Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I ask the Leader to prioritise the topic I raised yesterday, namely, the assault on Peadar Heffron. I am glad to see that he is improving slightly, but progress will be slow. It will be a long road for him and his family, but it is in all our interests that he improves and recovers as fully as possible.

I would like to believe the Seanad could foment a mutual understanding among all the people on this island. I ask that we look, for example, at the 2016 commemorations of 1916 and expand that into the likes of Ballykinlar, the Curragh and Frongoch, so that the 1920-21 issue is addressed. I am aware that the British Army has announced it will be withdrawing from Ballykinlar. I declare my interest, since my grandfather spent 13 months there as an internee. However, many families would gain from an understanding of what the situation was like there and it is very important that we address the issues of 1920-21 as well as 1916.

I ask the Leader to bear in mind that in 1916, Ballykinlar was a British Army training ground for soldiers en route to the Somme. In the context of achieving mutual understanding and adopting a multi-perspective viewpoint on history, the Seanad should be a driving force towards debating the issues. In that context, perhaps the Leader might use my Council of Europe report on multi-perspectivity concerning how to teach history in areas of recent conflict as a starting point for a debate on the issues of how we view the so-called other. If we do that, the topic referred to by Senator Cummins will be addressed. We have to decide how we are going to deal with those we have traditionally perceived to be the other, because we have to live in peace and harmony and stop dissidents from getting any degree of support.