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IN A HISTORIC lecture, Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness has addressed an audience at the Peace Centre in Warrington, a town in the north west of England which was bombed by the IRA twenty years ago.
He was invited to participate in the annual event by Colin Parry, the father of one of the young victims of that attack.
Following his speech, the former IRA commander said he does not expect people to forgive him for being in the IRA.
Here is that lecture, in full:
“Over the past few days I have been reflecting about what I should say this evening and I keep coming back to the journey that has brought not just me here tonight, but also Colin and Wendy and in a wider way the people of Warrington.
It has been a journey which has involved much hurt and pain.
A journey for the Parry and Ball families which began when the IRA planted a bomb here in Warrington in 1993.
For me it began many years earlier on the streets of Derry in the late 1960s. The partition of Ireland left a system of political and economic discrimination in the north which set the context for 30 years of war on our streets.
I have followed many coffins and stood beside many grieving families in the years since. But there can be no greater tragedy in life than parents having to bury their child.
The deaths of children as a result of the conflict is something that those of us who were engaged in armed organisations, be they British or Irish have to accept responsibility for.
No child whether they were killed with a plastic bullet fired by a British soldier or RUC man, or killed by an IRA action or by a loyalist gang should have died.
In the natural order of family life it is the child who buries the parent.
So I am mindful, as a father and a grandfather, of the unimaginable devastation caused when a parent has to bury a child.
Such tragic circumstances arising out of a natural illness may allow a family in some way, over time, to find the space to anchor itself and resume life again.
It is therefore almost impossible to comprehend how a family suddenly bereaved as a result of a violent incident, where a child is lost, would ever be able to reach a point where normal life would resume again.
I know from my personal experience of meeting relatives of those killed as a result of the conflict in Ireland that their lives are never the same again; life’s compass is permanently broken.
And so it is with the Parry and Ball families who lost their boys, 12-year-old Tim Parry and 3-year-old Johnathan Ball in March 1993 when an IRA bomb exploded in Warrington.
I remember well the tragedy; the scenes of overwhelming grief on the streets of Warrington were heart-rending.
On that Saturday morning I was in the process of making arrangements through a back channel to the British government for a meeting between myself and Gerry Kelly with a representative of the British government in Derry. Two days later that meeting happened.
The British government could have walked away – but they knew as did we – that the only resolution to the conflict lay in dialogue. There would never be a military solution to the political conflict we were in.
I also remember well the scene in Castlerock days later when four Catholics were gunned down by the UFF as they arrived at work on a building site. I knew one of the men, Jimmy Kelly an IRA Volunteer.
As a republican leader it would be hypocritical for me to seek to distance myself from the consequences of armed struggle or the IRA’s role in it.
Nor can or would I attempt to excuse the human loss caused by the IRA bomb in Warrington.
Regrettably the past cannot be changed or undone. Neither can the suffering, the hurt or the violence of the conflict be disowned by Republicans or any other party to the conflict. None of this of course offers any comfort to the many victims of the conflict, from all sides, including and in particular the many hundreds of innocent victims including Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball
The challenge for all of us engaged in the peace process and the political process in Ireland and indeed for the British Government also, is to ensure that there can never be a repeat of what went before. We must learn the lessons of history; we must build a durable and just peace.
In my experience of meeting those bereaved by the conflict in Ireland it never ceases to amaze me how generous and compassionate many of them are despite their loss. I am also conscious that there are others who are unable to make that journey.
A few years ago I met with Colin and Wendy Parry in Warrington. That was a significant act of generosity, reconciliation and hope by Colin and Wendy.
Sadly Johnathan’s parents Wilf Ball and Maire Comerford are now both deceased. The reception I received here was exceptional and yet humbling. It was symbolically as important as any of the other steps made in the peace process. It has had a lasting impact on me.
Gestures like this, though difficult personally for those bereaved, are crucial to building peace and reconciliation.
