The Architect of Northern Ireland’s ‘Yes’ Campaign
Welcome to another interview of the ‘Ats us nai’ series, informing you on what’s happening ‘now’ throughout Northern Ireland’s communities. We caught up with Quintin Oliver – Architect of the ‘Yes’ Campaign that brought peace to Northern Ireland.
The #AtsUsNai project is a series of interviews with folks from Northern Ireland’s community sector about the work they’re doing to bring about positive change. It is funded by the Community Relations Council‘s Media Grant Scheme.
Quintin grew up in the post-industrial streets of East Belfast through the city’s ‘Troubles’. He was brought up in a middle-class home and was told by others that his dad had a ‘Protestant’ job because he worked for the civil service. The Oliver’s were ‘Protestants’, even though they didn’t go to church. It wasn’t until he was 18 years of age that he met a Catholic.
According to Quintin, Belfast was not an interesting place to grow up – in that context – and that you were brought up to leave. And leave he did, when he departed for Scotland for university and worked in Glasgow for 8 years before returning. While Belfast may not have been an interesting place to grow up for him, it certainly laid the foundation for a more than interesting career.
Quintin returned to Belfast around the time of the Enniskillen Bombing – he wanted to make a difference from a non-sectarian viewpoint, which it seems was instilled in him growing up by his family and further fostered in his time across the Irish Sea. That viewpoint would be the key, not only to Quintin’s success, but to the success of Northern Ireland’s peace process. He was motivated to create a better society in Northern Ireland because he had seen it elsewhere.
Politics in his freshly returned to Northern Ireland was still a ‘zero-sum’ game, with neither side making any significant steps towards accommodation. Quintin asked himself, “How can we bring people together to discuss issues where they might find common ground?” Quintin knew full well that ‘The Troubles’ had little to do with religion and everything to do with identity, power and culture, and began to develop ways to elevate people above the psychological – and physical – walls that divide.
Scepticism about any sort of agreement was rampant. Polls only days before what would become the Good Friday Agreement showed that 87% of the NI population did not believe the agreement would happen. Quintin and some of his colleagues knew that if an agreement were to be made, that politicians would be too worn out from the process – and conflicted on its meaning – to successfully pitch the agreement to the public and could squander the chance to bring an end to Northern Ireland’s 30 year conflict. The agreement would have to be ratified by the general public in a referendum and it was not clear that, even if there were to be a political agreement, that the general public would support it.
Unprecedentedly, an agreement was reached at the political level On Good Friday 1998 and was to be voted upon by the end of May, for June elections to the first NI Assembly.
Quintin knew this was time for action and quit his job to assemble a team to organise a cross-party campaign within the span of 3 weeks – an impossible task. Quintin almost went broke in the process, maxing out his credit cards and investing his children’s university tuitions all in the name of peace. A dream had become a reality that was in need of rapid organisation. Once the campaign was formalised, they would have only a total of 6 weeks to officially launch, motivate hundreds and mobilise thousands for the all-Ireland vote; and hope for the best.
“We had to assure people that this was a more positive way forward – a more positive future. Positivity wasn’t rife in those days.”
The document that was agreed in Stormont Castle was understandably replete with legal jargon that would not appeal to a public in need of answers. This is where Quintin and his team’s creativity played a crucial role, designing the iconic ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ street signs that personified the ramifications of each vote that would later pave the way for consented peace across the island of Ireland.
While concentrating the ‘ground’ campaign at the grassroots, Quintin’s team ran its ‘air’ campaign through the media, using celebrity personalities to bring awareness across Ireland and beyond.
One of the defining moments was when the Europa Hotel, a building who had seen its own share of troubles and bombs, agreed to drape the huge ‘Yes’ banner down its façade.
As the epitome of an activist for peace, Quintin shared the acute worry of most activists on the day of the vote:
“Every campaigner before a poll is apprehensive because, no matter how much work you’ve done, no matter how much you think you have persuaded people with your arguments, you’re worried it’s all going to go horribly wrong.”
When Quintin could see the piles of ‘Yes’ votes mounting, at the counting tables, they could see their hopes coming to fruition. The result was a ‘Yes’ at 71.12% and, once ratified simultaneously in the Republic of Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement was born – a monumental achievement rarely duplicated in history.
“The vote was about hope – it was hope for a better future. It was about a gritty, realistic, better future that was helped by the hope that something could change Northern Ireland’s awful past.”
Of course, as we know, the peace process has been far from perfect, but the important thing to remember is that it has lasted, and in no small part to the legacy of Quintin Oliver and his team.
Quintin, as stated in Anne Carr’s interview earlier in this series, was well aware the agreement was only the beginning of peace and that it would have to continue to be fostered.
Quintin would later become Director of Stratagem International, one of Belfast’s leading public policy organisations where he would continue to build its Belfast branch through his expertise in strategic communications, training and campaigning. He has worked organisationally and individually abroad, helping to foster peace in places as far as Ukraine and Colombia, bringing with him the good news of Northern Ireland to conflicted regions across the globe.
You might ask the question, what does someone as accomplished as Quintin Oliver do with himself today? The answer remains the same – give back to the community he loves so well. Quintin has purchased the Carnegie Library in North Belfast’s Oldpark and is in the midst of restoring the building as a hub to serve the community. Quintin understands well Belfast’s rich heritage that was overshadowed by the city’s troubled past. He sees this heritage as something to be shared and to be proud of. You can learn more about the project and his vision for Northern Ireland’s future here:
Quintin’s children have since moved away from Northern Ireland to pursue careers abroad as he did in his formative years. He wants to see Northern Ireland become a place young people no longer move away from, but flock to. If there’s a vision for Northern Ireland’s future worth exploring, it is his.
You can find out more about @CarnegieOldpark on Twitter or via Facebook.
The Ats us nai project is a series of interviews with community leaders and organisations across Northern Ireland’s ‘third sector’ centred on reconciliation. Articles are available on AvilaMedia and Northern Slant and produced in partnership with Ani Kanakaki. The project is funded by the Community Relations Council and available on social media at #AtsUsNai.
