The American mediator who negotiated the peace deal in Northern Ireland has called on young people to ensure political progress is not lost.
Senator George Mitchell said he was “alarmed” by the number of people still leaving to live elsewhere.
Speaking to an audience at Queen’s University Belfast, including many teenagers and students, he encouraged them to work to cement peace.
Senator Mitchell is now aged 91 and has suffered ill health in recent years. His speech was entitled “passing the torch”.
He said: “Alarmingly, we have a ‘brain drain’ of young people leaving Northern Ireland.
“All of this has meant that a sense of fear and tribalism still remains in certain quarters. This fear and tribalism can instil rigidity, and that rigidity can create a climate of coldness and fear. And the bitter chill of that reality is that it could possibly cause an unforeseen snap.
“We simply cannot – ever – allow a return to the violence that other generations have witnessed.”
It was 27 years ago this month that Senator Mitchell chaired the Stormont talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement.
The 1998 peace deal ended the so-called Troubles during which more than 3,000 people were killed.
Addressing the 700-strong audience at Queen’s, the veteran American politician made a call for action.
He said: “You, the young people of this island, are needed here in order to sustain this ongoing peace.
“Do not let your truths and your dreams leave when there is so much to be done at home.
Senator Mitchell said: “I am here today to ask you to take the job of the future seriously. Do not let us down. Listen, consider, move forward.
“I make this call to teachers, to artists, to leaders, to workers, to businesses, to non-profits, to community organisations, to civil servants, but most of all to our young people – you are the leaders and the lightning rods of tomorrow.
“I am well aware that there are other concerns that your generation, and the following generations, will encounter – not least the problems of climate change, global migration and issues of identity.
“But these issues will be easier to confront when there is peace on the ground.”
Senator Mitchell concluded: “We pass the torch to you.”
