Director's Introduction
I have been privileged to have been the director of this organisation over the last number of years. In that time I have seen our conflict in Northern Ireland being transformed to be less violent. A warm expression of gratitude must go to all of those people who have worked quietly behind the scenes to bring about this transformation.
Although the conflict has been transformed to being less violent, it is far from over. We have much more to do. Thankfully we can be held up as a “model of good practice” in world peace institutes. Unfortunately what works in one area does not necessarily lend itself well to another area.
However, I will say that unless warring fractions find creative ways to dialogue with each other, conflict will continue, with the potential that it could escalate. One of the dangers in our current peace process is that we become complacent and feel we no longer need to continue building relationships and overlook some of the outstanding issues which have never been completely tackled.
One major issue in our community is not engaging with those groups who were not for the peace initiatives such as the “Good Friday Agreement” of 1998 or the subsequent St Andrews Initiative of 2007.
Another issue has been the reluctance of our educationalists, politicians and community leaders to to address sectarianism. I have stated publicly, on many occasions, that in relation to sectarianism we suffer from the “avoidance syndrome”. In doing so we allow sectarianism to continue to fester in an already open wound.
The new Peace III monies now becoming available is an opportunity for us all to take sectarianism seriously. I would hope that the next few years will see us focus on engaging with those who are in opposition to the current peace process and this sectarianism will be dealt with in a way that will allow us to build a future that will stop the “killing machines” from being serviced.
