Frank Feighan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue. All of us are victims of history. Last weekend I visited Belfast, as I do, and went to the Grand Opera House in Belfast to watch Garry Hynes's great production of "The Colleen Bawn". On Sunday I went to mass in St. Patrick's Cathedral on Donegall Street, which in recent years has been the focus of issues that are not particularly nice for Northern Ireland. I also happened to pass by the courthouse in which my grandfather, James Feeley, was convicted almost 100 years ago. He was a Sinn Féin councillor and an IRA commander in County Roscommon. He went on hunger strike in the Curragh and in Mountjoy Prison and later became a garda in the new Free State. My other grandfather was born in Cullyhanna in south Armagh. He was in the south Armagh brigade of the IRA and was incarcerated in Dundalk Prison. I am proud to come from a strong republican background, but there are two sides to every story. Less than 100 years ago Ireland was part of a different jurisdiction. There were various armies in Ireland. The UVF had 100,000 volunteers from a Unionist background and the National Volunteers also attracted a large membership from a Nationalist background. Every second day these armies were to be seen marching through towns and villages. Arms were smuggled to them through Howth and Larne. The historian Roy Foster has suggested that if World War I had not occurred there would have been unprecedented bloodshed on this island.

I pay tribute to the 200,000 Irishmen, both Nationalist and Unionist, from North and South who fought in the First World War. They all fought for different reasons. Unionists do not always realise that more Nationalists than Unionists died in that war. However, as history is written by the victors, those who came from a Southern background were forgotten. In my home town of Boyle, 126 young men out of a population of 3,000 died in the war. Four hundred young men from County Roscommon and 50,000 men from the island of Ireland died. They were written out of history. I grew up near an old British army barracks but I never knew about these young men. They should be remembered, just as the men of 1916 are remembered. I take great pride in wearing a poppy as someone from a Nationalist background. The poppy should not be the preserve of British imperialism or militant Unionism. I also take great pride in wearing the Easter lily.

I have been in Maghaberry Prison and visited Marian Price while she was in a Belfast hospital. I am delighted she was released. Her detention was managed in a ham-fisted way and I welcome the fact that common sense prevailed in the decision to release her. I have also visited a number of dissident republican prisoners in Maghaberry Prison, as well as meeting loyalists and Nationalists who are trying to work together. A little over a year ago I was part of a delegation under the Good Friday Agreement which visited the Skainos Centre in Newtownards in east Belfast. The experience was eye-opening because the First Minister and Deputy First Minister both gave speeches in Unionist east Belfast. I saw my colleague, Deputy Ferris, warmly embrace his counterparts in the UDA. It was poignant that people could embrace one another after so many years of conflict. I pay tribute to Deputy Ferris for proving that the people at the coalface were able to find solutions. Their flanks were sometimes exposed by those who talked the talk but did not walk the walk. It is our duty to work together to ensure the democratic process is protected.

Belfast was vibrant when I visited on Saturday night, thanks in part to the peace process. A greening process is ongoing in the PSNI, but there is also a darker side to that force. Certain issues remain be addressed. We will have to learn the truth about the infamous Glenanne gang and the Dublin-Monaghan bombings, because dealing with the past is a critical factor in moving forward. Perhaps our greatest challenge is dealing with the past to deliver a sustainable peace. Issues arise in respect of cultural identity, ethos, flags, equality and parity of esteem. The establishment of an all-island civic forum would help us to resolve many of these issues. The Bill of Rights and the all-Ireland charter of rights, as well as the North-South review and the Irish Language Acts, are all important.

We have come an awful long way but we cannot forget the past. The person who forgets history knows nothing.

What I try to do is to look at it as politicians should and remember that there are two sides to every story. I do not have all the answers and neither do Nationalists or Unionists. Our duty is to look at the two sides of the story and try to determine whether we will take two steps forward and one step back. Sometimes it will be one step forward and two steps back.

We are in a very different place from the one we were in when I was growing up 40 miles from the Border in the 1980s, when Northern Ireland was not our problem. It was up there and as long as it did not come down here, we were happy. Indirectly, it was our problem.

Unfortunately we have had many lapses over the years, but in my humble opinion the Anglo-Irish Agreement, under the late former Taoiseach, Dr. Garret FitzGerald, opened up dialogue and cross-Border institutions and was followed by the Good Friday Agreement. Hopefully, the Agreement will bring lasting peace and prosperity to Ireland. As I said, 100 years is not a long time. I was born 50 years ago. I hope that in the next 15 or 20 years our differences will be put in the past.

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