Forgiveness can revitalise stalled peace process, says Irish president
PEOPLE and societies taking the “risk of forgiving” may be key to forging lasting reconciliation in Northern Ireland, the Irish president has said.
Michael D Higgins reflected on the challenges of forgiving as he delivered a lecture in Belfast to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Mr Higgins also used the speech at Queen’s University to stress the urgent need to move the stalled peace process from the “hard shoulder” and intensify efforts to restore Stormont powersharing.
Hailing the achievement of 1998, he described the implementation of the agreement as a “work in progress”.
“As Northern Ireland continues to operate without an Executive, in some respects the agreement is work which has been stalled,” Mr Higgins said.
“It is therefore essential that we remind ourselves and reaffirm that the Good Friday Agreement, with all its imperfections and creativity, represents the best hope for all of our people, North and South.
“That is why it is now important and urgent to find a way, in Dublin and London, but above all here in Northern Ireland, to move away from the hard shoulder where the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement presently finds itself, and to start moving together again along our shared journey, and to do so with generosity.”
Noting the “terrible and heinous acts” of the Troubles, Mr Higgins said he offered his approach to forgiveness with “some trepidation”.
“Forgiveness plays a central and necessary part in reconciliation,” he added. “I acknowledge that it is very easy to say that. Some are asked to pay a very high price when they are called to forgive a great hurt that cannot be expelled from their memory, but their achievement is all the greater.”
Mr Higgins was delivering the sixth annual Harri Holkeri lecture — named in honour of the late Finnish statesman who played a role in the Northern Ireland peace talks. It was hosted by the university’s Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.
The Irish president highlighted Bishop Desmond Tutu’s belief that forgiveness had the potential to free an individual from the confines of past hurt. “Forgiveness cannot occur without a commitment to remember, as difficult as it may be, the actions of the past,” he said.
“I therefore welcome the launch earlier this month of the British Government’s consultation on Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland’s Past.
“The full implementation of the Stormont House Agreement, of which the consultation forms part, will be an important step towards ongoing reconciliation in Northern Ireland.”
Mr Higgind also spoke about Brexit, expressing his “great regret” at the UK’s decision to leave the EU.