Mr. Peter Osborne:

I thank the Chairman and committee members not only for inviting us down this afternoon but also for their interest in, and support for, these sorts of issues over recent years. It is very much appreciated by everybody here and within the communities in which we work in Northern Ireland. It is useful that we are making a presentation after the previous presentation on the Good Friday Agreement and associated outstanding issues. It was very interesting and convincing. We are going to touch on some of the same issues, including the role of civil society, in our presentation.

The Chairman has introduced everybody present so I will not do so again. Ms Mary Montague will do most of the talking as part of our introduction. The Community Relations Council has been celebrating its 25th year this year. Over its 25 years, it has been an arm's length body of government and acting independently of government to try to develop peace building and reconciliation in Northern Ireland through funding, policy, innovation and supporting good practice. In 2014, it became obvious to the Community Relations Council and everybody else to whom we were talking that there was significant frustration within civil society and among the practitioners with whom the council works over the current state of peace-building efforts and the peace process. That frustration manifested itself in practitioners getting together with the Community Relations Council to start a process they called "Galvanising the Peace". The council has been helping to facilitate that process which has been driven and led by the practitioners and civil society. The delegates present are some of the people who have been driving the process as part of a working group. It is a process that has involved many more people and, as Ms Montague will outline, it involves increasing numbers. It is a substantial initiative and one that I believe will make a significant contribution to our understanding of peace and how it can be galvanised in the coming months and years.

I thank the members. I will hand over to the practitioners who have been leading this initiative.