It is this generosity which has made the difficult job of making peace in Ireland that much easier and rewarding. The poet Seamus Heaney in response to the 1994 ceasefire, said, that the ceasefire was an opportunity to open a space – a space where hope can grow.
Colin Parry (left) with his wife Wendy and Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness (right) during the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace event at the Peace Centre in Warrington. (Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
I know from speaking to the bereaved on all sides of the conflict that they look for hope in the midst of their personal despair.
It is this hope that they draw from: hope that their children and grand children will live in a world free from violence and injustice.
Some families and the Parry and Ball families are an example of this; turn their tragedy into a worthy and personal crusade for the greater good of humanity.
The setting up of the ‘Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace’ by the families was in memory of the two boys, to keep alive their innocence and the expectation of their lives, so tragically ended.
Last year, I met Queen Elizabeth when she visited Belfast.
I was of course very conscious of the symbolism involved in the meeting. But I was also conscious that she was a victim also.
Yes she is head of the British State, but she is a human being and one who had been bereaved at the hands of the IRA yet still was clearly a supporter of the Peace Process.
I was struck by something she had said in a visit to Dublin the previous year when she laid a wreath at the Garden of Remembrance for all those who had died in the cause of Irish Freedom.
At a dinner in Dublin Castle she said:
To those who have suffered as a consequence of our troubled past I extend my sincere thoughts and deep sympathy. With the benefit of historical hindsight we can all see things wish we wish would have been done differently or not at all.
I echo those words and extend to all British and Irish who have suffered as a result of the conflict in Ireland and Britain, my sorrow and sympathy for the hurt and loss endured.
She went onto say that we should be able to bow to the past but not be bound by it.
That is what I see here in this building.
The Warrington Peace Centre which was opened on the seventh anniversary of the deaths of Tim and Johnathan in March 2000 is dedicated to teaching people of all ages and races how to avoid using violent methods to resolve conflict. It is a beacon of hope for the future.
Colin Parry, Tim’s father, visited Ireland many times after the deaths of his son Tim and Johnathan Ball.
He became a great advocate for peace in Ireland; a champion for peace and the resolution of conflict.
In doing so he has made a valuable contribution to the new and peaceful society we have in Ireland today.
Since the awful tragedy in Warrington in March 1993 profound and far-reaching changes have taken place in Ireland and in relationships between the British government and the people of Ireland nationalist and unionist.
New political institutions are in place in Ireland. These institutions are based on the principles of power sharing, equality and respect for cultural diversity.
For the first time in over eight centuries of troubled history the people of these islands, British and Irish and their representatives have placed dialogue and not coercion at the centre of their relationships.
These changes mean that no more people from either Britain or Ireland need risk the lives of other people or their own lives over political differences.
It means that children like Tim and Johnathan in Ireland and Britain can grow from childhood to being adults without the consequences of political violence visiting them.
Protestors outside The Peace Centre in Warrington. (Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)
The Irish peace Process is rightly held up as an example of a successful model. Myself and other peace negotiators from Ireland have travelled to conflict torn regions all over the world, to outline the story of the Irish peace process. My party has contributed to embryonic political settlements and peace processes in recent times in the Basque country, Philippines, Columbia and Burma.
And, while we can, and perhaps should, be proud of our work beyond our own shores, we should not forget that we have much more to do at home to secure and build the peace.
The Warrington Peace Centre stands tall as a testimony to this for all of us who have sought to chart a way from conflict to peace in Ireland that and between Ireland and Britain. And a timely testimony at that.
Sinn Féin is disappointed that our partners in government in the north of Ireland, the DUP, have reneged on a Programme for Government commitment to build a peace centre at the Maze Long Kesh site. For many, given the journey we have all trodden and the changes that have come about and our work abroad as advocates of peace building, it beggars belief that we cannot agree on the building of a peace centre.
But what it is that has tripped us up? What has tripped us up is the past, how we speak about it, how we present it, and how we address it. And its role in reconciliation.
