Forum for Peace and Reconciliation

The Forum for Peace and Reconciliation (Irish: an Fóram um Shíocháin agus Athmhuintearas^[1]) was a forum established by the government of Ireland in October 1994 as part of the Northern Ireland peace process.^[2]

Initiation

The Forum was envisaged in paragraph 11 of the Downing Street Declaration of December 1993:^[3][4]

The Irish Government would make their own arrangements within their jurisdiction to enable democratic parties to consult together and share in dialogue about the political future. The Taoiseach's intention is that these arrangements could include the establishment, in consultation with other parties, of a Forum for Peace and Reconciliation to make recommendations on ways in which agreement and trust between both traditions in Ireland can be promoted and established.

Preparations for the forum were triggered by the ceasefires announced in September 1994 by the

The Forum for Peace and Reconciliation is being established by the Government in accordance with their intentions as expressed in the Joint Declaration, for as long as is necessary, to consult on and examine ways in which lasting peace, stability and reconciliation can be established by agreement among all the people of Ireland, and on the steps required to remove barriers of distrust, on the basis of promoting respect for the equal rights and validity of both traditions and identities. It will also explore ways in which new approaches can be developed to serve economic interests common to both parts of Ireland, including in the framework of European Union. It will be a fundamental guiding principle of the Forum and of participation in it that all differences relating to the exercise of the right of self-determination of the people of Ireland, and to all other matters, will be resolved exclusively by peaceful and democratic means. The purposes of the Forum will be to provide, as far as possible, an opportunity to both major traditions as well as to others, to assist in identifying and clarifying issues which could most contribute to creating a new era of trust and co-operation on the island. Participation in the Forum will be entirely without prejudice to the position on constitutional issues held by any Party.

Regular sessions

The forum's structure was modelled on the

Paragraph 6 of the Downing Street Declaration stated in part:[4]

In recognition of the fears of the Unionist community and as a token of his willingness to make a personal contribution to the building up of that necessary trust, the Taoiseach will examine with his colleagues any elements in the democratic life and organisation of the Irish State that can be represented to the Irish Government in the course of political dialogue as a real and substantial threat to their way of life and ethos, or that can be represented as not being fully consistent with a modern democratic and pluralist society, and undertakes to examine any possible ways of removing such obstacles.

Several of the reports the Forum commissioned addressed this issue, and a subcommittee was established on Obstacles in the South to Reconciliation.^[15] It considered the reports and made a draft report recommending changes to the Constitution of Ireland, as well as changing the Irish national anthem and tricolour flag.^[16] Details of its draft proposals were leaked in 1998.^[16][17] When the Forum was revived in 2002, the draft report was not published as it was felt the intervening events had rendered it obsolete.^[13][15]

Delegates

There were separate delegations for each political party with elected representatives in either the

The forum's public sessions were typically held once a week.[3] The proceedings were subsequently published by the Stationery Office, Dublin:^[18]

Later work

The

Asked about the Forum in 1999, Ahern said:[31]

I said that I believed, in the context of the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, it would be preferable to see the primary axis for future island-wide consultation being the joint parliamentary forum and the independent consultative forum, envisaged in paragraphs 18 and 19, respectively, of

strand two

of the Good Friday Agreement. In that event, while it would be a matter for the chairperson and the participating parties, I envisage a final concluding meeting of the forum.

There were suggestions that it be revived in 2000 after the suspension of the Northern Ireland Executive,^[32] and again in December.^[33] Ahern said at the time, "It might come to that point but there are some other ideas we must try first. If it is going nowhere however, I will consider it".^[34] It was reconvened in late 2002 after further suspension of the Assembly following spying allegations.^[35][36] As Catherine McGuinness had in the meantime been appointed to the Supreme Court, Maurice Hayes replaced her as chairman.^[13] Compared to the 1997 delegates, the LPNI was absent while the Socialist Party was present.^[37] One session discussed the Holy Cross dispute in Belfast.^[38] The Forum's 2002–3 meetings failed to ameliorate the deadlock in the peace process.^[2]

In 2005,

Some of the Forum's commissioned reports and submissions were published.[13]

• Paths to a political settlement in Ireland: policy papers submitted to The Forum for Peace and Reconciliation. Blackstaff Press. 1995.
  ISBN 978-0-85640-566-2
  .
• ISBN 978-0-7076-1645-2
  .
• Boyle, Kevin; Campbell, Colm; Hadden, Tom (1996). The protection of human rights in the context of peace and reconciliation in Ireland. Stationery Office.
  ISBN 978-0-7076-2308-5
  .
• Eide, Asbjørn (1996). A review and analysis of constructive approaches to group accommodation and minority protection in divided or multicultural societies. Stationery Office.
  ISBN 978-0-7076-2309-2
  .
• Bradley, John (1996). An island economy: exploring long-term economic and social consequences of peace and reconciliation in the island of Ireland. Stationery Office.
  ISBN 978-0-7076-2310-8
  .
• Building trust in Ireland. Blackstaff Press. 1996.
  ISBN 0-85640-577-9. consisting of five studies commissioned by the subcommittee on Obstacles in the South to Reconciliation:^[13]

• "Paths to a Political Settlement: Realities, Principles and Requirements (draft)". 2 February 1996. Archived from the original on 2 October 1999. Retrieved 4 February 2012.

See also

• New Ireland Forum (1983–84)
• Northern Ireland Forum (1996)

References

External links

• Official website (from Internet Archive, last updated 1997)
• Sinn Féin documents on the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation (Sinn Féin website)
• Alliance Party submissions to the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation Archived 15 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine