Role of the Chair

Overview of Role of Chair of Commission

Taking account of the requirement to work on these society issues with other members of the Reconciliation Forum, the Chair of the Commission should act as a ‘champion’ for the issues; promoting debate; setting the direction for and highlighting where sectors of the community can do more to tackle the issues; and monitoring the progress being made by society in tackling the societal legacy of the conflict in a way which leads to a shared and reconciled future.

The Chair should give a renewed emphasis to these issues, assuming a strategic, rather than an operational role. The Chair will need to be focused and persistent, challenging society to make clear steps towards a shared and reconciled future. In the longer term the Chair should promote the integration of societal legacy issues into mainstream departmental agendas and budgets.

As explained in Chapter 5, the CVSNI has set out in their work programme how they intend to take forward work around remembering. The Chair of the Commission should support the work of the CVSNI in this regard and, through the proposed Reconciliation Forum, should:

- ensure that ongoing dialogue and engagement continues with many sectors of society including the churches, education sector, media and the business community in order to ensure that the full spectrum of perspectives on the conflict are brought together with individual and community stories;

- encourage the collation of stories, taking account of issues such as location, security and the most appropriate way for members of the public to engage with the stories, and consider the need for stories to be listened to in an authoritative manner;

- encourage organisations to adhere to the criteria for storytelling as laid out in Chapter 5. The Chair should seek to influence the criteria for receiving funding in order to ensure that storytelling initiatives have reconciliation at their heart;

- promote the memorial projects in and around Northern Ireland, offering support and mediation services where appropriate; explore and develop ideas for a shared living memorial for Northern Ireland within the five year life span of the Commission; and, taking account of advice from the Reconciliation Forum, make recommendations to Government.

Specific Role of Chair of Commission

In addition to, and to complement, the role which the Chair of the Commission can play on the Reconciliation Forum, the Chair should have a specific role in:

- Tackling Sectarianism

Tough decisions are needed about the fundamental structures of our society regarding the extent and impact of sectarianism. The cost of doubling up of services and the visible evidence of separation, including through the so called ‘peace’ walls, should be challenged with a view to moving towards shared, safe spaces and services. Many statutory and non-statutory groups are already working to combat sectarianism. The Chair of the Commission will provide a challenge function to these, and other groups not yet engaged, in taking effective steps towards the promotion of non-sectarianism.

The Chair will lead the debate on sectarianism, and set the direction for how society can move towards non-sectarianism and how respect of difference can be achieved.

- Promoting Reconciliation

The Chair should work with Healing Through Remembering (HTR) to promote the existing Day of Private Reflection. In keeping with the vision of this report consideration should be given to renaming the event a Day of Reflection and Reconciliation. The criteria set out in Chapter 5 should be used to help shape the day and any events flowing from it.

Over the Commission’s five year lifespan the Chair would work towards developing the Day of Reflection and Reconciliation into an official day for all of society.

The Chair would encourage the First Minister and deputy First Minister to make a speech to the Assembly on the Day of Reflection and Reconciliation. The Chair would, through the Reconciliation Forum, encourage the development and distribution of guidance for groups planning events to be held on the Day of Reflection and Reconciliation and would seek to influence the content of that material to ensure that planned activities help individuals and communities move towards a shared and reconciled future.

The Chair would liaise across civic society, with the business, media, health and education sectors to encourage them to make an annual statement on this day confirming their commitment to peace and reconciliation. In particular, the Chair would work with the churches to ensure that they call upon their congregations to reflect on the level of reconciliation that has already been achieved and how we can all build on this together.

The Chair should actively consider, and report regularly on, these issues and challenge the various sectors in society to play their part in tackling them in a concerted manner.

At the end of the five year term of the Commission, the Chair should report on the progress society has made towards the goal of becoming a community at peace. The Chair would make recommendations on new steps to be taken as society matures, and how a line might be drawn so that Northern Ireland may best move to a shared future.

As recommended in Chapter 2, the Commission should also, at the end of its work, challenge the people of Northern Ireland, including political parties and whatever remnant or manifestation of paramilitary groups remain, to sign a declaration to the effect that they will never again kill or injure others on political grounds.

-Administration of Bursary

The Commission should be given a significant bursary in order to make a positive impact on the society needs detailed in this Chapter and Chapter 3. To achieve this, the Group believes the bursary should be in the region of £100 million. The Chair of the Commission, taking advice from the Reconciliation Forum, should administer this bursary. The Group believes particular priorities are the healthcare legacy of the conflict, tackling sectarianism, and the role played by young people in our society.

More detailed criteria should be developed but the money would fund only strategic projects which would further reconciliation. These criteria should also encourage, across these priority areas, cross-sectoral activity between Government and non-Governmental organisations.