Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 17 December 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Defence

Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation: Discussion

Photo of Niall CollinsNiall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome our guests and join the Chairman and other members in acknowledging the good work that the centre does. I wish them well in their future endeavours.

I appreciate that our guests have to respect the confidentiality and privacy involved in much of their work, but speaking in the broadest sense, has the centre had any role in working and speaking with the various parties in Northern Ireland since the Assembly crashed almost three years ago? Talks are under way at the moment to try to restore a functioning Assembly. We are broadly aware of the issues that divide the main parties in the North, for example, the approach to the Irish language. Could our guests give us an overview?

Reference was made to the importance of integrating refugees and ending direct provision. Those are goals or aspirations to which we would all aspire if we want to bring the situation to a better place. In the Dáil last week, I raised the issue of people who found themselves undocumented. They came to Ireland on some type of visa or permit and overstayed it. They represent a significant cohort of people - we are told that there are approximately 26,000, including their families. The majority are working in our communities and contributing very positively to society, but they have found themselves in this lacuna and needing to work in the shadows. The committee and its individual members advocate for the undocumented Irish in the United States. There is a parallel here, but our country has been found wanting. We are lagging behind in addressing this issue. Do our guests have relevant experiences that they could relate to us?

On the matter of a centre of excellence, it was mentioned that our guests were hoping to enhance their facility over the next one to three years. Have they drawn up detailed plans? I presume this issue links to what the Acting Chairman has been saying about the UNESCO world heritage site. I agree with him, and it was news to me. It is something about which our guests need to make people more aware. How far advanced is the work? Will the facility be on the existing site? Will it be a new build or will the old building be refurbished? Have our guests been speaking to the Office of Public Works or Departments about it?

Does the OPW have a plan for how this will be rolled out? In its submission, the centre spoke of fostering new streams of sustainable income. Will our guests provide further details on that? Will they provide an overview of one's existing fundraising models and the type of fundraising events they do with support from some corporate bodies? What are the limitations the centre is experiencing with its potential and capacity because of the constraints on its funding?

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