew, haven't you?

-I have.

Sure we'll go and look round the animals now, Andrew.

-Have you got a pair of wellies?

-No, I didn't bring one.

We'll get you kitted out with something to keep you clean.

-Cos it's Fermanagh you're in!

-ALL LAUGH

As Conor takes Andrew around the farm,

I get to chat with his mother and father.

Martin mentioned the Good Friday Agreement

and I was wondering what changes that's made in your life

and especially with relation to Conor and Adrian, your children.

Yeah. Well, really, I suppose it has brought about a lot of change,

because, you know, when we would've been growing up

at the same age of Adrian and Conor,

we were faced all the time with the security forces were on the road.

We had permanent Army checkpoints,

in fact, on this road between our house here and Derrygonnelly.

There really wasn't a night that you went out on the road

but you were stopped somewhere along the road,

whereas that never really happens now.

Are you confident now that this trouble is passed,

is in the background now, and we will progress even to a brighter future?

I think in human affairs nothing is certain.

No, no. You never really can say for sure, but as much as one can tell,

yes, I think that is the case.

They're not fully grown yet.

Have you ever experienced any problems or troubles here?

No, never experienced it since your father done the...

Since the peace process.

I've heard mum and dad talk about problems and troubles there was

but, like, I've never experienced any troubles or nothing like that.

So it worked out successful in the end of your father's work, so it did.

It's kind of weird to think that my dad was...not really...

He doesn't really seem like that type of person to me because I'm his son.

-That he did such great things.

-Yeah.

It's hard to believe that me and you is the same day.

Yeah, yeah. I've never met anyone with the same exact birthday.

-You've more to meet in the next few days, have you?

-Yeah, I think so.

MRS ROBINSON: It's all about money now.

It's not about the Troubles now, it's about money.

And even being a nurse myself, and working in the Health Service,

it's all about saving the pounds, cutbacks, you know.

-MR ROBINSON:

-I suppose we would be hoping that employment will become more widespread

and that our children won't be stepping on a plane for America, Australia or wherever.

It's really nice of you to permit us to come into your home,

because I really wanted my son to meet Conor

and to get a sense from him of what life is like for someone here.

-MR ROBINSON:

-Given the success of the Good Friday Agreement,

which has clearly made Northern Ireland a better place,

Senator George Mitchell will be spoke about and talked about

-for many years to come in Northern Ireland.

-Thank you.

-MRS ROBINSON: Are yous ready for something to eat?

-I am.

-A cup of tea, Andrew?

-Er, I'm OK.

-You're sure? Some juice?

-Yes, please.

I liked it. Lots of animals and a nice area around here.

MR ROBINSON: Does your life style compare?

Yeah, it's a lot different!

Strange having the same birth date, so it is. Same day.

-MR ROBINSON:

-That's one thing you certainly have in common.

-That'll never change.

-That'll never change.

'That date will never change, but at the end of our first day,

'I'm left in little doubt that Northern Ireland has.'

It's a beautiful morning

and Andrew and I are off to meet with another family.

This time in County Down.

Hello, we're the Best family. We're from Comber. I'm Peter.

-I'm Heather.

-I'm Sarah.

And I'm Alex and I was born the 16th of October, 1997.

The Best family live in Comber - just outside Belfast.

Peter is an architect and Heather is originally from County Donegal.

They are a Christian family, much involved in their church.

Over the past 14 years, since the birth of their son Alex,

they, like the Robinson family in Fermanagh,

have noticed huge changes in Northern Ireland.

Alex goes to school at Campbell College

and today he's taking Andrew on a tour.

-Hello.

-Hi, Andrew. I'm Alex. Welcome to Campbell.

How do you do? J Piggot, headmaster. Welcome.

How does your school compare to this Victorian building?

It's much smaller. It's six floors.

-It's a modern building?

-One building. Yeah.

-We'll shake hands here.

-All right.

-I hope it's a good afternoon.

-Thank you.

While Andrew goes to school with Alex,

my daughter Claire and I meet with Heather and Peter.

-My name's Peter.

-Peter, very nice to meet you.

-My name's Heather.

-A familiar name for us!

-So I hear!

'For Peter, the Good Friday Agreement, made a very practical difference.'

-How old is Sarah?

-Sarah is seven.

The first time I ever voted was in the Good Friday Agreement.

