Could you explain how you came to be involved in the work of peacebuilding in Northern Ireland?

I have been involved in reconciliation work since my early adult life. When at university in Belfast at the start of the conflict in 1970, I joined the recently founded cross-community Alliance Party, a political party with the aim of healing the bitter divisions in our community. I continued my involvement in the Alliance Party through the 1970s and 1980s and was elected to Belfast City Council for an electoral district that included the Falls Road. I was then elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1982 for West Belfast; Gerry Adams of Sinn Fein was elected in the same constituency. I was the only elected member for West Belfast that worked actively in both the Unionist/Protestant and the Catholic/Nationalist areas of the constituency and was the only councillor to attract electoral support from both communities.

I had to leave politics in 1986 to gain employment and worked for a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Following the establishment of the Community Relations Council (CRC) in 1990, I was appointed as a Development Officer. The Community Relations Council was funded by the British government to develop better relations and a deeper understanding between the differing traditions in Northern Ireland. We worked with community and voluntary groups, assisting them in recognising and opposing sectarianism and developing neutral and shared spaces so that people from differing traditions could meet and discuss issues of contention. I was appointed Director of CRC in 1997 and as Director I worked with others to help found Healing Through Remembering (HTR), a cross-community project comprised of a diverse range of individuals with the aim of addressing the issue of how to deal with the past conflict in and about Northern Ireland. HTR regards dealing with the past and remembering as important issues for civic and wider society to engage with, debate and discuss. HTR believes that how society deals with the past informs and shapes the future. It advocates that it is better to give proper and due consideration to ways of dealing with the past and remembering, even if it is decided that no further action is required.