Speaking at the Working Forum in Belfast, organized by NIPPA, Jim Allister QC MEP made the following remarks, “It gives me great pleasure to open this event organised by NIPPA, which I am sure you are all aware is one of Northern Ireland’s most respected and highly-valued family-orientated voluntary organisations. The joint aims of encouraging social exchange between people from differing community backgrounds and of providing reliable childcare and advice, for which NIPPA is noted, are indeed admirable.
It gives me particular pleasure to welcome our visitors from overseas and I would encourage you all to take the opportunity to visit our many and varied tourist attractions in Northern Ireland. You are truly welcome.
The theme of today’s proceedings is related to the field of conflict and its negative impact upon the family. The actual wording of the phrase “conflict resolution” is essential to understanding the nature of the society, which exists here in Northern Ireland. The phrase assumes that there is still a conflict to be resolved. This is unfortunately very true here in Northern Ireland. A conflict still exists here in Northern Ireland and, in many cases, it is the children and women of the province who are suffering the most.
A recent report produced by Professor Liam Kennedy, a human rights expert and history lecturer based in Queens University Belfast, concluded that both loyalist and republican paramilitaries have been responsible for brutalizing and vicious attacks against children. In some cases, youngsters have been nailed to planks of wood in what can only be described as evil and wicked assaults. These attacks have led to the break up of families and the devastation of lives – they need to stop. This is a snapshot of the direct trauma caused by the conflict here in Northern Ireland.
A less obvious but nonetheless damaging legacy of the conflict, relates to community relations. For understandable reasons many children growing up in Northern Ireland have little contact with people from the “other side” of the religious divide. Speaking as someone who is totally at ease with my own cultural and political identity, I can say that I find this regrettable. I think it is worth saying though that only when a community is fully confident in its own identity and continued existence, can it be expected to reach outwards. The responsibility lies upon central government and the European funding bodies to facilitate a process of confidence building within Northern Ireland’s majority community. The work of NIPPA has helped to facilitate a limited level of social exchange between the differing communities, but it is incumbent upon all of us in public life to do our part to help minimize any negative impact of these long-established barriers.
The stinting of economic empowerment for women is a lasting and enduring legacy of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Statistics reveal that while the number of women employed in Northern Ireland is growing, the vast majority of these are in the part-time category. The work of bodies such as NIPPA who provide valuable childcare facilities through their crèche facilities at Queens for example, is freeing up many to further their employment ambitions. The advancement of an agenda of social betterment as we move from a society engulfed in civil strife into a society at ease with itself is a welcome development. Any groups, such as NIPPA who help this process are meritorious of praise.
Thank you for your time, and I would like to leave you with one final thought: here in Ulster we are still enduring political uncertainty. Our children and families are continuing to suffer at the hands of paramilitaries. It is the responsibility of those who continue to use the apparatus of terror to brutalize our children and families to put away their guns and bombs in an open and trust-building way. The families and children of today and tomorrow demand nothing less.”
