Reverend Steven Foster:

I am sure if Reverend David Bruce were here, he would say many more things, and Reverend Hamilton has covered some of the things that Reverend Bruce would have highlighted. I am chair of the southern executive for council and social responsibility but I know our northern executive is very active, and has been active for decades, in engagement on reconciliation and in the peace process.

The Methodist Church operates on a shared-island basis in our business. We do not see a distinction between the North and South. Even though most of our members are in the North, it is together we are used to thinking of ourselves. We need to work at every level from a perspective of a shared island and initiate things now, if we can, that are good and healthy for society at different levels.

Many things could be said about reconciliation. We must be honest and open that churches have not always been good at reconciliation. I am thankful for the thorough, active and courageous work that has happened, and does happen, but we have not always been good at listening to others and taking them seriously. That is not just purely on a Protestant-Catholic basis. It applies to the whole mixture of identities in humanity and parts of society. If we are not used to engaging with others who are from a different ethnic background, who have different abilities to us, those with a variety of sexualities or cultural understandings, or potential class differences, and if we are not allowing ourselves to be challenged on different fronts, it leaves us lacking in our commitment to reconciliation more widely. That then challenges the level at which we seek reconciliation. We must not leave it to people in cosy rooms, or whatever, and must force ourselves to get out to all areas of society. That has been considered at this meeting.

Education is an area that strikes me as crucially important. I have led sessions within transition year classes in different schools that have opened up to different presentations on issues such as reconciliation, conflict, how we understand each other, differences and diversity.

I have been struck that the world that I lived in as a teenager in south Fermanagh and grew up in during the Troubles was like a different planet from that of the teenagers who I have been sharing with in transition year, TY, classes. Linking that, the girls in the football team were caught up in the emotion of such a joyous occasion. We want to mark and celebrate the positivity of that but, I suppose, step back and look at what lies behind this. There is a real lack of education and understanding of the issues. Young generations in Ireland, particularly in the Republic, need to be well educated about the history of the last hundred years or, certainly, of others' experience. It has to happen at an educational level for people to appreciate why a song or chant like that might be offensive or whatever.