The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement was signed 25 years ago today, bringing to an end most of the violence of the Troubles.
The years of armed conflict had a far reaching impact across the United Kingdom and the island of Ireland. Here in Aldershot, the Official Irish Republican Army, a group of paramilitary republicans, targeted the headquarters of the British Army's 16th Parachute Brigade, carrying out a bombing on 22 February 1972 that tragically took the lives of six civilians and a military chaplain.
The Agreement helped to bring an end to almost 30 years of the Troubles, and enabled Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to move towards greater prosperity and reconciliation, that continues to this day.
Commenting, Leo said:
"A quarter of a century on, the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement is just as important today as it ever was.
"The Windsor Framework and this Government's actions demonstrate how we remain completely committed to upholding it."
Leo pictured at the 25 Years On: Global and Local Reflections on the Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement Conference, and with Irish Minister of State for European Affairs & Defence Peter Burke