Myself and Peter Robinson knew when we commissioned this project that there would be difficulties. We agreed that the peace centre would be exactly that, a peace centre.
We recognised that it could not be the preserve of any one section of the community.
We also agreed what it couldn’t be. It could not be a commemorative zone for any particular side or party to the conflict or a place to retrospectively validate their role in the conflict.
We advocated the need for the new site to be a genuinely shared space. And so, despite all the difficulties we were optimistic about its future.
However, it is clear that there are groups, who for various reasons are opposed to the building of the peace centre.
The peace centre has been cast by them as shrine to those who engaged in the conflict. Nothing could be further from the truth. The glorification of conflict is the antithesis of peace building.
The exploitation of this fear has paralysed many on the unionist side and the peace centre is now in a logjam.
But the exploitation of this fear has only been possible because of our collective failure to address the past.
And, in hindsight, we should have known better.
Hardly a month goes by in the north that we are not faced with an anniversary of a past tragedy. Each such occasion evokes painful memories.
And while each such occasion reminds us that we have still to address the past in a way that complements and assists the building of the future we are all committed to and will serve our better interests, we have not yet applied ourselves sufficiently to this end. We cannot allow this mistake to continue.
Some politicians have sought to use victims for their own political ends. This is wrong on every level. The past cannot be allowed to destabilise the future. But it must inform our path to a better future.
I am a firm believer that we can deal with every issue if we get the framework right and the context right. Thus far, when it comes to dealing with the past, we have achieved neither.
Conflict resolution is about much more than ending conflict. The conflict is over, but the work of conflict resolution must continue.
If we approach conflict resolution on the same basis that we approached ending the conflict then I firmly believe acknowledgements about the past can become a powerful dynamic which will move us again to new places that many believe are beyond us.
Truth recovery and acknowledgment are critical to dealing with the past. They can breathe life into the quest for reconciliation.
Dealing with the past will help and guide us in our building of the future. And building for the future will enable us to deal with the past.
The thinking which brought us all to the negotiating table must be maintained and must drive us forward. That is, there can be no winners. And that means there must be no losers. If we move forward on this premise then we are duty bound to acknowledge and respect our differences and to compromise. There is no other way.
Relying on old certainties will only produce old results. We need new approaches, new relationships and new results.
Within Ireland it means building new relationships and meeting challenges in a positive way with at all times an eye on building the peace and promoting reconciliation. With Britain it means building an understanding of our historical difficulties without letting them become an obstacle to good relations in the future.
Creating a new society at ease with itself is the challenge facing us now. I believe in the unity of the people of the island of Ireland. There is a democratic and peaceful way to achieve that or to reject that. It is for the people to decide. I commit to approaching that work with compassion and imagination.
Dialogue, building trust, making political compromises are the seeds to achieving this new beginning.
This applies globally as much as applies at home. There are many ongoing and brutal conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Syria – thousands of people, including many children killed, injured or displaced from their homes. I wish the new talks process in the Middle East well. The lesson from the conflict from which we have emerged in the north of Ireland is the same for everywhere else.
There are no military solutions to any of these conflicts. Politics, dialogue and diplomacy are the only guarantee of lasting peace.
We need to bear this in mind as we approach World Peace Day on Saturday.
Compromise is not a dirty word. I am proud of the compromises which I have made in the pursuit of building peace.
When you come to a place like Warrington, when you meet people like Colin and Wendy Parry it is very difficult not to be positive for the future.
But Republicans cannot make agreements with ourselves. We need unionist partners. We need civic partners. We need to agree the direction of travel for our society and stick to that road map despite the attacks from the rejectionists be they unionist or so called dissident republican.
At times people get frustrated, myself included, at some of the political log jams which crop up from time to time in our process. And at times people can focus on the negativity which flows from these and miss the reality that the job of government continues – Ministers are taking decisions everyday, the All-Ireland and East West political architecture continues – everyday that this happens is another brick being laid on the path to a new future.
