Wally Kirwan, Seamus Mallon, Rory O'Hanlon
at the Dublin launch of Seamus's book "Ar Scáth a Chéile"
[This is a guest posting I invited from Wally Kirwan a former colleague in the Civil Service with a lifetime involvement in Northern affairs.]
THE BURNING OF THE BRITISH EMBASSY
I was there in Merrion Square, where people were packed tightly, so that the Gardai were unable to reach those who were inside the park and were throwing petrol bombs from there.
Of course, the crowd should never have been allowed to get so close to the Embassy as to bring the building within range of petrol bombs.
I was, of course, totally in breach of the circular as to civil servants staying out of politics - but who was to know ?!! I had already got a rap on the knuckles from Sêamus Ó Conaill for backing a Gaeilgeoir candidate for election to the Seanad from the NUI constituency.
I have a faint memory that my colleague Cathal may have been with me. My dear late wife, Anne, was from Derry City and I recall her bitter tears on Bloody Sunday and on so many other occasions of atrocity over the years of the troubles.
THE TAOISEACH'S DEPARTMENT
My experiences of the North while still in D/Finance influenced me to apply for the Principal post advertised for competition later in the same year to act as the Irish joint head of the Secretariat of the Council of Ireland envisaged in the Sunningdale Agreement. I never regretted my move to the Department of the Taoiseach.
One involvement there that I think of as a career highlight was when I acted as Editor-in-Chief of the dossier of new evidence - new in the sense of having emerged post Widgery - that Bertie gave to Blair and which persuaded him to set up the Savill Inquiry.
We had a team of three - Eamonn McKee from Foreign Affairs, currently Ireland's Ambassador in Canada - who did most of the work - Gerry Cribin of my own Department and myself.
THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT
I had the exhilarating experience of being in Guildhall Square in Derry when one of the relatives of those shot on Bloody Sunday gave a visible thumbs up sign out one of the Guildhall windows, signaling that the report vindicated those who were shot on Bloody Sunday.
The roar that went up from the crowd - said to number 15,000 - in the square was primeval. Sadly, my Anne did not live to see that wonderful day, having died in 1994.
For me, only one other emotional moment and day exceeded that Guildhall Square moment in my time - the moment when at 5 pm on Good Friday 1998 each delegation in the multi-party talks indicated to Senator George Mitchell their acceptance of what became cited as the Good Friday Agreement.
Stirring times !
