Mr. Ian Bothwell:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to be here. I am aware of a very pressing need myself - I have drunk three glasses of water and now need the bathroom - so I will be brief. My wife and I are delighted to be invited and included. Being included in this is very important because there are people isolated in our community whose voices need to be heard. BBC used to say it is good to talk, but we have yet to tell our story and people have yet to be heard. I feel the nervousness of this debate because we have to get this right. It is important to get the past right so that we can go forward. It is important to clean out the wound and to have the confidence that we can do this. I feel we can.

I had a lovely journey coming down by bus from Monaghan. Half the people who got off that 50-seater or 60-seater bus spoke to the driver by name and thanked him. He was called Seán. There are good people in this land. We are kind and given to hospitality, yet we have to address it to this area of wounds and healing. We need to open up ourselves to a new thought pattern and a sense of commitment to this.

Crossfire Trust was formed from a television programme in the Border town of Crossmaglen. I saw the bullet holes and the fear and decided to ask God to send someone there to heal and help. It turned out to be me. I was 21, inexperienced, came from Tynan, the only son of a Border farmer. I made that journey to Crossmaglen over many political, cultural and religious backgrounds with a wee burning song in my heart that I was taught in Sunday school: "Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in God's sight". That is our rock. It is a new type of equality. That is where we are coming from. We now have hospitality at Darkley House. We care for people who are homeless. Many of them are victims of the Troubles. We practise respite, support and events and bring people together, across communities, across nations, England to Ireland. We are on a journey and we are comfortable with our neighbours. Our membership is loose.

People are welcome. We struggle with the victim service, which wants us to sign people in at the door and ask them how they became victims. We like to welcome people from the south Armagh area who went through so much. Church members from Darkley were silent for many years, but after 30 years they revisited the events of November 1983, when three elders died. There are people in the RUC and the British army who come back to south Armagh to retrace their steps because of stress and panic. The local community in Crossmaglen has been very accommodating in taking widows and servicemen's girlfriends out to those country roads. There has been a sensitive journey quietly going on. The Good Friday Agreement, in my opinion, is still the best model we have. We have had the Eames Bradley report and the historical enquiries team and very public expensive inquiries, but I would like to see an alternative, and I have a suggestion which I will propose to the committee later.

At the moment there is a community exhaustion. People are tired of talking. Our politicians and some people in society have become very good at this, fascinated by the past but confused about the future. Victims and survivors have been told so often, "Tell your story; we are listening." Needs analysis, consultations, programmes, feedback sessions - of this there has been much, but there has been so little help on the ground, and that needs to change.

At the moment there is great political suspicion as to why, at a cost to our personal peace, some people are moving centre stage in front of cameras to position their parties better for the next election. I hope this is remembered at the next election. Knowing how we have voted in the past, I suspect we might continue to vote that way, because this giant is hard to shift, but we do need a change. Political parties are polarised, but there are different shades of green in south Armagh. I do not come from a republican background, but it concerns me that the republican community is so split. Some people might find it strange that I am concerned that a political party cannot stay together to deliver and roll out peace to the grassroots. When I walk around Crossmaglen I see poor housing and a deteriorating situation. During the Troubles there was always a place that someone could go to for help, but now, people who have been involved in incidents the past are abandoned. We are not kind to each other. In south Armagh we also have those involved in the emerging diesel laundering industry causing conflict and jealousy with large houses, private gardens and electric gates. It causes division.

I have two simple suggestions which I think are profound. I would like to see a volunteer legal team operate a fast-track investigation process for victims and survivors of past atrocities. I believe it is offensive that so much money has been spent making lawyers millionaires while widows are left alone to push a wheelie bin out to their road gate. There are people who struggle to get their grass cut while others have made money out of this. I would love to see bishops, church leaders, company heads, politicians and those with links to the President and the Queen organise a group of people who would volunteer their services to investigate speedily the events of the past.

Some of the people I know want more than an acknowledgement; they want a court conviction and someone sent to prison. They are convinced that this will help them, but I still have questions about that, because even ten years in a prison may not be sufficient to atone for the loss of a husband. But it would be more than an acknowledgment; it would be a recognition of what those victims have asked for. Some want their day in court, while others I work with are happier to move on and draw a line under the process. It seems contradictory, but it is something we could look at to offer an acknowledgement of the loss and pain of the event. Some victims in south Armagh have been pleased to have the acknowledgement each year of a public event, although is kept private, with no media or cameras. It is a recognition that they have had a loss and are on a journey, and they are encouraged to keep going.

We could have more community-based discussion events, the openness of which would allow neighbour to talk to neighbour. People have a desire to talk, but maybe the political climate and openness are not there to allow neighbours to talk. In a community dialogue, more information from the past could come forward which would settle many issues. I would like to see victims choose a personally identified group which would suit their needs to explore letting go, forgiveness, the rebuilding of trust and the restoration of relationships. That is quite a sentence, but we have not yet turned the key on forgiveness. I believe that people do not yet know how to do that. There is a feeling that it is letting others off the hook - but forgiveness lets you have a good night’s sleep.

We need to build trust and restore relationships that have been broken. In order to achieve this, I would like to see churches become more involved, publicly recognising local anniversaries, praying for victims by name and offering appropriate support for that week or month. If this were done nationwide it would create a new sense of inclusion and fresh hope. The use of poetry or hymnody could calm the deep parts and lead people out from the darkness of grief into the openness of trust. "Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come." If we were to continue to quote or to sing it would lead us on to a better place. It is acknowledging the pain of the past while not settling there but maintaining the journey to a better place.

I would love to see the media being used to tell the story without spin. Our politicians seem to love the cameras, but at what price? We are losing ground in the community while some of our politicians play games, and I have a growing resentment about that. The media needs to tell the good news of people’s journeys and celebrate the achievement. Reconciliation and reconcilers need to be honoured and appreciated more. The journey that victims and survivors can take together in addressing this is amazing. With everyone on board, we can travel to a better place. I have a deep-rooted feeling that we can do it together. Thank you.