Of course we need to find a way of dealing with the past. Of course we need to put plans in place that ensures that the marching season doesn’t become a by word for street violence every summer. But all of this is doable.
When you reflect on the challenges we have overcome to date – when you reflect on the journey we have all travelled – then it is patently obvious that we cannot and will not let these legacy issues to drag us backwards.
So my message from Warrington – from a building with represents the future – is very simple – Peace needs Partnership.
Let that be what guides us through the next period. Let that be the principle which underpins our political engagement going forward. Let that be the road map to a future built upon genuine reconciliation and progress.
I was once in the IRA. I am now a peace builder. I don’t expect anyone to take me at my word. I expect them to take me by my deeds.
I have spent 20 years building the peace. But peace building like conflict is a joint enterprise. I challenge all of the parties to the conflict to pledge their commitment to the type of acknowledgement, respect and compromise we need to move forward in the years ahead.”
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The Father of a young lad killed by an IRA bomb asks McGuinness personally to give a peace speech. While you have idiots on here that know nothing about what it’s like to have lived through the troubles calling him a Terrorist
I never lived in the North but I do remember as a child that friends of my parents had to move South of the border due to persecution. In fairness most of us living South of the border don’t have a clue about life in the North. We heard the News ect but never walked in those shoes.
I am delighted to read what Martin McGuinness said today. Hopefully what he said will help with the ongoing Peace Process – however only time will tell.
I have yet to see a brit soldier speak to the Dublin and monaghan families.
I have yet to se a brit soldier apologize for any of the murders they committed in Ireland.
Well done Martin McGuinness & well done the Parrys. An example to everybody but particularly to the deluded bitter halfwits who have polluted this comments section with their hatred.
Well done Mr Parry and Martin McGuinness. That’s the way forward.
The way forward is to get rid of McGuinness and let the next generation take over. The generation without blood on their hands.
Crawl back under your shell Niall, back to where you belong with oul Willie Frazier. You bitter bitter man. You just cannot accept that people are trying to move on and look to future, it’s called conflict resolution.
I pity your lack of intelligence
The way forward is certainly not to get rid of anyone. The Brits tried that for
centuries, in Ireland and abroad . Has it ever worked ?
Neil Sullivan, people with blood on their hands are on both sides. It’s the people on both sides that talk and listen to each other that will save us from repeated conflicts. Both sides believe they are right. Congratulations to the families and people of Warrington for making progress, hopefully soon Irish people will start loving themselves and have confidence to do the right thing for their country PEACEFULLY.
Its called learning from the past and seeing through empty rhetoric,
What a fantastic gesture to ask Martin McGuinness to address this conference. Conflict resolution is painful and slow for all parties to the war. Contrast the attitude to seeking peace with the attitude of the free state establishment. Their anti republican vitriol stands exposed , it is nothing to do with SF and republicanism and more to do with the threat to their cosy consensus.
Huge respect to the Parry family !
Martin is a hero. Only those who have come from such turbulent times know the real value of peace.
Oh yes, bombing a small out of the way town and murdering two little boys just to force the British Govenment to talk is a really heroic gesture.
Here’s heroic gestures- tell the families where each body is buried, give the name and the crime committed by each terrorist ( from both traditions, sure they aren’t going to serve a day) , let us know exactly how much money was robbed and extorted “for the cause”, tell us how its going to be repaid, resign from politics and let those with clean hands run Sinn Fein. Do this and people will really believe Mr McGuinness is serious about peace.
Mick was there much robbed from you.?
The Nationalist people from part of our wee Country had more than money
Stole from them. Why blame them for trying to right the wrong from the
1920′s .
mick
you sad bitter pathetic man, you’d never make a republican
Thanks Dalai, I am sad and bitter that two little lads boys were murdered, if the fact that I decry the murder of two little innocent boys makes me pathetic- then maybe you don’t really understand the term pathetic. And if you really think that only those who murdered little boys, support the murder of little boys or are willing to gloss over the murder of little boys can be republicans – then, do you actually understand the term republican.
