Arlene Foster 
Democratic Unionist Party leader.
Voted No.

Back in 1998 I was still in my twenties and embarking on the early stages of my professional career. Like so many who lived through the horrors of the terrorist violence, I desperately wanted a peaceful future, for the bloodshed to be behind us and for normal government in Northern Ireland.
But I was concerned at the price many seemed only too willing to pay.
The community had been ravaged by the men of violence and the prison gates being thrown open for scores of terrorist prisoners to walk free was a moral outrage. It was a corruption of justice. 
A proud police force was humiliated. And Sinn Féin could be in government while retaining their weapons, despite having used tactical temporary ceasefires. All the while, they wouldn’t even encourage their community to report a rape to the police. 
Unionists didn’t believe the words of republicans and didn’t believe Sinn Féin wanted Stormont to work. 
There was too much ambiguity in the text. Yet unsurprisingly it was endorsed by practically all of nationalist Ireland but at best half of unionism, and only that, after promises quickly ditched by Tony Blair.
Things only deteriorated over the ensuing seven years. It became evident that the DUP was by far the best party to represent Unionism, and I joined in January 2004.
Any change to the text of the Agreement was difficult, but the DUP stood firm to ensure IRA decommissioning and support for policing and the rule of law.
Twenty years on now from the Agreement, people would have expected better. Efforts to justify the terrorism continue. Whatever injustices or mistakes could be pointed to, there was never the justification for taking human life. 
That message of non-violence should have been and today must be clear and unequivocal, otherwise those who wish to, have the cover to replicate.
No one would have anticipated playparks and banners in 2018 eulogising an individual arrested with the weapon which killed ten men in cold-blooded sectarianism at Kingsmill.
That independent three-person panel finding that the Army Council still runs the Provisional IRA and Sinn Féin, was deeply depressing. 
Paramilitary-linked groups continue to exert control on communities. However I’m glad the work we instigated is changing this by tackling criminality at its root. 
The consent principle is ignored when it doesn’t suit. Even our actual name, Northern Ireland, is disrespected.
Progress on reconciliation has been limited, and some attitudes have been hardening.
And the same question remains: Do republicans genuinely want to make Northern Ireland work? 
They are entitled to long-term political aspirations however fanciful, but can they govern in the here and now in the best interests of the people rather than their political project: good government, with prudent spending and facilitating economic growth?
For all of the challenges, I remain optimistic about Northern Ireland. We are resilient. We have wonderful people. Our prospects are good and devolved government can improve them. However Stormont needs to be sustainable. We can no longer be at the whim of those fretting over tough decisions or who feel there may be electoral advantage in collapsing the government.
I will continue - and am stepping up - over incoming weeks, in Northern Ireland and further afield, my campaign of articulating the benefits of the Union and the safety, security and stability it offers at this time of change in Europe and across the world.