Progress in North can’t burn out..
EASTER for me is always a space for renewal and, dare I say it, spiritual revival. And this week has proved no exception. In fact, on a personal level, it has bordered on the weird.
On Monday evening, we were driving into Dublin and my phone started pinging about the fire at Notre Dame.
Now, acres of newsprint has been devoted to this subject and, shocking as it was, for me it stirred deep and disturbing memories of the devastating fire at Slane Castle in 1991.
The surreal images of lying in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask over my mouth, watching myself on the six o’clock news. I still shudder.
Still, I look at where we are now and by the end of the week Time magazine, in a spirit of optimism, cited six buildings in the world restored after fire and now thriving.
It warmed the spirit in my heart that Slane Castle was one of them.
Good Friday, of course, has much depth in a Christian tradition but it has been much
Notre Dame bandied about in the context of the Good Friday Agreement and the febrile atmosphere surrounding Brexit.
While the sun shines in Ireland this weekend, I still have to express my utter frustration at the dismal failure of the political parties to get the democratic institutions in Northern Ireland back up and running.
Yet again, I wish to register my distaste at Sinn Fein’s failure to take up their seats at Westminster. The indicative vote on the customs union would have passed the House of Commons if they had participated.
This week marked the visit of the US Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, to the island.
However, future US politicians may not have the same focus on Ireland.
This means there is an absolute obligation on our own politicians to not allow the foundations built by so many to slip from under them.
If I have any wish this weekend this is it and it is a wish I make in the memory of my friend Mo Mowlam.