Taoiseach to speak at Hume Foundation seminar in Londonderry

It follows on from the seminar in north Belfast last Friday that was disrupted by a hijacking and hoax bomb alert.

The event will take place at the Derry Playhouse.

The organisers described the series of discussions as being on the theme of “how we enhance relationships in Northern Ireland, on the island and between Ireland and Britain”.

Dr Sean Farren, chair of the foundation said; “The creation of genuine partnerships between within the north, between north and south and between Ireland and Britain, was a key aim of the Good Friday Agreement.

“Such partnerships would be forged by building common ground, ‘spilling our sweat together and not our blood’, as John Hume so often said.

“As we review the implementation of the agreement, we must acknowledge that too often we have failed to grasp opportunities to develop partnerships. Our society has remained the poorer of those failures.”

Dr Farren added; “Renewing our commitment to building common ground is one of the challenges being addressed by the John & Pat Hume Foundation. Whether it be in our political institutions, or in our economic, social and cultural lives we must create and develop opportunities for partnerships and do so respecting our different traditions, identities and political ambitions.

“We recognise the key role of the Irish government in implementing the Good Friday and the Taoiseach’s own commitment through the Shared Island initiative. This initiative will afford new opportunities for those who share the aim of building that common ground.”

Derry Playhouse chief executive Kevin Murphy said: “A conversation that looks for common ground continues to be of the greatest importance here in Northern Ireland and across our shared islands and shared planet”.

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