8 DFómh 2014, 10:14
Representatives from the Community Relations Council appear before the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement tomorrow morning to consider the latest Northern Ireland Peace Monitoring Report.
8 October 2014
The Report is produced by the Community Relations Council on an annual basis, with the latest report written independently by Dr Paul Nolan.
The Community Relations Council was established in 1990 as an independent body to promote better community relations between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland and to promote recognition of cultural diversity.
Committee Chairman Frank Feighan TD says: “The Committee looks forward to engaging with the Community Relations Council, an established centre of expertise on community relations in Northern Ireland. The Council’s most recent Peace Monitoring Report, published in April 2014, will provide the basis for discussions. In reflecting the data, the Report analyses key indicators at community level and makes a number of important findings in relation to securing the peace.
“With renewed talks on flags, parading and the past in prospect, this is a timely meeting for our Committee. On frequent visits, the Committee has witnessed the enormously positive work taking place at community level across Northern Ireland and the border region. Earlier this year for instance, we heard of the lasting positive impact on community relations in Derry following an inclusive Fleadh Ceoil na hÉireann in 2013.
“Yet we are also acutely aware of the enormous challenges in creating shared spaces. Despite many years of an embedded peace process, the peace walls in interface areas across Belfast not only remain, but some are higher and longer now than they were when the Good Friday Agreement was signed 1998. We look forward to engaging with the Community Relations Council on how the community spirit and resolve - very much in evidence in disadvantaged communities across Northern Ireland - can be harnessed to overcome the significant economic and social challenges and strengthen the process of genuine reconciliation.”
The meeting takes place tomorrow Thursday 9 October in Committee Room 4, LH 2000 at 10:15 am. Public proceedings can be viewed online here.
Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.
Ends
For further information please contact:
Paul Hand,
Communications Unit,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 4484
M: +353 87 694 9926
paul.hand@oireachtas.ie
Committee Membership
Deputies:
Seán Conlan, Fine Gael
Seán Crowe, Sinn Féin
Clare Daly, Independent
Regina Doherty, Fine Gael
Frank Feighan, Fine Gael (Chairman)
Martin Ferris, Sinn Féin
Peter Fitzpatrick, Fine Gael
Michael P. Kitt, Fianna Fáil
Joe O’Reilly, Fine Gael (Vice-Chairman)
Thomas Pringle, Independent
Ruairí Quinn, Labour
Brendan Smith, Fianna Fáil
Joanna Tuffy, Labour
Jack Wall, Labour
Senators:
Maurice Cummins, Fine Gael
Jim D’Arcy, Fine Gael
Mary Moran, Labour
Mary White, Fianna Fáil