Professor Peter McBride:

The context of our conversation in the car on the way here is important. There is an assumption that we have done a great deal of work and many conversations have been had. The phrase "heavy lifting" is used frequently. There is no doubt a great deal of work is being done but for many people, it is 25 or 30 years after the event that they are able to begin to connect emotionally with what happened. One of the challenges we face is we need to go back and have some of the conversations again and hear them differently. We think we know what the other side thinks. There are many assumptions about understanding the position of loyalists, republicans and various different factions whereas there is not an awful lot of listening going on at the minute and what is being said now is different. The emotional content in a strange way is more raw and, therefore, there is a need for a different kind of conversation and dialogue and if the focus is on reconciliation - and it has to be - then the content of that is an emotional engagement rather than simply intellectual fighting.

With regard to what Dr. Mason described in terms of PEACE II and PEACE IV, there is something to being able to say that with all the work that has been done, we need to revisit some of it, have some of those conversations again and see if we hear something different.