FORMER US President Bill Clinton has said one of the "greatest opportunities" of his time in office was playing a role in the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Clinton told former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's new As I Remember It podcast that "it's a miracle" the agreement is held up 25 years after its signing in 1998.
The 76-year-old ex-president is one of a series of guests linked to the Belfast Agreement who have been interviewed for the new podcast series from Newstalk FM focussing on the deal ahead of its anniversary.
He told Mr Ahern: "If you look at the Irish problem in the context of what else has happened in the world in the last 20 years, you might think it’s a miracle the peace agreement is held at all."
Speaking of his role in the negotiations ahead of the deal's signing, he played down his significance, saying "I love when people give me some credit", but said the deal was reached through the work of politicians including Mr Ahern, British prime minister Tony Blair, "and to the people who just decided they wanted to stop killing each other".
He described reaching consensus in the peace process as something that "could be seen as a brick wall to run up against and be destroyed by or it could be seen as a high fence to jump over", adding: "I urged them to think of it as a fence, just another problem to solve."
Mr Clinton, who visited Belfast and Derry as president in 1995, said of his links to the Good Friday Agreement: "I just want everyone to know there were many wonderful things of being president but one of the greatest opportunities was to play a role in this. I love Ireland."
Other guests to have spoken on the Agreement for Mr Ahern's podcast include former DUP first minister Peter Robinson, Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly, and peace talks chair and former US Senator George Mitchell.
