Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern yesterday lauded Britain and its departing leader, Prime Minister Tony Blair, for making possible the dream of lasting peace in Northern Ireland and bringing Anglo-Irish relations to a new high.
Ahern made a speech to the joint houses of the British Parliament, becoming the 31st foreign leader -- and the first from Ireland -- to be afforded the honor.
Blair offered an effusive introduction for Ahern, his longtime partner in brokering peace in Northern Ireland, after the two traveled together from Blair's nearby Downing Street office.
"He was a man I could always trust, a man with a vision for the future not just of Ireland but for these islands," said Blair, who noted he had met many great world figures over the past decade -- "but I've never met a bigger one than Bertie Ahern."
Blair and Ahern both rose to power in 1997 and made peace in the British territory of Northern Ireland their shared responsibility. They were on hand last week in Belfast when a Catholic-Protestant administration -- the central goal of the Good Friday peace accord that Blair and Ahern signed in 1998 -- was formed following years of patient diplomacy.
Ahern, who received a standing ovation, noted that Britain and Ireland had endured centuries of conflict, but achieved on Good Friday nine years ago "the triumph of common interests over inherited divisions."
"Now in our day and generation, we've seen the dawning of a new era," he said in reference to the Belfast power-sharing breakthrough.
But both leaders could be out of jobs soon. Blair has already announced he will step down on June 27, while Ahern's Fianna Fail party faces a struggle to retain power following a May 24 election in the Republic of Ireland.
Ahern's audience included about 400 members from both houses, including seven former British secretaries of state for Northern Ireland stretching back to 1972 who today sit in the unelected House of Lords.
There were also about 100 guests, including Sir John Major, Blair's Conservative Party predecessor as prime minister, who helped open the door to a Northern Ireland settlement following decades of bloodshed that claimed more than 3,500 lives.
The predominantly Catholic south of Ireland won de-facto independence from Britain in 1922, months after a Protestant-dominated government was established in the new state of Northern Ireland. The country, initially called the Irish Free State, became the Republic of Ireland in 1949.
Anglo-Irish relations were poor during the 1930s, when the two countries boycotted each others' coal and beef exports; during World War II, when Ireland remained neutral and expressed sympathy to Nazi Germany over the death of Adolf Hitler; and during the 1970s rise of Irish Republican Army violence over Northern Ireland.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS