A fitting Tribute

Tony Blair is far universally popular (Jams O'Donnell states the blidningly obvious once again), the positive aspects of his time as Prime Minister (and there IS a lot to be proud of) have been overshadowed in the public mind by Iraq, but there is one area where his stock remains very high and with justification - Ireland . Whatever else one may think of the last ten years, brokering peace in Northern Ireland is without doubt one of the finest achievements.

Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern paid one of the most glowing tributes to Blair yesterday: “Tony Blair has been a friend to Ireland. And I am proud also to count him as a friend of mine...From his first days as prime minister he devoted unprecedented time and attention to bringing the appalling conflict in Northern Ireland to an end. The Good Friday Agreement stands as a noble testament to his commitment to address the problem of Northern Ireland in a fair and balanced way. The ending of his term of office coincides with the success finally achieved at Stormont on May 8th,"

Irish Independent columnist Martina Devlin was quite correct when she wrote in February “Tony Blair was the first British prime minister not to treat us as poor relations or hapless incompetents."

It has taken time, there have been pitfalls but Northern Ireland has a government in which formerly intractable foes are now working together. They may not be friends but the appear to have common purpose. This may not last but there is every chance that that Northern Ireland politics will develop into the slugfest we see in Westminster rather than return to sectarian violence.

The Irish Examiner’s brief editorial sums up the Irish view on Blair succinctly:

Where Ireland is concerned, few would deny that his record marks him out as one of the leading British prime ministers for centuries. For more than 10 years, he has devoted unprecedented time and energy to resolving the North’s seemingly intractable problems. As Taoiseach Bertie Ahern succinctly put it, he will have an honoured place in the nation’s history.

The same cannot be said, however, of his role in the Iraqi debacle. The war was a pyrrhic victory and failure to win peace undermined his leadership of the Labour party. Typifying the Bush-Blair axis of denial, he insists he did what he thought was right. However, if Iraq was his failure, Northern Ireland was Tony Blair’s enduring triumph.

My 800^th post on the Poor Mouth. I clocked up 100 posts on Plant Porn and Pussycats today too.