Peace and Reconciliation Group

On behalf of the Interface Monitoring Forum, I wish to extend our sincere thanks to Colleen Heeany and the Youth Justice Agency for nominating the Forum to the Department of Justice Awards Team who selected us for an award as 'Justice Champions' at a recent ceremony at Stormont. The award was given in recognition for our work at the interface in the city as well as the intervention work that happens during the major parades in the city.
This award was accepted on behalf of all of those who work behind the scene to make our city safe, not only for those at local interface areas, but for our visitors to the city as well. This work is not easy and mostly goes on unnoticed, as those involved have never sought praise or recognition for the work they do. Their success is evidenced by the significant reduction in the number of sectarian incidents happening at the interfaces and will hopefully continue until we can see no further use for this group to exist. We are all aware there are still those who want to disrupt our peaceful existence, and we must keep working together to make sure they do not succeed.
The award also demonstrated the success of building relationships across the divide with local community workers and with P.S.N.I. Officers, who, through a mobile phone network, can stop a situation from escalating when an incident takes place. Over the years direct lines of communication have been established, which have helped build friendships across the sectarian divide. There is the hope that these developments may see a picture where, as the outgoing Irish President Mary McAleese stated in one of her last visits to the city, "a society where we can live among each other rather than along side each other".
Well done interface workers, you are a credit to your community and your city.