Séamus Mallon urges people not to forget ‘treasure of peace’
ONE of the architects of the Northern Ireland peace process, Séamus Mallon, has urged people never to forget the “treasure of peace”.
Mr Mallon had been invited to address the Dublin Unitarian Church at St Stephen’s Green in Dublin as it held a Good Friday commemorative service for all those who died during the Troubles.
Speaking on his way into the event, the former deputy first minister of Northern Ireland told the Irish Independent that some people were now saying that the Good Friday Agreement had been damaged and that it was finished. “It’s not,” he said.
Mr Mallon continued: “And I would make a plea that they all, instead of talking about an end to it, that we look upon it (the agreement) as a new beginning, of the creation of something unique on this island that will respect each tradition, each religion, each ethnic grouping and make for the first time a pluralist society based on the goodness of human beings, rather than any dogma.”
When asked what advice he would give to those trying to get the institutions back up and running, the former deputy leader of the SDLP said that while he had always believed that each generation had a right to write its own history, there was much to build upon.
“Let’s have another look. The peace is there. The Good Friday structures are there. The absolute over-riding objectives of the Good Friday Agreement, they are there. Let’s have a look straight in the eye of all of the problems.”
However, he pointed out the key element remained that “the treasure of peace for people on this island should never be forgotten.”
The full list of nearly 3,600 people who died between 1966 and 2016 was read out at the ceremony.
It was the 18th annual service for those who died, said Rev Bridget Spain, who explained: “Each year we read the names of all the people who were killed in more than 30 years of violence.”