The Good Friday Agreement almost foundered at the last minute and was only saved by Sinn Fein abandoning a planned poster campaign targeting the scrapping of the Irish Republic's territorial claim over Northern Ireland.

Outgoing Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern claimed that the republican party's decision to ditch an offensive over changes to Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution helped seal an overwhelming majority in a referendum on the agreement in the Republic of Ireland.

Mr Ahern said history should record that mass backing for the Belfast Agreement - 10 years old this week — depended on Sinn Fein's 11th hour U-turn.

"Sinn Fein had posters printed to canvass against the change of Articles 2 and 3, but didn't use them," he said.

"In fairness to them, I'd acknowledge from an historical point of view... the fact that Sinn

Fein didn't use the posters they printed was a big help in us getting over 90% of the popular vote."

Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution were drawn by one of the Republic's founding fathers, Eamon De Valera, asserted the Irish nation as the entire island.

The historic provisions hampered negotiations with northern unionists who refused to share power with nationalists while Dublin claimed the North.

The Articles were amended by a referendum in the Republic to describe the Irish nation as a common people rather than territory and express the desire for peaceful reunification of the island.

Mr Ahern, speaking on RTE Radio 1's This Week programme, said he had huge difficulty bringing his governing Fianna Fail party with him in supporting the changes.

He held four high level meetings within the party before embarking on a State-wide tour of local party members to canvass in favour of the referendum.

"Every one of those was tricky," he said.

Mr Ahern also revealed he would be eternally grateful to Northern Ireland First Minister Ian Paisley for keeping his word in more recent negotiations leading to the restoration of devolution at Stormont.

But he said their relationship almost foundered on the Democratic Unionist leader's insistence on published photographs of IRA arms decommissioning.

"That did not seem to me to be a serious person," he recalled.

"I think that stung him, because I confronted him (on the issue) at that time.

"After that he started showing a bit of effort, to me at least, to convince me that he wanted to do an agreement.

"At the end of the day ....he told me if we delivered that he would do the business and he did.

"I think I will be eternally grateful to him, regardless of what I thought of him in his earlier years, for being a man of his word."

(BMcC)