One of the negotiating team of the Good Friday Agreement has said they likely wouldn't have touched Northern Ireland 'with a barge pole' if they knew how difficult it was.
Jonathan Powell was Chief of Staff to British Prime Minister Tony Blair from 1997 to 2007.
He was speaking ahead of the 25th anniversary of the agreement, which will see US President Joe Biden visit Ireland.
Mr Powell told The Anton Savage Show he knew very little about Northern Ireland before this.
"I'd been very, very ignorant - like everyone else in Britain - about Northern Ireland, until I was sent to the embassy in Washington in 1991," he said.
"One of my jobs in the embassy was to make the case up on [Capitol] Hill in Congress on Northern Ireland.
"So was sent over to Northern Ireland and I toured west Belfast with a bunch of squaddies on patrol in the back of an armoured car - getting out and walking along the streets.
"I then went around the same streets with a local Catholic clergyman - and seeing the two sides of it like that made me kind of aware quite quickly what the issues were.
"I became a little bit addicted to it and would go back there as often as I could as part of my briefing when I came back from Washington".
'He really committed himself'
Mr Powell said his ignorance turned out to be an advantage.
"I was by no means an expert; in fact, in some ways the fact that Tony Blair and I were both pretty ignorant about Northern Ireland was an advantage," he said.
"If we had any idea how difficult it was, I don't think we'd have touched it with a barge pole".
Tony Blair (left) and Jonathan Powell arrive for a cabinet meeting in London, England in March 2007. Picture by: REUTERS / Alamy Stock PhotoMr Powell said Mr Blair's interest in Ireland goes back to his childhood.
"I think it was partly to do with his childhood, going to Donegal to visit his grandmother - who was a unionist - every summer," he said.
"So he was familiar with Northern Ireland.
"The feeling that having a conflict like this on our islands was just mad in this day and age.
"He really committed himself to it, and the amount of time he spent on Northern Ireland during those 10 years is quite extraordinary for a prime minister".
'Brexit was catastrophic'
Asked if Britain leaving the European Union hurt this process, Mr Powell said it brought identity back to the fore.
"Brexit was catastrophic for the approach we'd taken to peace in Northern Ireland," he said.
"The whole point of the Good Friday Agreement was that we couldn't solve the difference of opinion about a United Kingdom or United Ireland.
"But because the border in Northern Ireland was so permeable, people could live in Northern Ireland and they could feel Irish or they could feel British or they could feel both.
"That issue of identity became less salient, less important in politics.
"The idea was to make politics in Northern Ireland boring so that people could talk about education, about health, about woodchips if necessary - but not about identity.
"The trouble with Brexit is... it's brought that issue of identity back again".
Mr Powell said the approach by former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was akin to 'vandalism'.
"What Boris Johnson did was frankly just an act of vandalism against the Good Friday Agreement, something he couldn't care less about.
"I think he illustrated his ignorance on the point when he said the border between Ireland North and South was the same as the border between Camden and Islington in London - which of course it is nothing like," he added.
Listen back to the full interview below:
As I Remember It
Newstalk's podcast, As I Remember It: Bertie Ahern & The Good Friday Agreement is marking the 25th anniversary of the accord.
Key players have been speaking to the former Taoiseach for the historic podcast, which is out now.
As I Remember It is a nine-part series that is on all streaming platforms.
For bonus content including interviews, videos, an interactive timeline of the peace process and a full glossary of the key players head to newstalk.com/goodfridayagreement.
