We owe it to victims not to take peace for granted
FORMER US senator George Mitchell was very much to the fore this week in the events commemorating the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. And he deserves all of the praise he got; without his calm demeanour and wise words, I’ve no doubt that the agreement would have been more difficult to reach.
What was interesting during his speeches at these events, however, was the rather pointed warning that we should not take peace for granted. I wondered to myself: to whom exactly is he addressing these remarks?
There is no doubt that the present British government, and some of its predecessors, have taken their eye off the ball, and left the nurturing of the peace process to its own devices.
Indeed, as far back as the midNoughties, Gordon Brown, the then prime minister, made clear to us in the Irish Government that, as far as his government was concerned, the Northern Ireland issue had been sorted, and his focus from then on would be on the fight against international terrorism targeted at Britain.
The efforts of recent Irish governments to bring the issues of Northern Ireland to the fore have tended to fall flat. Any American influence on the Irish situation has long dissipated. Previously, it had been a key factor in bringing the parties, and indeed the two governments, together. T HE influence of our joint membership of the European Union with our near neighbours had been an important factor in bringing peace to the island. But Brexit is looming threat on the horizon. So while we should rightly celebrate the momentous coming together, this week 20 years ago, of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, we should also demand that our leaders, be they in the south, the north or across the water, refocus on the implementation of the guiding principles laid down in the agreement.
During the Good Friday Agreement negotiations, Mr Mitchell constantly reminded the participants of the need to remember the victims of the Troubles, and especially the ongoing anguish of the families of loved ones who were killed and maimed.
The focus this week on Mr Mitchell reminds me of a constituent of mine, who sadly passed away a few years ago, having in his latter years been diagnosed with a life-ending and debilitating illness. Before he died, he made his own personal act of thanks and congratulations to Mr Mitchell. The late John Hanlon lived in Cooley in Co. Louth and ran a very successful haulage business.
His sister, Bridie, is the widow of the late Tom Oliver, who was abducted, tortured and brutally murdered by the IRA on July 19, 1991. At the time, the priest who was called to the murder scene remarked that it looked as if his killers had ‘dropped concrete blocks on every bone of his body’.
It’s believed that Mr Oliver, in the course of carrying out drainKenneth age on his farm, came across a barrel under the ground and reported the discovery to the gardaí. It transpired that the barrel contained a hidden cache of IRA arms. The IRA, in their twisted logic, had Tom Oliver murdered because they regarded him as an informer.
John Hanlon was, until the day he died, deeply affected and traumatised, as were the rest of his immediate family.
The murder of Tom Oliver caused huge disquiet across the Cooley Peninsula, particularly because it was believed that a number of IRA figures living in the area carried out his murder.
Sometime after the Good Friday Agreement, I was contacted by my former legal partner, John Woods, who acted on behalf of John Hanlon. He stated that John wanted a presentation be made on his behalf to Mr Mitchell, as a thanks in the name of all victims of violence arising out of the Northern conflict.
John Hanlon believed that Mr Mitchell was pivotal in bringing peace to the island.
It transpired that John had previously tuned in to an auction show for charity on The Late Late Show on RTÉ. Over the telephone on the live programme, he successfully bid for a magnificent Waterford Crystal ornament depicting peace, represented by a dove, winning out over evil, represented by a serpent. He paid €30,000 for this masterpiece.
Mr Mitchell was due to be a guest speaker at a cross-border conference in the Slieve Russell Hotel in Cavan shortly afterwards, in September 1998. So it was arranged that we would use that occasion to make the presentation to Mr Mitchell.
In typical fashion, John did not feel confident enough to make the presentation himself.
It was agreed that the presentation would be made by two other speakers at the conference; Sir Bloomfield, and the Victims Commissioner and former tánaiste, John Wilson. While John Hanlon was adamant he wanted the presentation to be anonymous, in the end, both John Woods and I convinced him to be present so that a photograph could be taken to mark the occasion. During the ceremony, Mr Mitchell remarked how honoured and humbled he felt at receiving such a presentation. J OHN Hanlon, while he was alive, and the rest of the Oliver family have fought so that those responsible for Tom Oliver’s murder be brought to justice. Indeed, the gardaí recently said that a live investigation into the killing was ongoing.
The 20th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement is a poignant reminder of the many thousands, like Tom Oliver, who were murdered and maimed on both of these islands.
The agreement in its preamble states that ‘we can best honour them (the victims) through a fresh start, in which we firmly dedicate ourselves to the achievement of reconciliation, tolerance and mutual trust, and the protection and vindication of the human rights of all.’ The present custodians of politics across these two islands would do well to re-commit themselves to implementing these sentiments.
They owe it to all who are grieving after their loved ones to put aside their differences. And they need to ensure that future generations don’t suffer the same trauma that families such as the Oliver family have had to suffer.