Reconciliation – an imperative, not an option

DUNCAIRN ARTS CENTRE is one of the newest jewels in the crown of the north Belfast community.

Under the stewardship of the indomitable Reverend Bill Shaw, it has become a cultural hub and an open community space for drama, music and other arts.

Situated close to the refurbished Crumlin Road Gaol and the recently-opened Girdwood Community Hub, the Duncairn Centre completes a triumvirate of community facilities which typify the emerging community energy in north Belfast.

It strikes you when standing outside the Duncairn Centre that these developments have helped change the atmosphere in this part of north Belfast. The shouts of kids playing football on the new 3G pitch at Girdwood can be heard. Young teenagers walk past on their way to the community hub from the nearby New Lodge Road.

These sights and sounds are in stark contrast to when Girdwood served as a base for the British Army. Then it was seen as a torture centre. It was the first step on to the “conveyor belt” with Crumlin Road Gaol and Courthouse next door for easy access on many a young man’s or woman’s journey to Long Kesh, the H-Blocks or Armagh up to the 1990s.

It therefore felt appropriate that Féile an Phobail chose the vibrant environment of the Duncairn Centre to hold one of the first discussions of this year’s programme.

Entitled Healing, Honour & Hope – What Next? the discussion was to focus on the issue of reconciliation. The discussion, chaired by General Secretary of the Methodist Church Heather Morris, was to include DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson alongside Sinn Féin National Chairperson Declan Kearney MLA. Unfortunately, Jeffrey Donaldson had to pull out at short notice and had assigned his younger brother Kingsley as his replacement.

Given that Kingsley Donaldson is a former British Army officer this line-up had its own importance but there was disappointment that a senior DUP figure did not complete this commitment to engage with a senior republican on such an important issue in a public forum.

In his presentation, Kingsley Donaldson spoke of competing narratives, how they have been “weaponised”, and how lessons can be learnt from the sensitivity of the centenary events held this year.

In a wide-ranging contribution, Declan Kearney restated Sinn Féin’s commitment to reconciliation and stressed that it is an imperative if society is to avoid passing the legacy issue on to future generations. Failure to grasp the nettle and address these issues now would be to condemn today’s youth to a live in a society riven with sectarianism and division, he said.

He also took the opportunity to acknowledge the pain visited upon the Donaldson family through IRA actions whilst referencing the suffering inflicted upon the nationalist and republican community by British state forces in the immediate area.

Heather Morris then posed a number of questions to both panellists which allowed them to expand upon their initial presentations.

One topic raised which will resonate with many republicans was that of a lack of reciprocation from political unionism to significant gestures by republicans to the unionist community. 

● Dublin, 2015: Declan Kearney, then Ard-Mhéara Críona Ní Dhálaigh, British Ambassador Dominick Chilcott and Gerry Adams at the launch of Sinn Féin’s ‘Uncomfortable Conversations – An initiative for dialogue for reconciliation’

Declan Kearney outlined a number of these, including the recent visit by himself, Martin McGuinness and Mary Lou McDonald to the Somme, and attendance by Sinn Féin councillors at a civic dinner in Belfast City Hall to mark the centenary of the Somme.

Declan referred to a question posed by a significant figure from the broad unionist family who asked how long republicans can continue to take these initiatives whilst political unionism refuses to even acknowledge them publicly, never mind reciprocate.

Whilst Kingsley Donaldson did acknowledge the difficulties for republicanism in this scenario, I couldn’t help but be deflated at his effort to draw a comparison between those public initiatives and private visits by he and his brother Jeffrey to Glasnevin Cemetery. What’s the point in gestures if no one knows?

While I believe that we have gone well past the point of events like these being staged at all having their own impact, I do believe that there should be more of them, not less.

However, if political unionism continues to fail to seize the opportunities that they present we may well end up talking to ourselves and the impetus necessary to transform our society will not be generated.

That said, I did observe that much of the audience at this event was made up of individuals and ministers from the various protestant churches. One audience member expressed in forthright terms her frustration with political unionism’s failure to embrace reconciliation.

Sinn Féin has so far avoided defining reconciliation in order to leave the space open. If political unionism continues to abdicate its responsibility on this issue I have hope that civic unionism will move beyond their political leaders and step in to that space to design a reconciliation plan with us.

While this should not let political unionism off the hook, it may embarrass it into action.