Good Friday Agreement at 25: DUP MP says 'we were never completely against 1998 deal and it is proper to celebrate it today'

Jim Shannon made the comments in the House of Commons on Thursday, as part of a debate on the merits of the 1998 agreement, 25 years on.

It puts him at odds with colleagues like Sammy Wilson who reject the idea that there’s cause to celebrate the agreement.

With the quarter-century anniversary of the deal coming up next month (it was officially signed on April 10), a number of major international figures have heaped praise on the treaty, with US President Joe Biden among those set to mark the milestone with a visit to the Province.

But all of this comes as the devolved settlement set up by the 1998 deal lies in ruins, with unionists and loyalists arguing that its foundational principle of ‘no constitutional change without consent’ has been destroyed by the Protocol.

Mr Shannon repeated this standpoint in his comments today.

The Strangford MP (who has been an elected DUP member since the 1980s, as a councillor, then MLA) told the Commons: “​Although it no doubt suits, for some, the caricatures through which many prefer to operate, the truth is the DUP was never completely opposed to the Good Friday Agreement.

"It always contained significant elements we supported like power-sharing and cross-community consent... two completely opposing traditions had to find a methodology where we could agree to have a democratic process and move forward.

"The reason why the DUP could not support the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, however, is it involved the release from prison of murderers back into the community where they could live alongside the families of those they had murdered…

"But that did not mean we did not support the rest of the Good Friday Agreement, and it did not mean we were unwilling to fight for the rest of the agreement.”

He also praised the “seminal” St Andrew’s Agreement of 2007, which he said made the 1998 deal "even better".

Mr Shannon added that many people want to celebrate the deal, and “it's right to celebrate it”, but that the Protocol has “destabilised” the 1998 deal and represent an “acute” threat to it.

Back in 1998, the DUP – then led by Dr Ian Paisley – threw its weight heavily behind a ‘No’ vote on the referendum, under the slogan: “It’s RIGHT to say no.”

Literature distributed by the DUP at the time said the 1998 agreement meant:

"IRA/Sinn Fein in power”;

"Nationalists handed a veto”;

"An embryonic united Ireland government”;

"Ulster’s constitutional status destroyed”;

"No terror weapons required and prisoners go free”;

And “your security slashed”.

Rev Paisley himself made a personal appeal in material handed out to voters, saying: “A ‘Yes’ vote is a vote which the enemies of our Province and those who have surrendered to them are calling for.

"You have the opportunity to save Ulster for the Union and for your offspring by voting ‘No’...

"Stand up for Ulster! Stand up for your children and your heritage! Stand up for your children and your children’s children!

"Let the world know that the Ulster people will not be bullied, bribed or butchered into accepting fascist rule!

"It is suicidal to do otherwise. Your friend and European Member of Parliament, for God and Ulster, Ian R K Paisley.”

A few weeks ago DUP MP Sammy Wilson had told the News Letter that unionists who voted for the agreement now have "every right to be angry, every right to be cynical".

As for the anniversary, and the idea that it should be celebrated, he said: "What are they going to celebrate – the Assembly which is not sitting?

"The cross-border bodies which have not met for over a year and a half?

"The principle of consensus government which has now been dispensed with?”

Among those praising the agreement in Thursday’s sparsely-attended debate was Labour’s Peter Kyle, who said: “Communities in conflict across the globe still look to the Good Friday Agreement as proof and inspiration that peace is possible.”

Meanwhile Tory MP Simon Hoare said people should “rejoice” in the 1998 deal, adding: “I've often wondered whether it was by chance, by happenstance, that the Belfast Good Friday Agreement was concluded... at the end of Holy Week, and on the cusp of the joy of the Easter story. I actually think not.”

More from this reporter:

• 25 years of Good Friday Agreement: Former SDLP leading light rebuffs 'tenuous claims' about Sinn Fein's past enthusiasm for 1998 deal