Sinn Fein's Gerry Adams: It is only now I realise how brave UUP leader David Trimble was

By Philip Bradfield
Published 28th Mar 2023, 10:09 BST
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Gerry Adams has said that it was only after Lord Trimble's death last year that he fully appreciated how "brave" the former UUP leader had been in striking a deal which included Sinn Fein.

Lord Trimble led the largest unionist party to sign the historic Belfast / Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

The IRA called a ceasefire a year before the deal, allowing Sinn Fein to be involved in all-party talks which led to the deal.

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However it took until 2005 until it was officially announced that the IRA had decommissioned its weapons and it was not until 2007 that Sinn Fein party members voted to support policing structures in NI.

Ulster Unionist Party leader, David Trimble and Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams pass within touching distance outside Castle Buildings, Stormont during a break in the negotiations before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.Ulster Unionist Party leader, David Trimble and Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams pass within touching distance outside Castle Buildings, Stormont during a break in the negotiations before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
Ulster Unionist Party leader, David Trimble and Sinn Fein President, Gerry Adams pass within touching distance outside Castle Buildings, Stormont during a break in the negotiations before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

The process of striking an agreement including Sinn Fein caused a major split in the UUP, with some members of the UUP negotiating team, including Jeffrey Donaldson, resigning from the party just before the deal was signed.

Reflecting now on the circumstances of the deal, Mr Adams told the BBC: "Because we were so busy managing our own house, it was only when David Trimble died, and I saw some of the footage of him speaking at unionist meetings and other meetings with unionist folk, that I realised how brave he was in arguing as he was arguing."

Lord Trimble was subsequently jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with SDLP leader John Hume.

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Looking back, Mr Adams said: "It's certainly the most important agreement of our time, and arguably for the last 100 years or so.

First Minister David Trimble (right) walks past Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams during talks at Hillsborough, near Belfast.First Minister David Trimble (right) walks past Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams during talks at Hillsborough, near Belfast.
First Minister David Trimble (right) walks past Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams during talks at Hillsborough, near Belfast.

"It's a rather complex agreement. Interestingly enough, it's an agreement to a journey without agreement on the destination."

When Sinn Féin entered the talks in 1997, the UUP did not engage directly with Gerry Adams or his colleagues, he said.

"David (Trimble) wasn't talking to us. I met him once in the men's room, and said hello to him and he told me to 'grow up'.

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"Subsequently, after the agreement, I used to meet him quite often, and privately, and we got on I think quite well, and we got to know each other at a personal level."

Asked if he believed he would see a united Ireland if he lived until he was 100, he said: "It will come in phases. We're actually in a process of change."