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Annual Northern Ireland Debate

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Tuesday October 14, 2003 19:27

by John McGuirk - College Historical Society

mcguirkj at tcd dot ie

GMB, Trinity College, Dublin 2

086 083 2011

High Profile Guests for Annual Northern Ireland Debate at the Hist

Join the Hist to Discuss the current difficulties in NI tommorrow night. This event is being covered by BBC Northern Ireland.

The College Historical Society is delighted to announce an exciting line-up of Guests for its annual Northern Ireland Debate, to be held in the GMB, Trinity College Dublin, at 7.30pm on Wednesday evening. The Northern Ireland Debate is by now an institution and has been addressed by the most influential figures in Northern politics over the years, including Jeffrey Donaldson, Brid Rodgers, Garret Fitzgerald, and Sir. Patrick Mayhew and was chaired last year by General John De Chastelain on the day the IRA pulled out of the decommissioning body.

This year, the Society plays host to David Burnside M.P., and Rev. Martin Smith M.P., of the Ulster Unionist Party, Alex Attwood of the SDLP, David Ervine of the PUP, Daithi Doolan of Sinn Fein, The British Ambassador, his Excellency Mr. Stuart Eldon, Noel Thompson of BBC Newsline, and the PSNI Chief Constable Mr. Hugh Orde, who will chair the proceedings. The debate comes at a critical point in the peace process, - so much so that the British Northern Ireland Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, had to withdraw from the event only this morning in order to be at Stormont for the ongoing talks.

This years debate will be on the motion “That this house would go back to the drawing board”, and will focus on whether or not it is time to renegotiate the Good Friday agreement. Speaking this morning, Hist Correspondence Secretary Carl Cullinane was keen to express his pleasure at the debate in prospect. “Obviously months of hard work goes into preparing the Northern Ireland Debate every year. This year we will have the chance to hear what is going on in Stormont from the people involved and from eminent commentators on the Northern peace process. I am delighted with the number of Politicians who have taken time out of their schedule to come and address the Hist”

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Comments (3 of 3)

hang on

by wha?

Tue Oct 14, 2003 20:13

2 UUs, one PUP, the Brit Amb, one BBCer, and Hugh Orde

Vs

One shinner and an SDLPer

That's harldy balanced is it? Also why are there no reps from parties/groups who reject sectarian politics like the SP/AF/SWP etc? They may not be very big, but at least they say something different.

Where to stop?

by Janus

Tue Oct 14, 2003 20:20

While agreeing there seems to be a bias against Nationalist and Republican speakers (Imagine my complete lack of shock considering it's a Trinity debate) I think expanding it to include some of those groups might be a little much.

Personally, though I have no intention of attending the debate, I would be interested in seeing someone from the SP speaking at these kinds of things because they are, as you say, different. Crucially, to me anyway, the SP also have, however small an amount, political support.

Groups like the SWP, Workers Party, Anarchists, CPI etc. as sound as individual members might be, have no actual support and no real significance as regards the North. Bluntly, no-one cares what their opinions are and no-one would be too stretched going to a debate to see them. (Speaking from a TCD perspective I would like to make sure it's understood)

I'm not arguing for electoralism precisely but when inviting people to speak at a political debate, their political support, their ideas and their skill as speakers should be included. The SP say something different to the others and have elected reps. The others do not.

Also, normal people aren't used to lefty meetings where everyone no matter how tiny or irrelevant their organisation has equal speaking time. Where do you stop adding people? Where do you draw the line between people with a valid contribution to make and the Sparticists, or the Sticks for that matter? A line has to be drawn somewhere and to do it on the basis of the party's importance to the Peace Process, the GFA and their political support makes as much sense as anything else.

well you get my point anyway

by wha

Tue Oct 14, 2003 23:30

basically, I was just saying that it seems to be a crowd of the usual suspects, and could simply be a questions & answers TV special. Some effort could have been made to incorporate those who 'think outside the box' (to use a horrible managerial phrase). Even people who are involved in cross-community associations and the like, or someone like Brendan Hughes who is very critical of the establishment RM.

But like you say, it is Trinners after all. I wonder will the Trinners Young Unionists be attending?

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Comments (3 of 3)