And whenever I was thinking about this

the reason I didn't vote was because I couldn't see anything to vote for,

because it was all orange and green politics.

They were just arguing amongst themselves.

But now I would vote but what I would vote for people that... help me.

We, particularly in political life, make decisions based on

who's on the other side.

Instead of thinking about the idea - is it a good or a bad idea - in isolation?

You think, well, if he's for it and he's the opposition...

-I must be against it.

-I must be against it!

And that thought dominated political life in Northern Ireland for a very long time.

And I do think that is changing very much, now.

-So, your school is quite like this, but just...

-Yeah, much smaller.

It's a building. There's no outside grounds. It's, like, IN the city.

I just get on with normal everyday life.

It's basically making sure that we do the best for them.

Making sure we can pay our bills, making sure that we are well,

those are the issues that we look at now.

How do you feel, you know, basically the DUP is the major Unionist in government

-and they were against the agreement.

-Yes.

And there they are operating it, effectively.

Is there not a certain irony in that?

Well, life takes funny twists and turns, and that's one of them.

One of the realities of human history

is that often times revolutions take dramatic reversals

and people do change their minds.

And often those who make the initial sacrifice bear the cost.

You could say that life is unfair,

but it just happens in life that sometimes you don't get all the credit you should

for what you did and things don't turn out perfectly fairly in each individual person

or each individual party's score sheet.

But the important thing is whether society as a whole benefits.

'At school, Andrew is interested to see if life has changed for people of his age.'

Do you guys have many friends who are from different backgrounds?

I think we probably do but we don't ask, if that makes sense.

I mean, we wouldn't ask if someone is Catholic or Protestant.

That wouldn't influence it in any way.

We probably just don't know.

There isn't really much of a difference between Protestant and Catholic.

It isn't really brought up in conversation.

And if, say, one of my friends was Catholic, I wouldn't really be that bothered with that.

'While there seems to be a change in attitude among the younger generation,

'its clear that for their parents much has remained the same.'

We're not a less segregated society, we're a more open society,

but, you know, you still live in the same town

as your mother or your sisters or your brothers,

so whilst you might have taken the sectarian element out of it,

by virtue of the fact that this is where you've lived and this is where you want to live,

it takes a long time for the inertia to sort of break apart the two sides.

And, you know, Comber is, I'm guessing, but I would think it's more than 90% Protestant.

Not because Catholics aren't welcome,

it's just that's the way it is,

because historically that's the way it has been.

I think it does take a longer time.

I told a story yesterday of before I came here,

I spent quite a bit of time in the Balkans

when they were going through their troubles.

This young man, a mayor, was showing me around and I said to him,

"How long will it take, do you think, before Serbs and Croats can live side by side in peace here?"

And he addressed just the point that you did, that people lived in segregated areas

and you can't just wave a magic wand or expect all of a sudden

people are going to pack up and move into a different area.

He said it just takes a very long time, in which you first get the end conflict,

then you establish peace as a normality.

It's not an unusual thing, it's the normal thing.

Then you get genuine reconciliation. And he said over time they will integrate.

And I think the same thing is going to happen here.

BIRDSONG

And that's Stormont over there. See?

Yeah. My Dad worked there for a bit of time as you probably know.

So what did he actually do? I mean, I know he did something, but what he actually did is?

Yeah. Well, as you probably know,

the majority of the people in Northern Ireland are either Catholic or Protestant.

-Yeah.

-And as you probably know they had a little bit of conflict for a while.

-I would probably say a bit more than a little.

-Yeah.

So, yeah, he basically sat down with both sides

and it took five years but he figured it out.

And erm...that's pretty much what he did.

Yeah. It must have been quite difficult.

It probably was, it took five years, so... (LAUGHS) I can imagine.

True. I must say if I were him, I'd probably say, "I think I'll go home."

Well, I think, when we were born, he was going to, but he changed his mind and came back.

He could have stayed at home to look after you, but he decided to come over here to help me?

-Yeah. Exactly. (LAUGHS)

-Well, tell him thanks.

-Yeah.

The Northern Ireland Assembly has gone through many ups and downs.

For me, the opportunity to come back here

keeps the promise I made when Andrew was just a newborn baby.

What's it like to drive up here now, today?

It's a very pleasant memory. It wasn't always pleasant then, but it's very nice now!

There it is.

After an unsteady beginning, the Assembly has now reached a degree of stability.