This is an important discussion- lets leave out the insulting language towards those of a differing viewpoint.
go back in to your cave..mick walsh..
As opposed to Civil Right’s Marchers in Derry, yeah, and what about all the Loyalist Paramilitaries that were ” legal “, who maimed, butchered and murdered? Yes, the I. R. A. are guilty of some horrendous crimes, but the British Army and Government and Loyalist Paramilitaries even more so.
That’s a bit harsh L, are we not allowed have different opinions?
Complete shameful anti Irish nationalist tripe go away before you and your type provoke more trouble,you are below contempt.
Great speech, would’ve made a great president
If only he answer the Jean McConville question so her family would know where she was buried. Yes, a great president indeed.
Was Jean McConville the only person killed in the conflcit? Seems to be the only name people can repeat
Niall Jean McConville’s body was found years ago. Why are people on here always mentioning her and not other victims like Joan Connolly, mother of eight, who died around the same time. British paratroopers shot her several times in the head and upper body, blowing off half her face in the process and no soldier has ever been brought to justice for her murder.
It makes me sick that people on here, as well as politicians and other public figures, continually call for the perpetrators of Jean McConvilles murder to be brought to justice but there is no outcry from the same people for the other victims. Is Joan lower down in the hierarchy of victims because she only had eight rather ten children.
These people continually use Jean McConvilles name not because they care about justice for her but rather for their own attempts to stifle SF’s growth. If you really care about the victims of the Troubles please continue calling for justice for Jean’s family but desist from the hierarchy of victims been used for your own agendas.
In every war and every conflict , informers often get a sad end. Unlike
many informers Jean was given a warning which she did not heed .
The taking away and killing of a mother of a young family was a crass act
but so also was the parading of a couple members of the family for
Political gain, that was also pathetic. As is the continuous bringing up
of name to try to point score by people who never attempted to bring
Peace and resolution to our Irish problem .
@PAT @DALAI it goes without saying that everyone responsible for all murders should be outed.
It doesn’t matter who they are: British army, RUC loyalist or Republican.
The focus on Jean McConville has been because of the suspected links to senior SF members who despite denials of ant role in the IRA have been fingered by some of their own people.
So if you believe Darkie Hughes about Gerry Adams role in the Belfast IRA you also have to believe what he said about Jean McConville-that she was a British informer who was repeatedly warned to cease her activities but continued anyways. Unfortunately she ended up the same way as all other informers who were caught by the IRA.
If you’re going to use the death of someone to score political points then at least get your facts right, Jean McConville was buried 10 years ago you imbecile.
And if only the Woman went to the Army and told them whet the Brits wanted her to do and asked to be kept safe, then the Family would know where she was. She was a Mother, yes, but she was also a Collaborator, so you’ll excuse some of us for not being that upset about what happened her.
Well said Martin.
