Fiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire arís go dtí an Seanad.

I commend the Irish Government, in particular the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan, for the work, consistency and the care he has taken in what continues to be an ever evolving but also a stop-start scenario in the North of Ireland. Speaking as director of the Abbey Theatre, I spend much time working with playwrights of both traditions and both sides of the divide, although artists and playwrights are uncomfortable with the word “divide”. Consistently in the past year and a half we have produced much work by Northern writers such as Owen McCafferty, Jimmy McAleavey, Stacey Gregg and David Ireland. These four writers come from different parts of the community, some from east Belfast, some from Dundonald - the Ballybeen estate, a loyalist estate - and others from a more middle class Catholic background.

Without wishing to sound too vague about it, I consider many artists to be prophets. Seamus Heaney was a prophet. They somehow relate issues, concerns and themes ahead of politicians and the establishment. They relate to the community from where they are writing. That community can often be ahead of the establishment. A play we did this year at the Abbey, “Monsters, Dinosaurs, Ghosts”, looked at the notion and prevalence of criminality in the North. We cannot deal with criminality in the North in an ambiguous way; we have to be clear about it. The signals we are getting from the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade are that we cannot stand by, ignore or have an ambivalent view on both sides. My sense from the loyalist community is that there is strong, almost nasty, criminality which is extraordinarily divisive among communities, particularly disaffected and disenfranchised young people. I am hearing about this when it is not necessarily bubbling up to the core of the political sphere. Some politicians in the five main parties are taking leadership. However, I consider what Mike Nesbitt is doing as bouncing Mr. Peter Robinson into a scenario for short-term political gain. I find this disturbing and regrettable.

Of all the challenges in the peace process and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, the one that has not been mentioned today is the continuing institutionalisation of sectarianism in the North. More peace walls - I use the Orwellian term - have been built, dividing communities in the process, since the Good Friday Agreement was signed. There is very little of a coherent approach, both North and South, in acknowledging this. I am in the middle of rehearsals for a play, “Shibboleth”, by Stacey Gregg from Dundonald, which looks at interface barriers, where communities are being divided for good, not because of culture or political persuasion but because of a physical barrier between communities. I regret that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Charles Flanagan did not raise this, but it is prevalent and insidious.While we consider this extraordinary and very delicate political situation, the five main parties are not leading their communities. Some of the disenfranchised and socially and economically deprived on both sides are being left behind.

Of course, when issues of flags, marches, parades and civil rights arise, they are exacerbated by the fact that the other side, whatever that means, is not seen any more because of these barriers, the so-called peace walls. That is something I find very disturbing. We talk about the wall around the West Bank, the Berlin Wall and other walls in other parts of the world, yet 100 miles up the road we are watching the institutionalisation of sectarianism. Young people, in particular, find it increasingly difficult. No matter what we do in terms of cross-community work and work bringing communities south to engage themselves, the physical barriers - they are no longer psychological barriers - the shibboleths that are occurring in Belfast city, are a matter of concern to me. I listen to the playwrights of today, young people such as Stacey Gregg, who is approximately 30 years of age and is from a Protestant community. She is saying that this is something we should mark and bear witness to, and that we should try to bring those walls down.