Stormont Parliament

Our correspondent at Parliament today was Allison Newberg:

Today we went to the Northern Ireland Parliament which many simply call “Stormont.” The approach to the building is quite dramatic and one knows that you are approaching a place of power. There is a mile long drive up to the Parliament Buildings that is surrounded by an absolutely gorgeous park. Our taxis dropped the group off at the top of the drive, we went through a security checkpoint, got our visitor passes, and began our experience. The Stormont Parliament Buildings are not open to the general public and one can only attend at the invitation of a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly. We were the guests of the deputy First Minister!

Shortly after our arrival at Parliament Buildings we were met by Martin McGuinness, who is the deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. He met us out on the front steps to take a group photo [it was unusually sunny for Ireland] and he was amazing. He introduced himself to each person and shook our hands. He then took time to answer our questions and to give his opinions on a variety of topics. He shared with us some important work he is doing to encourage other peace processes throughout the world. He asked us not to share any specific details about his upcoming work until it is made public in the world press in the coming week. When it was time to go back inside, Martin McGuiness left us to get back to his work.

We waited a few minutes then went up the Italian marble staircase to the Assembly Room, where we watched a parliamentary debate. Take note, we watched it, not understood it. The Speaker and the ministers spoke incredibly fast and it would have probably helped if we all caught on to the Irish accent. After the debate we met by Jim Gibney, the senior political strategist of Sinn Fein, and led down to the lunchroom for a quick meal. We ate quickly in order to make our next tour. While the group ate lunch, Gina and I ran up to the ‘toilet’ and we were shocked. The restroom was the size of a classroom, and it even had a towel rack that entertained me for about 5 minutes. After we rejoined the group and everyone finished eating, Katie ran up to us and whispered, “Guys, Gerry Adams is here! I got a picture of the back of his head.” Acting on this information, a few of us snuck around the corner just to get a look at Gerry Adams eating a sandwich. Surrounding us in the dining room were the most prominent politicians in Northern Ireland: Gerry Adams – Sinn Fein, Mark Durkin – SDLP, Sir Reg Empey – UUP, etc. After we were done acting like paparazzi, we were off on next tour.

This took us into the Senate room; which is set up to mirror the House of Lords in the Westminster Parliament. We sat on incredibly comfy benches while our guide explained the historical significance of the 2 paintings on the wall. The paintings depicted the opening of the Parliament by King George V in 1921 and the other the first Assembly members after the Good Friday Agreement. We walked out into the lobby and met with Simon Hamilton, MLA. Simon is an upcoming politician in the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP); the party founded by the legendary preacher the Rev. Dr. Ian K. Paisley. Simon was the most impressive person I met at this point; aside from Martin McGuinness. He was well educated and helped shed light on the political situation in Northern Ireland from a Unionist perspective. He is a MLA, meaning he is a Member of the Legislative Assembly and represents his sector Strangford. He answered all of our questions without hesitation. And let me tell you, we had a lot of loaded questions! He answered with honesty and dignity and held nothing back, as far as we know. After 70 minutes [who was counting…] we left him on the front steps. We arrived back at the Elms Village [our dorms] and ravaged the refrigerator. We had an Italian feast this evening. We had evening prayer, as normal, and went over our day. We ended on an amazing note and I am looking forward to beginning our formal classes at Queen’s University and our Christian service tomorrow! =]