Queen's University Lecture

The MacDermott Lecture

Lady Hale, Justice of the UK's Supreme Court








The Great Hall
Lanyon Building
The School of Law
Queen's University
Belfast, Northern Ireland
18 March 2010
5.30pm

ISE Seminar

This week was dominated by an international, ecumenical seminar on the future of Christianity, which was held at our campus in Belfast.


Phyllis Tickle





Beki Bateson (left)


Dave Tomlinson



Kester Brewin


Peter Rollins and Kester Brewin


Three Americans: one living in Germany, one living in England, and one living in Brooklyn (left to right)


The BBC was on-hand to interview participants!

The Long Way to Glencree

I had a chance over the weekend to visit the The Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, which is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation that is devoted "to peacebuilding and reconciliation in Ireland, North and South, Britain and beyond. The programme work builds peace and fosters reconciliation by facilitating dialogues, creating peace education resources, and much more."


I went with my friend and fellow lay Marianst, Susan Mason Buckley, and we stopped at Glendalough, to visit the 6th century monastic site and round tower.


We also passed through the snowline in the Wicklow Mountain National Park.

But we did finally make it out to Glencree, and it was worth the long drive!

UCD Seminar

Breaking the Patterns of Conflict: The Irish State, the British Dimension and the Northern Ireland Conflict

Institute for British-Irish Studies
School of Politics & International Relations
University College Dublin
Theatre R, Newman (Arts) Building
Belfield, Dublin 4

Friday, 12 March 2010

This conference was initiated to build on findings from the ‘Breaking Patterns’ research project, which aims to assess how British and Irish policy promoted and instigated change in the patterns of conflict in Northern Ireland.

The project documents key turning points in British and Irish relations and strategy towards Northern Ireland since the 1960s, through a series of 'witness seminars' and long interviews which are taped, transcribed and deposited in the UCD Archives department.

The conference was designed to situate the results in comparative perspective.
The project is funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

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PROGRAMME

I. The British-Irish Process

Negotiating Settlements (10:00 - 11:15)

(1) Developing intergovernmental approaches: evidence from the politicians
Susan McDermott, University College Dublin

(2) Institutional change and conflict regulation: the Anglo-Irish Agreement (1985) and the mechanisms of change in Northern Ireland
Jennifer Todd, University College Dublin

**********Tea/Coffee**********

Post Settlement (11:45 - 1:00)

(3) Adapting consociation to Northern Ireland
John Coakley, University College Dublin

(4) Sri Lanka after the end of the war
Stanley Samarasinghe, Tulane University

**********Lunch Break**********

II. After Peace: Parties, Paramilitaries and Populations - Northern Ireland in Comparative Perspective (2:00 - 4:30)

(5) Loyalists: Including the 'Awkwards'
Michael Anderson, University College Dublin

(6) Civil society in Northern Ireland changing the narrative in the interests of peace-building
Avila Kilmurray, Community Foundation for Northern Ireland

**********Tea/Coffee**********

(7) The spectre of history: Northern nationalism and the peace process
Cillian McGrattan, University College Dublin

(8) New Sinn Fein and old ('dissident') republicanism: Ideological and demographic trends
Jonathan Tonge, University of Liverpool

A Visit to Corrymeela

I had a chance to visit the Corrymeela Community on this trip, and learn about their work in reconciliation and peace-building.















The Corrymeela Community is a Christian community whose objective is the promotion of reconciliation and peace-building through the healing of social, religious, and political divisions in Northern Ireland. It runs programmes aimed at establishing a shared society defined by tolerance, where differences are resolved through dialogue in the public sphere and where there is equity, respect for diversity and recognition of interdependence.

Corrymeela
5 Drumaroan Road
Ballycastle BT54 6QU
United Kingdom‎
028 2076 2626‎