what martin mcguinness has just said is what the vast majority of the nationalist population in northern Ireland feel, as a community who suffered at the hands of the orange order /the unionist party and the ruc /bspecials /uvf/ uda /and British army for over 80 years and who when they asked for justice and fair play in education /health and housing and job where beaten off the streets who witnessed their parents being abused by the system left in abject poverty with no future and only for the catholic church no education who left to be abused by various Irish governments as in 1933/6 1968/69 what did you expect us to do if things where going to change then we in the north had to make it happen and it was clear that as long as stormont existed it was not going to change that was the main reason for the armed struggle , my own contention was that after sunningdale and the power sharing agreement of 1974 the i r a should have called a cease fire it was then that they lost the high ground and the morality of war was no longer justified and the vast majority of the nationalist population agreed but certain elements within the republican movement mostly from the 26 counties wanted to continue the war no matter what the people wanted but it must also be said that it was the orange order paisley and the hard right of Craig, harry west david Trimble and the u.v.f who in the end brought down that power shearing government and where allowed to do because the british goverment of the day allowed them to as they thought that to continue the war against the republicans was the easy option and the i.r.a. gave them the excuse so marti mc guinness has done the brave thing something that should have been done 20 years earlier except that the free state and british wanted to defeat the I.R,A and either of them succeed S.F in power in the north is their worst nightmare and the threat of getting power in the free state isa even bigger nightmare for F.G/ F,F OR LAB and the southern media and as for chopstix there is nothing slimey about bringing peace and working for your people all the people in an effort to improve their lives and their childerns lives its a lot more than can be said about the shower in leinster house who have destroyed this part of ireland through greed and selfishness look at their pensions and wages and then look at the broken families and the suicides the people who have to take boats and planes to the far reaches of the world give me matrtin mc guinness any time at least he is honest what you see is what you get
Philip Kelly, I wish I could give you hundreds of Green Thumbs. We need our Government to listen and act to protect our equality of pain to get this country back out of recession, before conflict takes hold and we look back in shame. Many of the rights withheld in the north that led to the war are being withdrawn down here not by the British but by our rich masters, lesson not learned.
Mr Colin Parry is a giant among men.
How he can overcome personal grief to invite a former leader of the organization that snuffed out the life from his beautiful boy forever with an indiscriminate bomb, for “the cause”, is simply beyond my comprehension. I will never understand or know the strength of character it takes to embrace peace like that. I know I could never climb to the pedestal upon which Mr Parry stands. Words fail me
Stockholm Syndrome perhaps?
Is it just me or is there something slimey about Mcguiness
Just you. I never ever ever, would ever say the ira represented me. I couldn’t understand nor will I ever what they did. But fair enough what mcguinness did tonight. That takes balls.
Oh it took balls I give him that
Just hard to trust them without suspecting there is an agenda
What do you mean Chopstix? There are people on these boards that think he’s a modern day Martin Luther or Ghandi. Don’t burst their bubble.
Ghandi and Martin Luther were well known in their day to go in to the dressing room of Miriam O’ Callaghan and give out about the line of questioning about their present and past. Mcguinness is a hero, not a slime bag. He’d like to be known as a man if peace, but he’s just a man if piss and puss.
Niall you’re a very bitter man and twisted.
What I’m waiting for is an apology to the Irish people for the attempted genocide by the British establishment and the locking up of the murderers responsible.
Thankfully a few Kenyans managed to dish out long overdue justice to one British terrorist commander who ordered the killing of Irish civilians on bloody Sunday in Derry And not forgetting the Ballymurphy massacre 6 months before where 11 Irish civilians were murdered by the British State Parachute regiment including a mother of 8 who attended a victim and was shot in the face for her trouble and of course a priest , father Mullan who was shot in the back.
Terrorists indeed.
@ Tristan, “attempted genocide”…. What are you on about, if you have to invent stuff like that then you know your argument holds very little water.
First Lad, Ghandi was not afraid to use violence when it suited to gain a better peace, Ghandi has blood on his hands and he has said this… As for martin Luther King nor he was afraid to use a non violent action that was then. This now Martin Mc was Derry’s commander during the troubles as he watched British army shoot dead many people on a Peace march. Now he has made some great chapters in bringing peace to Ireland and mistakes were made on both sides and still there are people who want to drag the killing back ……..Let put it this way how many chemicals have the English government and still supply to countries that are deemed dangerous At least he’s trying to solve the problem not destroy it ………………….
Bitter? No fella, my own grandfather was buried in a tri colour and was an active member of what they refer to down South as “the old IRA”.
