Natural law principles, yogic flying, the difficulties attached to decommissioning and a woman who accused him of doing a "PR job". After a short and sometimes heated public session yesterday, the former US senator, Mr George Mitchell, will hardly forget his first visit to Galway city.
The former chairman of the Northern negotiations, who had been invited to the west to give an NUI Galway millennium lecture on Thursday night, accepted an invitation from the Galway Arts Festival to host a public session in the Town Hall at lunchtime. When he asked how many North Americans were in the audience, he may have felt at home. And so it seemed, during the early part of the session.
In his introductory remarks Mr Mitchell expressed cautious optimism about the current stage in the peace process. The debate now involved only those parties which supported the Belfast Agreement, he said.
The guns had been largely, if not entirely, silent for two years. The death of the three Quinn brothers, the Omagh bombing and the murder of Ms Rosemary Nelson were indicative of an unacceptable level of violence, but this level was reducing, he said.
Mr Mitchell related some personal anecdotes from his experience in the North and concluded with his closely held wish - already recorded in his book, Mak- ing Peace - to return to Northern Ireland with his young son in a few years and sit on a rainy day in Stormont listening to the elected Assembly debate ordinary issues, like health and education.
Once again, there were lumps in throats as he envisaged how that Assembly debate would be: "No talk of war, because the war will be over; no talk of peace, because peace will be taken for granted."
He drew laughter when he recalled President Clinton's first meetings with the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, and the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams: "30 minutes each of non-stop dissertation; in both cases, the President only had to say `Hello' and `Goodbye'." Different interpretations of the Belfast Agreement's implementation were at the heart of current difficulties, he said, in reply to questions. "But I think they will work their way through it. I think both leaders, Mr Adams and Mr Trimble, will move the process forward and reach common ground."
Mr Mitchell also appealed for some realism.
"No country in history has been able to attain a violence-free society, and the US has seen much violence in the past. Let's not set the Northern Ireland standard so high that no one is ever able to meet it," he said. "I believe in decommissioning, independently verifiable, but I also believe that the violence has substantially reduced."
However, it was during the questions that the former senator displayed some of his true diplomatic skills.
"To suggest that no agreement could be entered into, other than that which incorporates your view in full, means that there could be no agreement at all," he said, in reply to criticism by one speaker of support for "majoritarianism" which equated to a unionist veto.
Mr Mitchell said he had been given security briefings but had no facts on membership of the IRA army council.
"It is clear that both governments believe that there is a close and overlapping relationship between the leadership of the two organisations [the IRA and Sinn Fein]. But I think there is reason for doubt and suspicion on all sides, as there has been terrible suffering and grief," he added.
Asked by Mr Paul Campbell, the recent Natural Law Party European parliament candidate for Connacht-Ulster, about NLP conflict resolution and yogic flying, the former senator said he had been sent material by the party's representatives in the US and had read it. He intended to meet the same people in the next two weeks, he said.
Just as he was about to wind up, Mr Mitchell was interrupted by a woman on the balcony who accused him of doing a "PR job" and of shutting up those who disagreed with his views. "You just don't want to alienate David Trimble," the woman said. "Was Yasser Arafat asked to disarm the PLO?" she asked.
After several attempts to reply, during which the woman continued with scathing criticism of him, Mr Mitchell said he rejected the notion that because he did not agree with someone this equated to shutting someone up. He respected her point of view, he said. In fact, he was now finished and so she could have the stage.
"The microphone is yours," he said. "Why don't you come down and make whatever statement you like?" The woman put her bag under her arm and walked out of the theatre.
The former senator left the stage to resounding applause.
