Mr. Dáire Hughes:

I thank Mr. Atwood, Ms Weir, Mr. Holloway and Ms Malone for attending today's meeting and for contributing to the presentation. I commend the work of each of their organisations in pursuit of reconciliation and for contributing to the committee and this process. I pay particular tribute to the John and Pat Hume Foundation. Those who built the peace on this island are perpetually worthy of our highest gratitude. We must recognise the courage of the men and women who took bold initiatives in difficult times to deliver the peace. The work of the foundation and the legacy it maintains is extremely commendable. It did its work in a political context in which it met considerable opposition. This makes the courage of those initiatives all the greater. Challenges still remain and I agree entirely with Ms Weir on a number of points. Funding for community development in the North is difficult. All too often, the Dublin and London Governments have been found wanting in their roles as co-guarantors of the agreement. We need a bill of rights and, what is more, in the absence of such a bill we are threatened by a significant cohort of British political opinion which is hostile to international human rights protections, in particular the European Court of Human Rights, so serious challenges remain.

In the context of all that, however, due to the work of those people, I and my generation have very limited experience of conflict and thankfully the generations that follow us have none at all. As all the witnesses have pointed out, post-conflict dynamics exist and have to be considered as such. Reconciliation is obviously an obligation for each and every one of us. It needs to be interwoven into everything we do, irrespective of the constitutional dynamic, while still allowing people to pursue legitimate aspirations in a growing debate about our future.

I would like to hear the thoughts, opinions, advice or directions of the witnesses in respect of the various civic initiatives that are openly considering and engaging with people on our future and what can be done in that context.

I am thinking of things like the shared island unit, the citizens' assembly, the women's assembly Ms Weir mentioned, the SDLP's commission on the future of Ireland, Sinn Féin's commission on the future of Ireland and what those groups can do to enhance reconciliation in their pursuit of what are legitimate aspirations. We know the best way to do that is in an open, engaging and citizen-led environment. If the witnesses have thoughts on that, they would be most welcome.