Women involved in the Good Friday Agreement talks faced 'desperate, old-fashioned misogyny', according to Irish negotiator Liz O’Donnell.

The former Progressive Democrats co-leader was speaking to Newstalk’s latest podcast, As I Remember It: Bertie Ahern & The Good Friday Agreement as the 25th anniversary of the accord approaches.

The then-Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs is just one of the key players to speak to the former Taoiseach for the historic podcast, which is out now.

She told Bertie Ahern that other women in the talks experienced the misogyny more than she did.

"I think the women, [former MLA Monica McWilliams] and her colleagues in the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition, got the brunt of that misogyny and disrespect,” she said.

"In fairness, George Mitchell, our chairman, called it out and wouldn't have it.

"So, I think it was just outside the negotiations.

"In previous negotiations, they had a hard time - and subsequently when the assembly started - they experienced desperate verbal abuse and just old-fashioned misogyny.

"Just not recognising or respecting their right to be there. I don't think they treated them as proper politicians".

Liz O'Donnell (centre) with Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble (left) and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern at Government Buildings in October 2001. Picture by: RollingNews.ie

Ms O'Donnell said she is sure more was said about her behind her back.

"I think I got off lightly because I was representing a sovereign Government and they had a reserved respect for me,” she said.

"They weren't going to be openly rude to me - God knows what they said behind my back."

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland Women's Coalition co-founder Avila Kilmurray told the podcast about some of the abuse she suffered.

"We were told to go back and breed for Ulster and things like that," she said.

"You dealt it with a degree of humour.

"In some ways, I think it almost helped us.

"Apart from poor old George Mitchell, who was absolutely appalled by all this carry-on, in terms of the media and that, it sort of reflected badly on those that were saying it.

"I have to say it largely came from members of the DUP - it wasn't right across the board.

"One of the things that actually did annoy me... was virtually all the parties - well not the PUP, actually - used their women representatives to attack the Women's Coalition.

"That annoyed me more than the men actually being misogynistic," she added.

As I Remember It

As I Remember It is a nine-part series that is now available on all streaming platforms.

Three episodes will be released each week throughout the run.

For bonus content including interviews, videos, an interactive timeline of the peace process and a full glossary of the key players head to newstalk.com/goodfridayagreement.

You can hear Episode One here: