Martin Ferris (Kerry North-West Limerick, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their presentations. I was struck by what Sr. Maura Twohig said about her parents protecting her from the past and how it was still in her subconscious and at some stage it emerged.

That brings us back to a description of victims: victims of the state, victims of conflict, victims of discrimination and victims of sectarianism. I was 18 years old in 1970. I can forever see tens of thousands of people marching on the streets of the Six Counties - marching for the right to vote and the right to have a home. They are also victims of state discrimination, and that must be acknowledged. Somebody commented earlier about recognising and acknowledging the fact that they are victims and survivors. Everyone has been affected by the conflict or by the pre-conflict or post-conflict situation. They are also victims and must be looked at in that light. It is about trying to find a mechanism or a way of dealing with it. I come from a Sinn Féin background and I look at it as a matter of truth and reconciliation whereby people can be open and honest and deal with the past. If we cannot deal with the past and what happened, it clouds our way forward. We need to find a way to deal with that. We are living in a period in which there is huge conflict all over the world, particularly in the Middle East. It is conflict for which the big powers have direct responsibility, and they continue to have responsibility for propagating and promoting it. The question is how ordinary people in our country can find a way to heal. The only way one will heal is by dealing with the past in the present. The word "forgiveness" was mentioned, and it is absolutely correct. If one has no forgiveness and one has hatred in one's heart, one will never find forgiveness. As such, a way must be found to overcome that also. It is truth and reconciliation with everyone buying in, including governments, combatants and the organisations involved in the conflict. It is about the root causes of the conflict and about buying in honestly and openly to healing oneself by healing others. When we are all trying to find a way forward, using terminology that is associated with the demonisation of people in the past is not the way to deal with our difficulties or to heal. I am on the record as having said that the peace process is irreversible. There are and will continue to be difficulties because we are coming from a legacy of discrimination, sectarianism, hatred and violence, and we must deal with all of that. The way to do so is to recognise that each and every one of us comes from a particular position and to acknowledge the hurt inflicted by one tradition on another tradition. If one does not approach it openly and honestly in that way, one is destroying one's self.