Good Friday Agreement

Gerry McMahon
Interviewed for MAOHP - 10/02/2017
Reference Code: IE_MA_MAC_006_MAOHP_005_B
Location(s): Cathal Brugha Barracks
Length: 4.17

In this piece of audio from December 2016, Lieutenant General McMahon discusses the role played by the Defence Forces in the lead up to the Good Friday Agreement and 'the normalisation of the relationship between the UK and Ireland'. He speaks about the previously informal relationship between the Irish Defence Forces and British Army and the gradual movement towards a more overt form of this relationship. Lieutenant General McMahon also reflects on being the first head of the Irish Defence Forces to be invited to review a guard of honour in Britain. He describes this as 'A definitive statement that the British Force and the Defence Forces of Ireland were on very, very good terms'.

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