Good Friday Agreement

Martin Mansergh: So much has been achieved ‘in harmony and friendship’ – and much more can be too

The North’s situation now invites northern political parties to focus on political, economic and social progress rather than on constitutional differences

The Omagh bomb of August 15, 1998, causing 29 deaths from a cross-section of the community three months after the referendums. Picture: Getty

The conclusion of the Good Friday Agreement on April 10, 1998 will remain a major landmark in Irish history. From one perspective, it closed intermittent armed conflict begun with the Easter Rising and ending only as the 20th century drew to a close. It was exactly 75 years since the death of Republican leader Liam Lynch on April 10, 1923, after being shot on the Knockmealdown Mountains in Co Tipperary, which effectively ended the Civil ...