The agenda for today's proceedings is very ordinary, exactly what I'd always hoped for.

Among the topics for discussion,

animal welfare and a report from a minister on a meeting he attended in Brussels.

Andrew and I take our seats in the visitors' gallery.

The focus was on good practice...

The low-key nature of the debate confirms that this really is democracy in action,

and it's fulfilling to see how the Assembly struggles with the day-to-day issues.

I'm delighted to be joined by Heather and Claire to share this occasion.

And by some old friends from the press corp. Hi, Ken.

Today is the day.

I had a really wonderful experience with my son sitting up in the gallery at the Assembly.

Some might regard it as boring... I personally regard it as very exciting.

Before we leave, the Speaker of the Assembly

invited Andrew and me to sign the visitor's book.

I said, "Mr Speaker, thank you for your hospitality and for all that you and the members of the Assembly

"do for the people of Northern Ireland. We love this place and the people here!"

-Thank you very much, Senator.

-Good luck to you.

-Thank you. And to you, Andrew. Thank you for coming along.

-I had a good time.

-Much appreciated. Thank you.

-OK, we're good.

It was good to see how my dad's ambition was achieved.

I think it was, and coming here, seeing this building

was definitely another aspect of this trip that was very enjoyable.

And in relation to your dad's ambition,

it's a nice moment for the two of you sitting up there just watching it.

-Did you feel that as well?

-Yeah. It was very peaceful in the chamber.

-It was.

But, yeah, I definitely did. He probably felt it more than I did, but it was definitely there.

-You were happy to share this experience with your dad?

-Yes, I was.

-Not as happy as his dad was to share it with him.

-I was pretty happy.

HE LAUGHS

-Who was Carson?

-Carson was a very famous Unionist leader

back in the early part of the 20th century.

He was the inspirational force for the Unionist movement for a long time.

There's a hotel right across the street and that's where I stayed.

And on the... We got the agreement on a Friday evening

and then on Saturday I left there to go back to the US

to take Andrew and Mommy for a walk in Central Park.

I'd promised Mommy I'd be home on Easter Sunday for a walk in Central Park.

And Andrew was then, I would say, about six months old.

Mummy had that little... carry thing, yeah.

So we went for a nice walk in Central Park and, this is a true story,

we were walking in Central Park and the very first person we came across

came up to me and said, "I'm from Northern Ireland."

-Yeah?

-Yeah. And she thanked me.

She said, "It's really wonderful to read about the news," and so forth.

In the middle of Manhattan.

The system of government here may not be perfect, but what system is?

The divisions are still clear, but that reflects the divisions that remain in the wider society.

The third day of our visit begins with a trip to a project that didn't exist when I first came to Belfast.

-The hulls are the same size as the Titanic would have been.

-Wow! That is really phenomenal.

The new Titanic Visitors Centre represents a very different Northern Ireland.

This is a symbol of what's been achieved.

But not everyone believes that all the change has been for the better.

Hi, we're the Stephenson's from County Down. I'm Dad, Ian. And this is my family.

-Hi. I'm Nicola.

-I'm Sophie.

-I'm Molly.

-Hi. I'm Emily.

-I'm Lucy.

And I was born on the 16th of October, 1997.

The Stephensons are from County Down.

Their four girls range in age from 9 to 18.

Ian is a serving police officer.

The continuing threat posed by dissident Republicans is a constant worry.

When Lucy was born they felt life did improve for a short time,

but in recent years the ongoing security threat has cast a shadow over their lives.

Lucy is a typical teenager who enjoys being with her friends.

She practices archery once a week,

and has taken Andrew, with her sisters, to the local leisure centre for a lesson.

-(I don't want this on video!)

-SHE LAUGHS

So we were born on the same day, the same year, but you have four more years of experience.

-And I'm a girl.

-Yeah.

Do your parents do archery?

Yeah. My mum and dad are into archery. They do it every weekend.

They would go out and shoot in the forests and stuff.

-Are they good?

-Yeah, they are.

They like to think they're good.

Yeah. That's kind of the similar to my dad.

So, what's life like in New York?

Erm... it's pretty cool.

There's' a lot of people, it's really busy, but I like it.

I'm sure it's pretty different from the countryside in Northern Ireland and stuff.

-Yeah.

-Do you get that in New York?

-Not really. You have to go out pretty far for that.

-Yeah.

-It's erm... Yeah. But I go to Maine in the summer and that's pretty nice.

-Yeah.

It's a little bit like here.

Tell me a little bit about your life here, what it's been like in the past few years.

I think probably from when Lucy was born there seemed to be relative peace in Northern Ireland in '97.

With the Good Friday Agreement, when it was signed, things did look to be better.

Certainly that's what the media was portraying, that Northern Ireland was a new place.

Everybody seemed to have been swept up in this wave of peace.

Yes. And then with Ian being in the police,

you always had that worry, "What if this all starts again?"

And I think over recent years, from the murder of Stephen Carol and Ronan Kerr,

since they have been killed, you just can't relax the way you used to relax, I don't feel.

You're always on your guard.

Our children would be very much aware they don't go out to the car unless it has been checked.

You check under your car every morning. My car and Ian's car.

So peace for us really isn't very peaceful here,

because you've got that threat always hanging over you.

But what people see is just what the media want them to see.

-They don't know most of what's going on behind the scenes.

-Yeah.

In the Police Service, is there greater integration there over time?

There's a lot more, yes. And it is actually good to see.

Have you ever had any troubles? Have you ever experienced that?

Not really, but you would hear on the radio

about soldiers and policemen being shot and bombs going off and stuff.

-Do you ever worry about your Dad?

-Yeah, sometimes. Whenever a policeman's been shot you think,

"That could have been my dad!" That sort of thing.

But, yeah...you do worry about it.

Of course not everyone was in favour of the Good Friday Agreement

and Nicola was one of those who found it difficult to accept.

It was a case for me of right and wrong, and how can you reward people who do wrong?

And I felt very much that's what the Good Friday Agreement did.

And how do I teach my children about right and wrong and then say, "Look who's running our country."

It's not people who have done right. To me, if my children do wrong, they're punished.

Not if they scream loud enough, they shout loud enough, I give in and give them what they want.

And that's in essence what I think happened in Northern Ireland.

People didn't behave in a very good way.

-They were put in prison for it.

-And they've been rewarded.

They let people out of prison.

Now, I'm very lucky because nobody very close to me was killed in the Troubles.

Ian's uncle was killed in the Troubles,

because he was a Protestant in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But how do you tell that to people that that's right, they are never going to see their loved ones again?

How do you say that's right to somebody?

Right, right.

I don't think you can explain it to anybody in a satisfactory way,

because I think loss is so personal

and grief is so natural and normal

that I don't think people can be, or should be asked

to forget and forgive individuals.

And I think the hope for the future will be,

that in future generations the numbers of people that have suffered personal loss

will be fewer in the next generation, fewer still in the generation beyond.

Hopefully, your daughters will never have to go through what you went through,

and their children won't have to go through.

And in time you can see a hope for genuine reconciliation.

I don't... I don't think that it's there yet

At archery, Andrew and Lucy are getting on well

and the conversation has turned to common interests, music and the internet.

THEY CHAT

It's not just Andrew and Lucy who have discovered they have some things in common.

And I really hope and pray that Lucy

ends up with the same kind of opportunities

that Andrew or the other children of the same age have.

It's a bit hard in your position and Andrew's position, how do they beat what Dad has done?

How do they live up to what Dad has contributed to not only America but to Northern Ireland,

the Middle East and all the jobs you have done over your long career. And it's still going.

I suppose he has a lot to live up to, Lucy doesn't have the same...

I have to be careful and patient with him in that respect.

Everybody's got to be his own man.

-Absolutely.

-Or woman. And do what he or she can do,

and not be bound by what the expectations are.

-So I try to be very respectful and not too bossy.

-THEY LAUGH

But it's very difficult, I know as a parent it's very difficult not to push them in certain directions

that you think would be the best thing for them

and what you perhaps were interested in, or maybe what you didn't do.

What would you like to see Andrew doing when he grows up?

Would you like to see him going into politics?

Really, I don't care.

I don't think he'll want to get into politics, because having seen it,

some of it's tough, particularly the separation from family is very hard.

And I was talking to Heather about it just last week,

all we want to do is to get him to the point

where he has the intelligence and the judgment and the maturity to make a good choice of his own.

-Yes, absolutely.

-So I try not to push him at all in any direction.

But as long as you feel like you're doing something that you like

and working successfully, that's really all I care about for him.

As with the other families, the Stephensons were frank and honest in their opinions.

In some ways they are very different from those of the other families I've met on this trip,

but as parents we all share a lot in common.

