The Truth is out there Wee Willie

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Instead of marching down O'Connell Street maybe Willie should head over Mullaghbawn direction and meet up with our GAA President Elect Jarlath to make his point.


Team appointed to deal to help the North deal with the past
22/06/2007 - 07:09:10

A former Church of Ireland primate and a one time Catholic priest were today appointed by the government to draw up proposals about how the North should come to terms with its bloody past.

Lord Eames, who retired as Archbishop of Armagh six months ago, and Denis Bradley, the former priest and community mediator who was the first vice-chairman of the Policing Board, will decide if a Truth Commission similar to that set up in South Africa should be established or whether some other route to dealing with the hurt should be used.

They have been appointed to co-chair a small independent consultative group by Northern Secretary Peter Hain who said he had appointed the two men after consultation with First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.

Mr Hain said the group would consult widely and "suggest how the North might approach its past in a way that heals rather than poisons." It would not be an easy task , he said.

Lord Eames said: "How Northern Ireland deals with its collective memory will have a tremendous influence on the Northern Ireland of the future, because it is sapping away at many, many reasonable initiatives.

"It is sapping away at ordinary people's lives."

He said they would consult widely across the province on what was the way forward. "There are a lot of people out there hurting, there are a lot of victims, there are a lot of people who have a story they feel they have not told."

Lord Eames said they had sought and been given a guarantee of total independence and among the things they would do would be to review much of the work from the past carried out by government and non government groups.

"We are a listening group, a questioning group and I thing we will be a hard working group."

They have been asked to report back to the Government in the summer of next year. Lord Eames said: "Will it be the final piece of the jigsaw – who knows?

"It could be one of the final pieces if we do our job properly, but it is by no means the end of the story."

Mr Bradley added: "This is a consultation, people might think it is the Truth and Reconciliation South Africa model – this is not what we are about.

"We may recommend that at the end of the day, people may convince us that is the way to go, but we may not make that recommendation."



He added: "We start with a clean sheet, I would be very surprised if at the end of the year that there will be one single answer – but there might be one."

Mr Hain said how to proceed was very much something people from the North had to decide.

"The Government cannot tell the people how they should deal with the past - only the people themselves can try to answer that question.

"This consultative group provides for people to express their own views of how to address the violent legacy of the Troubles which impacted on so many across all sections of society."

He said he knew it was not an easy task and he understood that many did not wish to discuss the past because it was too painful and personal.

But he said: "I believe that with the historic political agreement that was implemented only last month, it is time to pause and ask how a society that went thorough a violent and long conflict wants to deal with its past.

"The question is how Northern Ireland might approach its past in a way that heals rather than poisons, that enables everyone to focus on building a shared future, not looking constantly over shoulders to a divided past.

Lord Eames and Mr Bradley will work with a team of six and two international advisors.

The six are:
:: Jarleth Burns former GAA captain of Armagh.
:: The Rev Lesley Carroll, a Presbyterian Minister in North Belfast.
:: Willie John McBride, former captain of the British and Irish Lions rugby team.
:: James Mackey, a former lecturer in philosophy at Queen's University Belfast and visiting professor at Trinity College, Dublin.
:: Elaine Moore, alcohol and drugs counsellor at Magilligan Prison in Derry.
:: David Porter, director of the Centre for Contemporary Christianity in Ireland.

[Fiodoir Ard Mhacha]

Jaysus, our Jarlath is in everything but the crib!

[Hardy]

What? Five minutes gone and nobody from either side on here yet to attack this? After all, if this were to succeed, where would they be then?

They wouldn't be waiting for the official line before commenting? Surely not.