One Good Day

When George Mitchell described his time helping broker peace in Northern Ireland, he said, 'We had 700 bad days and then one good day, which changed the course of history.' One Good Day is the fascinating insider account of those negotiations from diplomat David Donoghue, then the Irish head of the Anglo-Irish Secretariat in Belfast. It explores the complex, delicate and often frustrating series of talks that drew the Troubles to an end. April 2023 marks the 25-year anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, hailed internationally as a near-miracle of collective collaboration, compromise and diplomacy. One Good Day offers an absorbing perspective on the drama of the negotiations from someone who was right at the centre of the action, alongside all the key players such as Martin McGuinness, Gerry Adams, John Hume, Bill Clinton, Bertie Ahern and Mo Mowlam.

David Donoghue was one of the Irish government's negotiators for the Good Friday Agreement. After a lengthy involvement with Northern Ireland policy and Anglo-Irish relations, he went on to serve in various senior diplomatic roles at home and abroad. He was, at different times, Ireland's Ambassador to Russia, Austria and Germany and, from 2013-17, Ireland's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. His 2014-15 co-chairmanship of the UN negotiations that delivered new global sustainable development goals remains a career highlight. Donoghue retired from the Irish diplomatic service in 2017 and works today in think tanks and academic circles on sustainable development, migration and refugee issues, and conflict resolution.