No matter how comfortable the pace and how uplifting the music, it’s a long walk on a warm day for Apprentice Boys on their Annual Parade commemorating the ‘shutting of the gates’ of the city and the historic 105-day siege. This may go some way to explain the seemingly tired gait of Edwin Poots MLA with what resembled the drains of a bottle of water in hand, as…

  “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” is a quote much used by A Level history students. While there is no danger of anyone in Northern Ireland  forgetting the events of the last fifty years, have we learned anything from the past half century? Are we destined to remain prisoners of our history…

    The Stormont House Agreement (SHA) mechanisms represent the best and last opportunity for a comprehensive system to deal with the legacy of Northern Ireland’s past. There are large numbers of victims and survivors in our society still bearing physical and psychological wounds, experiencing mental trauma and with practical needs still not fully addressed.…

  ‘What is done, cannot be undone, but one can prevent it from happening again.’ Anne Frank On 11th May 2018, the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) launched the UK Government’s consultation paper, “Addressing the Legacy of Northern Ireland’s Past”. This is not the first attempt to navigate a way forward for victims and their families,…

  The words spit out like shrapnel – clearly intended to cut and wound. “Widow of the big hero.” “Widow of the Tout.” Two women – two friends – in angry conversation, caught in the plays of conflict and in a war in which they’ve both lost. Inside the republican community, one of them –…

    On the politics of this place, Theresa May’s speech had no announcement, no plan, no process, no timetable – no vision for a way through. Read the British Prime Minister’s words.  They confirm a do-nothing approach that is about self-interest and survival – about Westminster numbers and the arrangements they have there. Then,…

    The House of Commons Standards Committee has ruled that Ian Paisley had committed “serious misconduct” and that his actions “were of a nature to bring the House of Commons into disrepute.” He is accused of not declaring largesse from the Sri Lankan government characterised by the Standards Committee as ‘paid advocacy.’ “What he…

  On the eve of British Prime Minister Theresa May’s visit here and with a scheduled meeting of the intergovernmental conference next week, the question above is posed by a talks insider. These two political set pieces may change nothing. If DUP leader Arlene Foster could not deliver that February draft agreement, then what can…

  The Stormont House Agreement (SHA) describes the Historical Investigations Unit (HIU) as ‘an independent body to take forward investigations into outstanding Troubles-related deaths’. Human rights law requires in any case that investigations into such deaths be wholly independent, a requirement often referred to as ‘Article 2 compliance’, in reference to Article 2 of the European…

    It was one of those weeks that leaves us with questions; about politics, about policing, about peace and about our past and present. It is also a week that needs context and the starting point is that we are still in a better place. This reality should not be lost in the headlines…

  20 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the outstanding issues related to victims and survivors have largely been left in a state of limbo. All too often, the public discourse on the issues and needs of victims and survivors has been dominated by other political concerns at the expense of a…

      Consider this, there has not been a public meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board since December 2016. This is in spite of the sacrifices that have been made at the community, political and organisational levels over the past two decades in support of the ‘policing project,’ with the collective aim of…

  In December 2017, over 200 individuals from within nationalist civic society in the north, from a wide range of sectors including sport, music, the arts, the legal profession, health, education and community, put their names to a letter to Leo Vardkar. This letter outlined the deep concerns of the nationalist community in the north…

      There have been three major attempts to comprehensively deal with the legacy of the past: the Consultative Group on the Past (2009), the Haass-O’Sullivan draft agreement (2013) and the Stormont House Agreement (2014). Each in different ways proposed that broader patterns and themes should be analysed. This work is particularly important as…