Good Friday Agreement: Hillary Clinton urges NI parties to return to power sharing

Hillary Clinton has urged political parties in Northern Ireland to return to power sharing.

The former US Secretary of State is in Belfast for a conference marking 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement.

She addressed an audience at the Washington-Ireland Program headquarters in the city centre on Sunday.

There, she said the post-Brexit deal, the Windsor Framework, provides an economic boost that should not be missed.

Asked about the future of Northern Ireland, she said: "Part of what I hope happens is that people from every part of the political system here will decide that the government needs to get back into business."

She added: "Given the Windsor agreement, this is an opportunity unlike any for economic development growth, investment, business expansion - because Northern Ireland now has a unique and privileged position."

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will pay tribute to the contribution young people have made to peace when he returns to Northern Ireland this week to take part in events to mark the 25th anniversary of the agreement.

Among those events will be a gala dinner to honour those who signed the 1998 deal and the "remarkable" young people continuing peace efforts.

The PM visited Northern Ireland last week when he welcomed US President Joe Biden to Belfast.

Ahead of his forthcoming trip, Mr Sunak said he was due to meet some of the "leading architects" of the peace deal.

He will acknowledge their "courage, imagination and perseverance" when he gives the closing speech at a Queen's University Belfast conference about the agreement.

"It is a tribute to the 1998 agreement that we also see a younger generation of inspirational people across Northern Ireland today," Mr Sunak said on Sunday.

His comments come a few days after President Biden used a speech in the city to say that young people were at the "cutting edge" of Northern Ireland's future.

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On Sunday, political and Church leaders attended a service at Clonard Monastery in Belfast to mark the agreement anniversary.

Among them were Catholic Archbishop of Armagh Eamon Martin, and the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh, John McDowell.

The US Special Envoy for Northern Ireland, Joe Kennedy III, was also in attendance, as were NIO minister Steve Baker and figures from across NI's political divide.

Queen's University Belfast (QUB) is hosting a conference marking the anniversary, featuring speeches and panel discussions from former and current political leaders over three days, beginning on Monday.

Speaking in Dublin on Sunday, the Tanaiste (Irish deputy PM) Micheál Martin said the events could provide an impetus to restore devolved government at Stormont.

"I've met with all of the party leaders over the last year and, irrespective of their positions, they've all resolutely said that they want the institutions back up and running," said Mr Martin.

Former US Senator George Mitchell, who chaired the negotiations that led to the Good Friday Agreement, is in Belfast for the anniversary events.

On Sunday afternoon he attended a play about the 1998 agreement at the Lyric Theatre and received a standing ovation from the audience as he took his seat.

Richard Croxford, the actor who plays Mr Mitchell in the play, titled Agreement, said before the performance that he felt "emotional and scared" about having to act in front of the man he was pretending to be.

"He is a phenomenal man. I have not got enough good things to say about him," he said.

Ryan Feeney from QUB said the Agreement 25 conference would mark "how far we've come" since the peace deal, as well as considering "how we look to the next 25 years".

Sir Tony Blair, who as UK prime minister in 1998 was one of the signatories to the deal, will also take part in events alongside former Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern.

Mr Mitchell will open the QUB conference with an address on Monday and was "extremely excited" to do so, Mr Feeney said.

"We're over the moon that our former [university] chancellor and chair of the peace talks is coming here," he added.

"He was invited by President Biden to come [last week] on Air Force One but declined because he had made this commitment with Queen's."

Also at the performance in the Lyric Theatre were former Irish President Mary McAleese and Monica McWilliams, co-founder of the Women's Coalition.

Alistair Campbell, who was Mr Blair's official spokesperson in 1998, was also in the audience.