BIRDSONG

It's our final day in Northern Ireland.

I want to bring my son to my old office at Castle Buildings,

where I spent so much of my time during the peace negotiations.

I haven't been there since the day we got the agreement.

On the journey, I tell Andrew about some of the problems during the talks.

What I had anticipated would take just a few days, agreeing on a simple set of rules,

ended up taking months.

And it was...

a very painful and painstaking and argumentative process.

That was a very long...description of the buildings.

Andrew's been rather consistently critically

commenting on the lengths of my answers,

especially when we're outside.

He said to me the other day, he said,

"The next time you give one of these 18-minute answers,

"remember I'm standing out here in the cold next to you!"

HE LAUGHS

BIRDSONG

Good morning.

Oh, boy! This brings back memories.

-So, is this your old office?

-Er... right in here.

This was it here.

'This is the office where my staff and I

'discussed how to overcome the many problems in the negotiations.

'It's also where I updated President Clinton on progress.'

My desk was over in that corner.

All great negotiators are able to always put themselves in your shoes

at a second's notice.

Because they can't seem to be getting you to do what they want you to do,

they had to get you to believe that it's in your interests

and that of the people you represent and care about

and the future you dream of for your children to do these things.

Mitchell is a genius at that.

There were many times I thought that we couldn't possibly succeed.

It was so difficult.

It's hard even for me to visualise in retrospect

listening to the same arguments for two years.

Two years is a very long time to hear the same people

say the same thing over and over and over again.

Just down the corridor is the room in which the agreement was announced.

Some old news reports help bring back the memories.

Our political editor Stephen Grimason. Stephen, anything new in the last 20 minutes?

-This is it. This is the agreement.

-You have it in your hand?

I have it in my hand. 67 pages.

-It's grown by two.

-Yeah, it's grown by two.

It's probably to do with the way they have re-ordered the sections,

but this is what they'll be signing up to in the plenary later this afternoon.

I say to you from the bottom of my heart,

I have that bitter-sweet feeling, that comes in life,

I'm dying to leave...

LAUGHTER

..but I hate to go.

This has been a truly remarkable experience for me

and while I've engaged in many important public policy matters,

I can say to you that never have I felt the sense of gratification

and responsibility and gratitude that I feel today.

I think that on this important day, we should all offer our very deep thanks to our three chairman

who have played such a pivotal role in these talks.

We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Senator Mitchell,

to Prime Minister Holkeri and to General de Chastelain,

as indeed do all the people of Northern Ireland and Ireland as a whole.

I must join with those, George, who have thanked you and John and Harry

for your tremendous patience over the time, particularly in the last few days.

And I hope and pray that the action we've taken today

gives everyone here, especially the children,

the opportunity to enjoy the kind of life

that I want for my new young son.

APPLAUSE

It was one of the most meaningful days of my life,

and I could not have foreseen that...

14 years later,

I'd be back here in the same room, in the same place,

with my son reminiscing about and talking about those days.

Andrew, when you watch that video footage there,

listening to everybody heaping praise on your father... what's that like?

Erm... it's a very good feeling.

Erm... yeah.

-Are you proud of him?

-Yeah, I am.

-You did a good job.

-LAUGHS

-I did the best job with you.

-Yeah.

HE LAUGHS

It's still the symbol of what is best in us.

And I'm very proud, since my mother's people are all from Northern Ireland, that I was a part of it.

I'm very proud that I... persuaded George Mitchell to take that part-time job.

And I'm very proud that he decided to honour his young son

by giving the sons and daughters of Ireland a brighter future.

I'm very... profoundly grateful for having had the opportunity

to serve in Northern Ireland.

And I'm also grateful that I now have this opportunity to come back and remember it

and in a sense relive it in the presence of my son,

who now understands what I was doing and why I wasn't home.

And... I think it's important for everyone

to have some important cause in their life,

larger than their self-interest.

Because it adds depth and fulfilment to any human life.

And so, for me, the opportunity to serve in Northern Ireland played that role.

But back in 1998,

just when I thought that my time in Northern Ireland was over,

I abruptly learned it wasn't.

The Omagh bomb came just four months after the signing of the agreement.

When I heard the news, I felt that the whole peace process

and everything that we had achieved was at serious risk.

With President Clinton, I went to Omagh.

And today, just when I think this trip with my son is complete, it turns out it isn't.

