27 June 2012Last updated at 17:25

Iconic images from the Northern Ireland peace process

Gerry Adams, John Hume and Albert Reynolds meeting at Government Buildings

The meeting which involved Gerry Adams, John Hume and Albert Reynolds at Government Buildings in Dublin in 1994 was one of the first steps on the path to the historic handshake between the Queen and Martin McGuinness.

Gerry Adams shakes hands with Bill Clinton

A TV still of one of the first important handshakes - Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and US President Bill Clinton caught shaking hands on the Falls Road in 1995 - was considered so sensitive no official photograph of the event exists.

Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Michelle Gildernew, arrive at Number 10 Downing Street for talks with Prime Minister Tony Blair in December 1997. The meeting was the first time a British Prime Minister had received a Sinn Fein leader in London since 1921.

Bono holds up the hands of David Trimble and John Hume

Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, SDLP leader John Hume and U2 frontman Bono pictured together on stage at the Waterfront hall in Belfast in 1998 for a concert to promote a YES vote in the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement

A resounding Yes vote endorses the Good Friday Agreement at Belfast's Kings Hall in May 1998.

David Trimble and John Hume with Nobel certificates

The UUP's David Trimble and SDLP's John Hume received the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize for their work on the Good Friday Agreement

Patrick Joseph Magee, the IRA Brighton Bomber, middle, leaves the Maze in June 1999. He was released from the high security terrorist prison under the early release provision of the Good Friday accord.

Loyalist prisoners are released from the Maze prison

UFF loyalist prisoners being released from the Maze Prison, near Belfast, in July 2000.

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams with party colleagues

Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams burns the midnight oil with party colleagues at Castle Buildings, Stormont in Belfast in the early hours of 1 July 1999 as part of peace talks to find a formula to end the IRA disarmament deadlock.

NI First Minister Peter Robinson was joined by Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde at a press conference at Belfast Stormont Castle to condemn the murder of police officer Stephen Carroll in March 2009

Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams, sitting side by side on 26 March 2007 for their first news conference in Stormont, confirming that power-sharing would begin on 8 May.

First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness smile after being sworn in as ministers of the Northern Ireland Assembly on 8 May 2007. The relationship flourished and the duo would soon become known as the Chuckle Brothers.

Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern and Northern Ireland's First Minister Ian Paisley touch swords during the official opening of the Battle of the Boyne site in the Republic of Ireland in May 2008

The relatives of the victims of Bloody Sunday get the news they were waiting for from the Saville inquiry at the Guildhall in Derry in June 2010.

Tyrone GAA members pass the coffin of murdered PSNI officer Ronan Kerr to his police colleagues in April 2011. Constable Kerr was murdered by dissident republicans in a car bombing outside his home.

In May 2011 the Queen laid a wreath at the Republic of Ireland's Garden of Remembrance during the first visit by a British monarch to the country since Ireland gained independence. The garden, in Dublin, is dedicated to people who fought for Irish independence from Britain.

The Queen and Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness shake hands for the first time

The Queen and Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness shook hands for the first time in Belfast's Lyric theatre at a private meeting and later shook hands in public. The former IRA commander said when he shook the hand of the Queen he would be symbolically shaking the hand of every unionist in Northern Ireland.