One of the key negotiators in the Good Friday Agreement has said that the sight of grown men crying when agreement was reached showed how significant the occasion was.
Monica McWilliams admitted that she was trying to stop herself from getting upset when the 1998 agreement was settled because she was worried she would be judged as a woman.
Ms McWilliams co-founded the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition in 1996 and later became a delegate in the peace talks.
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In a new interview, conducted by Fianna Fáil as part of their Good Friday Agreement celebrations, the former Belfast South MLA explained how as one of the few women in the room, she was trying to hold back tears as the historic deal was reached.
However, she later looked around the room to see tears streaming down the faces of the men in attendance.
Ms McWilliams explained: “I said, ‘look, try and hold it together. Nobody should be crying because they'll say, that's what women do. That they can’t cope with the tension’.
“Some women were crying. But I looked around the room and the men were crying too.
“Then it hit me just how incredible this moment was and what we had finally achieved.
“It was [a] relief, we were very tired. [It was] three days and three nights and very little food because everyone had been told to go home the day before.
“We were probably hallucinating at that stage.
“But [it was] also knowing that we had achieved something.
“Maybe turned a page of history. But I was also aware that it was the start of a lot of hard work.”
Ms McWilliams said that while the agreement was significant, it was “only words on paper” and work then had to be progressed to put peace in place.
The former politician also revealed how she explained the situation to her 10-year-old son as he questioned what it would mean for his life.
“The phone calls started and it was a lot of excitement that night. Except for my eldest son, who was watching the TV and said, ‘Mum why are people excited? This is great, but what did you sign today? Are all the killings going to stop? Is it the end of the riots? No more of the protests? Can I get home from school safely in my uniform?’
“The more he asked those questions, the more the penny dropped. I said, ‘no, it doesn't mean any of that’.
“So if you can't explain to your ten-year-old son what it means, you're in trouble.
“That night I spent some time trying to get them to understand that would mean a different future for my children, hopefully for theirs and everybody else's.”
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