Just like 14 years ago, my journey in Northern Ireland takes me to Omagh

to a surprise meeting.

That's right, you won't tell me so I'm not going to ask.

Do you have any idea?

Oh, I have several different ideas,

but I thought it would be best to wait and...genuinely be surprised.

I've spoken about Northern Ireland all around the world.

Each time I talk about the impact on me of the Omagh bomb and the bravery of the survivors,

I always mention Claire Gallagher, the 15 year-old

who lost her sight in the attack.

For me, she is an simply an inspiration.

In fact, when President Obama asked me to serve as his Peace Envoy to the Middle East,

I thought about Claire among others.

14 years after the Omagh bomb, she's now married with children of her own.

It was very humbling in a way.

I suppose I would never think of people like the Senator

thinking of me in their day to day life.

I was just a teenage girl from Omagh caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time

and have just got on with things and live very much a normal life now

and sort of stay away from a lot of the media attention and things like that.

So I suppose I just never considered that someone like the Senator would remember me

and would continue to remember me.

-Hello, Claire.

-Hello, Senator. You're very welcome.

-How have you been?

-Fine thanks. Good.

-It's very nice, very wonderful to see you again.

-You, too.

-This is my son, Andrew.

-Pleased to meet you.

-He's 14.

-I told him he's just a little younger than you were at the time we met.

-Yeah.

I was...genuinely inspired

by what I saw as Claire's courage

and determination...and spirit.

And so it enabled me to come back when the process collapsed yet again the following year.

And I have always kept Claire in my mind.

And I never did tell you this, but...

a few years later I had a daughter and we named her Claire.

So my son Andrew here is 14 and my daughter Claire is now 11.

So...I think of you a lot because I use your name every day a lot.

Sometimes a little yelling trying to get a little discipline,

but you've always been on my mind.

It's also good to see the people that were affected by what happened.

And that it's not all bad, you know, some of it's good.

And, of course, it's always nice to see good-looking guys like this.

'You can tell at times with people there's still a bit of anxiety

'about what happens in the North.

'And we do have security alerts at times and things like that,

'but, thankfully, they don't happen that often and it generally is a nice place.

'And it is improving.'

You still have the minority that will probably always be there,

but the majority of people are getting on well and getting on with their lives.

And I suppose a lot of the Troubles have been left in the past.

This was a surprise.

When I knew we were coming to Omagh just a few minutes ago,

I said to my son, "I only know two people in Omagh,

"so it has to be one of the two."

And I told him I thought it was very likely it was Claire,

because you have meant so much to me.

And I think to all the people of Northern Ireland and in other places

as an inspiration of courage and determination, integrity,

and really the kind of human spirit that everybody aspires to,

but not many of us actually achieve.

So it's a great, great pleasure for me to be here with you.

Well, it's lovely for me to be here as well. Thank you.

Meeting with Claire again and her family has capped off the trip of a lifetime for me and my family.

After talking with her and the other families,

one thing is clear above all others,

parents across the world want what's best for their children.

Before we left New York, Andrew was curious to see

how the lives of the children born of the same day as him

were different from his own life.

I think in many ways, many, many ways they are very, very similar.

You know, they all go to school,

they all do things for fun, whether that's archery or whatever.

You know, they both have two parents.

In some cases they live in different places, I don't live on a farm.

But...

I think the differences are

that they have to live with the separation of Protestants and Catholics,

and that's something I just don't have to live with.

And that's probably the biggest difference that...is meaningful.

Andrew's right, Northern Ireland's shared future is still some way off.

People do live apart, their children are schooled apart.

But there is peace.

There is hope.

And there is a confidence that wasn't here when I first arrived in Belfast.

Peace and reconciliation are important...

but they rarely occur simultaneously.

People shouldn't be disappointed or think of it as a failure

that there isn't full and genuine reconciliation yet.

It will come.

The important point is that peace is here

and that there can be a broadly shared prosperity and a broadly shared sense of community

by all the people of Northern Ireland.

The trip has been one of the most memorable of my life,

moving and informative.

I've seen former rival paramilitaries working side by side,

but I've seen the peace walls stand as tall as ever.

I've seen the Northern Ireland Assembly in action

and signs of the investment that I'd hoped for

but never imagined would occur in these economies.

But I've also seen how the peace process hasn't delivered for everyone.

The only thing I haven't seen during our trip is...rain!

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