Unmissable.
This week marks the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and while political relations in Northern Ireland remain frayed, there’s no denying the seismic importance that the peace agreement has had. As reported previously, Patrick Kielty will present a new BBC documentary about The Troubles and how it personally shaped his own life.
In 1988, Kielty’s father Jack was shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries in Dundrum, County Down. In the aftermath of this tragedy, the broadcaster has revealed that the IRA offered him the opportunity to exact revenge for his father’s murder.
In ‘My Dad, the Peace Deal and Me‘, Kielty states that his uncle was approached by members of the IRA at the funeral and was told that: “We could properly use a couple of good smart, strong, strapping lads like those Kielty lads if they are interested in revenge.”
These potential IRA ‘recruiters’ were immediately “told in no uncertain terms where to go.”
Ultimately, three men were convicted in connection with the killing of Jack Kielty but they were freed after the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998. Over 500 prisoners were released after the agreement was signed, over half of them from the IRA.
Rather than let resentment and anger consume his decision making, Kielty said that that he was still in favour of the Good Friday Agreement – despite the fact that he knew his father’s killers would be freed. “I felt this is what has to happen to stop this happening to someone else. ‘Okay, I’ll suck it up’. I remember at the time thinking, ‘If this can bring peace, we’ve got to do this’, he said.
Throughout the documentary, Kielty explores the legacy of the agreement and goes to meet those who did not vote for the agreement- like DUP leader Arlene Foster.
Foster’s father was shot by the IRA in 1979 but survived, while she also survived a bomb attack on her school bus when she was 16.
Over the course of the documentary, Kielty also talks with the former IRA commander in the Maze prison, Seanna Walsh, former UVF prisoners, and peacemakers on both sides of the political spectrum.
‘My Dad, the Peace Deal and Me’ airs tonight on BBC One at 21:00. Don’t miss it.
Quotes via BBC.
