Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
SDLP leader: It was clearly no celebration of partition
THE SDLP leader has urged those who did not attend the church service yesterday to “look at what happened”.
Colum Eastwood said it was “very clearly no celebration of partition”.
He added: “It was a reflection of the events that have happened over the past 100 years and it was, I think, a hopeful vision for the future, putting young people front and centre.
“If we want to create a shared island we have to be prepared to share rooms with people who disagree with us.
“I don’t criticise anyone for not coming but I think they should look very carefully at what happened today, it was a reflection, it was a marking of a historical event.
“It was a hopeful service looking to the future.”
FANTASTIC
Mr Eastwood said he felt partition was “coming to an end” and urged consideration of how a shared island can be created.
He also defended the decision by the Irish President not to attend, saying he has “a different set of circumstances to weigh up”.
Alliance Party leader Naomi Long described the service as a “moment of reflection”.
She added: “I think it was a moment of reconciliation and an opportunity for us to come together and to look forward with hope to the future, to look at the kind of gracious acts that we need to do if we’re going to reconcile a broken and hurting community and a broken and hurting people on this island.
“Peace building requires risks, reconciliation requires risks, the church leaders took risks. I commend them for that and I’m glad I was able to be part of it today.”
The prayer service was organised by the four main churches to mark the formation of Northern Ireland in 1921.