Parliament & Poets

Our morning correspondent is Laurie O’Riordan:

“Every few hundred years in Western history there occurs a sharp transformation. Within a few short decades, society- its worldview, its basic values, its social and political structures, its art, its key institutions- rearranges itself. We are currently living through such a time.”
~Peter F. Drucker, management guru

Today was yet another busy day in Belfast, Northern Ireland! We witnessed the ever changing political structure of Northern Ireland.

The early part of our day was spent at the Northern Ireland Assembly, also known as “Stormont”. The one mile long drive up to Stormont’s impressive building gives a spectacular view of all of the city of Belfast. The road includes a statue of Edward Carson which was erected in 1932. It was erected before his death; which is unusual. After a short trip through security and the Stormont gift shop, we toured the building. Interestingly in the past few days, multiple tour guides have mentioned that the size of a country’s Parliament building demonstrates the measure of its insecurity. Northern Ireland is approximately the size of the northeastern part of Ohio, yet the Parliament Building is massive. According to the guides the original plans for the Parliament were even larger! The designers planned on having two more wings added on and a dome placed on top of the building. However due to a recession in the 1920s, the plans had to be revised. The tour guide brought us into the Senate Chamber which is no longer used for Senate debates. The Assembly today is a unicameral body.

After the tour, Mr. Lennon guided us to the Sinn Féin meeting room where we met Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness. As leader of the Sinn Féin party, which means “Ourselves Alone”, Mr. McGuinness supports the idea of a united Ireland. He mentioned that at the time of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, Sinn Féin was the fourth largest party in Northern Ireland and it is now the second largest. He stated clearly that, “we don’t want to go back to the past… and I don’t have any difficulty moving forward on the basis of equality”. He spoke about working peacefully together with members of other parties such as the Democratic Unionist Party to help resolve issues in Northern Ireland. He clearly indicated that he feels strongly about each individual in Northern Ireland having equal rights and opportunities. His optimism about peaceful conflict resolution was truly inspiring, especially knowing that he formerly supported using violence as a means of advancing the Republican case of a united Ireland.

Shortly after we took a large amount of pictures with Martin McGuinness, we walked to the other end of Stormont to meet with Alex Attwood, a member of the SDLP, the Social Democratic and Labor Party. Right out of the gate, he told us that even though he is inspired by some Irish Republican figures such as John Hume, he greatly admires Robert Kennedy, the brother of President John F. Kennedy. He quotes Robert Kennedy every single day whether in a speech, a debate, or in everyday tasks. He said he can quote Robert Kennedy because his is perceived as neutral being from the US. He told our group that to realize what politics should be about, we should look at the life and teachings of Robert Kennedy. He quoted from different speeches of Bobby Kennedy including the speeches he made on April 4^th and 5^th of 1958 just after the assassination of the iconic Martin Luther King, Jr. He stressed that repressions will always lead to retaliation, so in order to bring about peace in Northern Ireland, the SDLP focuses on peaceful conflict resolution, such as the Good Friday Agreement. He stated that nonviolence is radical in today’s society and that to achieve an end to divides in Northern Ireland, the process by which people go about it must be nonviolent. He told each of us that above all, the character of the group matters, and that is why he is a proud member of the SDLP. He is proud constitutional Irish Republican.

So I will leave all of you with an Irish saying, “Ta inniu go hiontach! Feic sibh amarach. Slante!”, which means “Today was excellent, see you tomorrow, cheers!!” (This Irish was made available to all of those reading by my brilliant sister, Gina O’Riordan!)

Our afternoon correspondent is Brenna Haag:

“The task of leadership, the first task of concerned people, is not to condemn or castigate or deplore; it is to search out the reason for disillusionment and alienation of the rationale of protest and dissent –perhaps, indeed, to learn from it.”
– Bobby Kennedy

Greetings from Belfast! Our second full day here was filled with meeting important figures and other surprises. After meeting Alex Attwood of the SDLP, the group was invited to sit in on a live debate in Stormont. We were all very privileged to be offered this opportunity. In the debate room, we listened to the Minister of Education discuss budget cuts. This debate is very prevalent at home in our own society, helping us relate to issues in Northern Ireland. Afterwards, we met with Kieran McCarthy, a member of the Alliance Party. He welcomed us and devoted his short time slot to speaking of the neutrality of the Alliance Party and answering our questions. At this time, the Alliance Party is in charge of the judicial courts and policing in Northern Ireland. Mr. McCarthy discussed with us the importance of mediating between Sinn Féin and the DUP, Democratic Unionist Party. Mr. McCarthy also shared with us the important transformation of Reverend Ian Paisley. In the early stages of conflict, Paisley displayed demagoguery and a radically partisan attitude. McCarthy now describes him as a “lamb”, a key component in having the two major conflicting parties communicate. After this busy morning at Stormont, the bus dropped us off in Belfast to venture out and choose a place eat lunch.

This evening, the whole group was fortunate to attend a poetry reading in Queens University’s Senate Room. We departed from our dorms and walked together to Queens’ main campus. Inside, we listened to traditional toe-tapping Irish music and local poets share stories about their families and homes. Some of these published poets are Ciaron Carson, Leontia Flynn, and Sinead Morrissey. Sinead Morrissey performed last and gave a special shout-out to the students of Walsh Jesuit and St. Ignatius. She read her poem “Genetics”, a poem familiar to some of Mr. Bizga’s Bioethics students. Emma commented how “amazing” Sinead Morrissey’s voice sounded and how it enhanced her experience while listening. Her voice engages her audiences and captures their attention. As this poetry reading ended, so did the events of our second full day here in Belfast. We departed back for Queen’s Elms for our evening prayer and reflection. As the busiest day so far, all of the students are exhausted but hope to be ready for another exciting day!