Brid Rodgers

The 1998 Good Friday Agreement brought an end to three decades of violence and paved the way for the establishment of new power-sharing institutions.

The vision and diplomacy of the late Fr Alec Reid, the Redemptorist priest from Clonard in Belfast, who played an influential role in bringing an end to armed conflict in Northern Ireland, is celebrated in a new drama-documentary this Easter.

ANTOIN Rodgers had a passion for social justice and for Gaelic football.

MARY McAleese's presidency is widely regarded as a success story. During her two terms in office between 1997-2011, the Belfast-born former journalist and law lecturer remained true to her stated philosophy of “building bridges”. She encouraged engagement between nationalists and unionists, strengthened cross-border ties and sought to mend the historically strained relationship between Ireland and Britain.

Watching the very dignified funeral of the former SDLP leader, John Hume on RTE, I was quite moved by the simplicity of the service and the example in leadership displayed by the Hume family.

AS chair of the SDLP's Lurgan branch I first got to know Seamus Mallon when he represented the former Armagh constituency in the new power sharing assembly of 1973.

THE SDLP and Fianna Fáil have held their first meeting as part of the parties' new partnership.

COLUM Eastwood believes the SDLP brand will prevail and that building links with Fianna Fáil will secure his party's future rather than threaten it.