| When we set out on our inquiry, Reconciliation: ways of dealing with Northern Ireland's past, four months ago, it was our intention to conduct a comprehensive set of investigations over an extended period which would contribute to the process of inter-community healing on which the future of Northern Ireland depends. We also hoped that our work would assist the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in his process of discussions and consultation about Northern Ireland's past which was announced in May 2004. We began our oral hearings with the victims and survivors of the conflict of the last decades as the group most immediately and tragically affected.
Unfortunately, the prospect of a United Kingdom general election has meant that we have had to curtail our inquiry. It was not possible even to hear from all those who wished to speak to us about the first part of our work, listening to victims and survivors. We hope that there will be an opportunity, if our successor committee in the next Parliament so decides, to return to and continue our work on this very important subject.
It is evident from the large amount of written material which was sent to us and the considerable numbers who wished to present oral evidence, that the subject of this inquiry is of great general interest in Northern Ireland and elsewhere. The evidence we received is of a high quality, and we have decided to publish it with the intention that it should be disseminated as widely as possible.
Despite not having had the opportunity to finish the inquiry as planned, we thought that it was right to publish alongside the evidence gathered an interim report containing a small number of preliminary observations. These are to be understood not as the usual conclusions of a select committee (which would have required the completion of the full inquiry) but as a commentary on issues which struck us as particularly topical and of especial interest and importance:
- We were heartened by the hard and imaginative work that a large number of individuals and organisations are putting into the task of inter-community healing in Northern Ireland. This work is the essential culture from which the day-to-day development of peace and normalisation in Northern Ireland is developing, and all of civil society, led by the government, must ensure that it receives constant encouragement and generous support.
- Many intractable problems remain over how to 'deal' with the past in Northern Ireland. For example, a clear and widely accepted definition of what it is to be a 'victim'; what 'reconciliation' means, and whether it is applicable to Northern Ireland; even whether the violence of the sectarian conflict there has ceased fully and permanently, remain in some degree unresolved, as is clear from the evidence presented to us. It is the continuing existence of problems of this fundamental nature, and the potential these have for setting back the process of peace, which make it vital that the healing work of the individuals and organisations we have mentioned above continues and is strengthened. Despite such problems, there is a measure of agreement about how the sacrifice and suffering of victims may inform the creation of a more peaceful and prosperous society in Northern Ireland. The 'Healing Through Remembering' initiative has done impressive work in identifying and summarising imaginative ways for this to be carried forward.
- One initiative which was mentioned frequently is that of a formal and official 'truth recovery' process, an idea which the government has decided against pursuing for the time being. This is an idea that may have its place in the healing process in Northern Ireland, but which is complicated and contentious at present. We are supportive of the idea, particularly where an independent element is included, but are not convinced that this is the right time to begin to put it into practice. Community consensus about the nature of such a process, and a positive political context would be required to enable a wide variety of groups and individuals in Northern Ireland to participate in such a process with sufficient confidence for it to be worthwhile. Unfortunately, this essential context has not yet been created, and we are concerned that to embark on this process now would not achieve the aim of truth recovery and could exacerbate inter-community tensions. We expect the government to keep the appropriateness of initiating a truth recovery process under constant review.
- It is of great importance to stress that a formal and official 'truth recovery' process is one means only by which society in Northern Ireland may come to resolve its past. Our evidence shows in detail the myriad opportunities which the people of Northern Ireland are taking to come to terms with the realities of the past and to ensure that the mistakes made then are not carried forward to blight the future. As we have said, such efforts must be sustained by all means possible.
- When we were drawing this inquiry to its premature close, the government announced a major consultation on a Victims' and Survivors' Commissioner and a number of measures designed to strengthen the support victims receive. This happened in time for us to include it in the evidence we took from Mr Paul Murphy, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and Angela Smith, Northern Ireland Office Minister with responsibility for victims. We welcome these signs that the government is taking support for victims and survivors seriously, and we encourage a strong participation in this public consultation. However, we consider that the measures announced, while unexceptionable, do not break new ground in the approach to victims and survivors, and an opportunity may have been missed to maximise the positive impact which victims can have on rebuilding Northern Ireland society.
- Victims represent a primary resource in the process of transformational healing which lies at the centre of a better future for Northern Ireland. This potential will be unlocked only when their experiences are given a central position in society which requires full, practical acknowledgment of their hurt, and the respect to which their experiences entitle them. The government needs to examine further whether sufficient funding is available for victims: in our view it is not. It must also examine as imaginatively as possible ways in which victims, and their experiences, may be drawn into the effort to promote peace and tolerance in Northern Ireland.
Much of the evidence we received in the course of our work was deeply upsetting, but our final impression is one of optimism for the future of Northern Ireland. The hunger for peace, mutual respect between individuals and communities of differing traditions, the enormously impressive, cross-community work of victims, survivors, other groups, and individual citizens to promote healing is, day by day, building a new social fabric in Northern Ireland which is testament to a potentially bright future. Of course, extremely serious problems remain, and we do not underestimate them. However, the work we saw in Northern Ireland, and the evidence we have been privileged to hear, provide a shining example to all the leaders of civil society in their own task of forging a better future for Northern Ireland. We trust that they will keep it clearly before them.
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