Ms Róisín McGlone:

I cannot speak to Glencree's role before or after the Good Friday Agreement because I was not there. I was in Belfast starting on interfaces. What I will say is that there were various developments which came out of that. Take the example of Brexit, which Ms McNamee finished on, and how it was managed or not managed, depending on one's perspective. What was different about coming up to the Good Friday agreement was many things. It was a multilayered and very complex set of issues. Our civic society was very engaged. It was a very dangerous time for us but it was a very exciting time. That was because civic society were engaged in the discussions. They were engaged in everything from the referendum to the setting up of the Parades Commission and the Human Rights Commission. Any attempt to look at a change, be that constitutional change or whatever, has to engage on a number of different levels. When I remember those times, it was as though we were all involved. Everybody was involved in one aspect or another. Some of us were involved on the ground, keeping the peace, so that the politicians could get on with it. Some people were involved in Human Rights Commission. It was about making sure it was done the right way. It was about advising Government.

There were a lot of really good and vibrant organisations. This example always sticks in my mind. I remember during the lead up to the referendum, one of the organisations got see-through stickers and put them on the green part of every traffic light in Belfast so that when it turned green, it said "Yes". Using innovative ways of bringing people on board is critically important. I am passionate about this aspect of it because I have lived through it and know the consequences of it. There have to be the spaces and politicians.

There also needs to be partnerships. Let us remember, we had people from South Africa helping us. I went to the John F. Kennedy School of Government with political parties. Stanford University was involved. Academic people were helping as well. A whole range of people need to be brought together. For me, Glencree is the perfect beautiful setting to do some of that background work with the people who need to help us through. The Senator is right: it cannot be done with one group or one assembly. There are many interwoven issues.

Coming back to the question on a truth and reconciliation commission, which I did not answer. We did not have that commission but there was lots of storytelling and things were happening in the Northern Ireland. I hope that answers the Senator's question on that.