Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Reconciliation, peace-building and looking at the legacies of the past is a problem for everywhere in the world where there has been conflict, whether that be Ireland, South Africa or wherever else. There are always issues and difficulties. In 2014 that was recognised and the Stormont House Agreement was agreed by everyone, including both Governments and all the parties in the North as the process for going forward. The Minister for Foreign Affairs is quite correct that this agreement is the pathway to justice that was agreed by all. It is not perfect but it is the pathway that was agreed. The British Government has unilaterally set up a situation where it is prepared to turn its back on this agreement, which was the consequence of other agreements that failed in the past. It did not keep its word on the Good Friday Agreement or the St. Andrew's Agreement. Now we come to the Stormont House Agreement, and that is the problem we are facing again.

I recognise that this is very difficult work. For much of the 2000s I was engaged in this work myself. I sat in those rooms with people who had lost people. Without betraying anyone's confidence, I sat with one man whose brother, who was a member of the UDR, was killed by the IRA in a bomb explosion. He spoke of his hurt and pain and everything his family went through. Others in the room had similar experiences. There was an older woman who talked of her nephew who had been shot by loyalists with a UDR weapon, and the hurt and pain she felt.

There is a lot of whataboutery in those contexts. That is part of the process of reconciliation because you have to hear and understand each other. That is part of what was going on in those meetings and engagements and it went on for many years. However, we also have to understand that whataboutery does not get you very far. We have to actually find a process of healing. That is what the Stormont House Agreement was attempting to do. It was Ireland's attempt at a South Africa-style truth and reconciliation process. It was not perfect but it was an attempt at it and for the British Government to walk away from it is outrageous. I welcome that everyone in this Chamber recognises that and understands that we have to put maximum pressure on. The Minister said the Government is prepared to talk to everyone about the difficulties with the Stormont House Agreement and what changes may need to be made. We need to hold the line as firm as possible to ensure there are no changes made to it because that is what we agreed and it is the way forward.

There is a Bombay Street in Belfast. On one occasion, the lady I referred to talked about how two sons of hers, when they were quite young, went to a civil rights protest in a local town. After the protest their names were taken by the RUC and about a week later two cars pulled up on the street and local men got out and threatened them. They told the family, who were farmers living in an isolated rural area, that if they continued going to protests like that, they would have a Bombay Street at home. She said they kept their heads down for too long but that they are not prepared to keep them down anymore. That was people's experience and that is part of this reconciliation and truth-building process. It is not just about the things that happened but what that did to people, how it affected them, how it made them what they were and how, in some cases, it made them do terrible things to each other. We have to listen to all of that and we have to have a space to do it.

Of course there is wrong on all sides and of course there is right on all sides. However, there is a sense that we on this side of the Border can somehow stand up and be high and mighty about it and say both sides did terrible things and was it not awful and wash our hands of it. We in this State have a responsibility as well. Some 100 years ago, the Anglo-Irish treaty was signed. The signing of that treaty was the beginning of a conflict because it set up a discriminatory sectarian state in the North that was bound to go for conflict. Many years ago, I read Nelson Mandela's book in which he talked about his trial. He said that the people of South Africa looked for civil rights and peacefully marched for their right to have a place in the sun but the only response of their government toward them looking for their equal rights was a violent one. It was the very same in Derry on Bloody Sunday and it was the very same in these situations. If we are going to learn anything from the past we have to work together and we cannot leave anyone out. If we are going to work together, the British Government has to be part of that. It is as responsible as anyone else for what happened in the Six Counties and it is going to have to be part of the solution. It cannot walk away from any of these agreements and it certainly cannot walk away from the Stormont House Agreement. All of us recognise that we have a part to play but more than anyone else, the Minister has a huge part to play in holding the British Government to account and holding it to the Stormont House Agreement.

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