I’m not bitter but I cannot accept SF and the SF henchmen (local criminal scuts) getting in to power in my locality. They align themselves to working class yet most of the criminal element in my locality are members and try to induce fear as a result. SF may have cleaned up their act with Pearse Doherty and Mary Lou. But at grassroots they are still doing the same things they ways did.
When they finally rid themselves of the criminal element I’ll look at them again. In the meantime save me from my own bitterness please kid?
Like he solved the Jean McConville episode and Gerry helped McCabes wife. But you’re right about Ghandi he too was a thoroughbred killer and kept the shallow grave locations of people he killed to himself. How very Ghandish of him fella.
The Old IRA also abducted and “disappeared” victims. Particularly in West Cork. “But that was different” I suppose?
Leslie, see my above comment. If you lived in north they most likely would have helped you in some way directly or otherwise…
Next great step would be to get justice for the innocent people murdered in Birmingham and Gilford pub bombs.
typical shitehead,
the people from Dublin and monaghan would appreciate justice, justice from the brit state and the irish state for murdering their loved ones in 1974.
@dalai Too bad you have to resort to personal attacks.
As I said above I would like to see justice fore all murders.
I focused on Birmingham and Gilford because as you will see in the article there was a protest from families of the victims of these too atrocities. I am assuming you read the article.
What about Justice for those WRONGFULLY CONVICTED AND IMPRISONED FOR SAID CRIMES?
I despise the IRA, I think Sinn Fein haven’t an economic clue but I respect Martin McGuinness and do trust his commitment to inclusive politics.
James. What faction of the IRA do you despise? Southern so called Irish people,through ignorance or laziness do not differentiate between the complexities of the different factions that come under the generic umbrella of the IRA. The original PIRA etc was borne out of necessity and desperation. I would quite confidently suggest that most decent, loyal, courageous men & women who were fortunate enough to live in the south, would have taken part in some form of necessary nationalist actions to protect their people, if they had been raised in the north and had to live in those horrible and disgraceful conditions. This painting of nationalism and republicanism as a negative is shocking to me. do people not understand what those words mean? the labelling of heros such as Mr. McGuinness as “terrorists” is absolutely treasonous!! (I’m rising people with that line, don’t catch the bait). So I ask you James, if you despise the IRA and all they stand for etc, I take it you are British or have been affected personally by attacks made by them personally on you or your family, or perhaps sadly you are a coward and prefer to hide behind simple minded accusations made by weak politicians? And as for SFs economic policies….I’m no supporter but can they be any worse than any of the others policies???!!! Don’t be fooled by propaganda…
Oisin, I despise the terrorist organisation who murdered innocent people to achieve a political end. They never at their height had a majority of the nationalist opinion to murder and maim. You can muddy the waters by claiming they were defending their own but there never was a defence to murdering innocents including the many of their own. Democracy is the only solution.
” Haven’t an economic clue “, even thought the Trioka have come out and said that what the Party, and the other REAL OPPOSITION PARTIES said at the start of the Recession was correct, yeah?
Brave man, Colin Parry.
I have a huge amount of admiration for Mr Parry; reconciliation and politics are the only way to solve our problems, not violence. We’re not animals.
FULL SPEECH…………..WOW!!!!!!
Mr. McGuinness would have one think that Leopards do indeed change their spots.
Colin Parry and his wife should receive a significant recognition from this state in what ever form that takes. A true symbol of peace despite losing a much loved son he advocates forgiveness and peace. Truely humbling.
SF in the power, Can we eat this elephant in small bites. What MaGuinness did last night was to try and move the process one step forward (small step). There are many many steps to be taken yet to secure a lasting peace on all sides. I think it was a frank and honest lecture. Would I trust SF in power in the Republic ?. No I would not. But in the interest of living on a peaceful island am I mature enough to allow SF time to win the respect and trust of the Irish people.?. Yes I am and I think if we keep looking at the finishing line without seeing the road we need to journey then we will fall over. So in short credit where credit is due, last night was one more little step in SF gaining the trust of the people
have your say