Claims that a 'Peace and Reconciliation' forum on the lines
of that in South Africa will help victims of the 30-year Northern
Ireland Troubles continue to swirl around.
Most of the support for such a forum comes from the nationalist
or republican side of the community, and that doesn't really
come as a surprise. Past experience shows that when it comes
to forums or inquiries into the terrible events in Northern
Ireland that the republican side of the house tends to dominate
the proceedings.
There is never a shortage of 'witnesses' to come forward
to say they witnessed police or army 'brutality' and to put
the maximum spotlight on atrocities carried out by loyalist
paramilitaries.
On the other-hand, people from the Unionist population have
tended to be reluctant to come forward and give evidence in
such matters. There has been a tendency for Protestants and
Unionists to grieve in private for their loved ones murdered
by the IRA and other republican groups.
That may be due in large measure to past experience, in that
it has been perceived to be much more difficult for Protestants
to focus attention on the wrongs inflicted on their community
than on the Roman Catholic and nationalist population.
Republicans have been highly successful in spotlighting the
'wrongs' and 'injustices' inflicted on their people. The Sinn
Fein propaganda machine has been expert in manipulating the
media and in demonising the unionist majority.
Unionists have found it much more difficult to gain a sympathetic
response from the media to the terrorist campaign waged against
them. It so often tends to be overlooked that two-thirds of
all the 3,000-plus deaths during the Troubles were due to
IRA and other republican groups violence.
The game of 'what aboutery' is a traditional one in Northern
Ireland and it doesn't really solve anything, but by winning
this battle in the past, the republicans and nationalists
have been able to extract international sympathy for their
support.
If the campaign to produce a 'Peace and Reconciliation' forum
is successful, then the Unionist political parties, and indeed
the Orange Order, will need to get their act together and
ensure that the many victims of IRA volence are remembered
and receive justice when it comes to spotlighting the crimes
committed against them.
But the question has to be put - will a 'Peace and Reconciliation'
project help in bringing about a better Northern Ireland?
Is it the best means of ending the great hurt and anguish
casued for so many families in Northern Ireland?
People, especially those on the Unionist side, are still
hurting over the fact that the Belfast Agreement resulted
in the release of so many terrorists, including convicted
murderers, long before their prison sentences had been completed.
Whatever findings a 'Peace and Reconciliation' forum might
produce, it will not mean the murderers having to serve another
day behind bars for their crimes.
Going by the example of the 'Bloody Sunday' inquiry which
began three years ago and which has so far cost an estimated
£100 million, it will take an awful long time for the
3,000-plus murders to be dealt with at a peace and reconciliation
forum. Such a forum could go on for decades, and with so much
media spotlight and publicity, what sort of chance would that
give for things to calm down and for post-Troubles healing
to come about?
And if such a forum does come about, then all 3,000-plus
killings would have to be investigated in order to ensure
total fairness. It would have to be case of every single case
being spotlighted, including those murders of soldiers and
policemen.
Every single family bereaved through the violence of the
Troubles continues to hurt badly and to feel a dreadful loss.
Nothing must be created in the way of a public forum or inquiry
into the killings unless it includes every single murder and
deals with the suffering of all families - that must be uppermost
in the thinking of all politicians and people of influence
as they consider the constant calls for a South Africa-style
peace and reconciliation forum to be created in Northern Ireland.
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