LONDON, England, — The meeting will be addressed by Sinn Fein chairperson Declan Kearney, alongside a prominent cross-party panel of speakers.
The meeting hosted by Sinn Fein MP Paul Maskey in the Grand Committee Room of the House of Commons on Wednesday 24 October, at 7pm.
In recent months Sinn Fein has launched a public initiative on the need for a process of national reconciliation in Ireland. Leading party figures, in particular Declan Kearney, have spoken, through keynote addresses and major articles, aimed at the unionist, Protestant and republican communities, seeking inclusive dialogue towards opening up a new phase of the peace process, which Sinn Fein believes needs to be based on reconciliation.
In a recent speech, Declan Kearney outlined the nature of the initiative:
`Initiatives and gestures aimed at healing past hurt and division are crucial to peace building and reconciliation in the aftermath of political conflict. We believe a new level of engagement is required involving all sections of Irish society, and in particular between republicans and our Protestant and unionist neighbours in the North.
`That type of dialogue needs to be focused on the development of a reconciliation process which attempts to overcome the unresolved hurt on all sides but also inter-communal fear and divisions, partitionism, economic disadvantage, and social inequality.
`None of that will be easy because it will demand that we all have the courage and compassion to try and understand what it has been like to walk in each other’s shoes.
`I have described it as a dialogue of “Uncomfortable Conversations” that did not take place during all the heavy lifting of previous negotiations. Now, however, there’s more heavy lifting to do – that is, how we begin to build new human and community relationships among our people based on equality, increased understanding of each other, and mutual respect for our political differences’.
Declan Kearney will be joined by a panel which will include Lord Alderdice (former leader, Alliance Party), Baroness Smith (former NIO minister) and other speakers to be announced.
Further information, please contact fisherj@parliament.uk or call 07940565123.