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WE HAD ‘GERRY Adams Day’ in New York earlier this month. Bill Clinton and George Mitchell, the US envoy who helped broker the Good Friday Agreement, will be given the Freedom of Belfast next month.
There would, no doubt, be a lot more fanfare if the institutions of Stormont were up and running as normal at the moment – but it’s safe to say we’ll be hearing a lot more about the Good Friday peace deal in the coming weeks as its 20th anniversary is marked (Good Friday being a moveable feast, the actual anniversary is 10 April).
The big personalities may, once again, garner most of the headlines. Behind those headlines, back in the 90s, an informal network of lower-level politicians, advisers and officials, formed during weekend retreats at an old Co Wicklow military barracks, also played an important role in the process.
Geoffrey Corry, a Dublin-based mediator who helped bring those figures together for a series of workshops at the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation has been recounting how the cross-party group helped keep the nascent peace process on track amid the halting progress of the post-ceasefire years.
It was all about building trust and understanding between the various players. Northern unionists and nationalists, southern politicians, and politicians and officials from Britain and the US embassy all, variously, attended those weekend workshops at Glencree.
Spending several days in close quarters in the Wicklow hills helped forge, at first, an understanding, and later a degree of trust between the various groups as they participated in dialogue sessions.
Email addresses and mobile phone numbers would be shared between the members attending. Corry, speaking to TheJournal.ie, said those informal contacts meant people who might otherwise never have come into contact were able to keep the peace process from careening off track during crisis points like the Canary Wharf bombing.
The February 1996 bombing, which came a little under a year-and-a-half after the IRA’s initial ceasefire, killed two people in London’s Docklands. It was followed months later by the Manchester bombing, which injured hundreds and caused an estimated £700 million in damage.
“When the bomb went off in Canary Wharf it was just amazing that our lads – the lads in the different parties were able to phone each other and say ‘hold, hold’.”
There was, of course, condemnation of the London attack as senior politicians scrambled to try and rescue the Northern peace effort. Those contacts continued below the surface too.
“I’m only hearing now some of the things that were going on in the back channels because it was obviously private and secret in those days,” Corry said.
Glencree
The Glencree centre was founded in the early 1970s. In the early days, Corry explained, “it was more in the religious concept of reconciliation. The science of conflict resolution or doing it in a mediating role was not really very well developed so we all had to learn through the nose how to do it.”
“I got connected to people in the States and people in South Africa and so on, and that was the first big initiative I was involved in – when the ceasefires came. We started these political dialogue workshops – I was facilitator, having built those skills.”
Basing his sessions on the work of Herb Kelman, a US conflict resolution expert, he targeted “sub-leadership” figures and invited them to attend the Co Wicklow weekend workshops.
“Young unionists who had come out of Queens, they were wanting to get involved in some way. And then down here were had young Fianna Fáilers, Young Fine Gaelers and young Labour as well as young SDLP – when I say young I mean people in their mid-20s that sort of thing.
They were excited by the possibilities of the ceasefires because it meant for the first time that Sinn Féin could come into the room – before, they were left outside the pale.
Mirroring the approach taken at top level, it still took years before unionists would sit in the same room as Sinn Féin members during the weekend sojourns - but, eventually, progress was made.
“What happened was there were these were weekends where we invited some of the Brits over – Conservative, Labour, some Lib-Dems – so one weekend we would have unionists not present and everybody else present, the next weekend Sinn Féin wouldn’t be present and unionists would be present.”
Kellman’s main strategy, Corry explained, is aimed at facilitating dialogue between so-called ‘pre-influentials’. In other words, “the people on the way up”.
Amazingly those workshops started with pre-influentials but within a number of years they had become influentials and got to know each other.
The network that began in Glencree proved its usefulness in tangible, practical ways at moments like the Canary Wharf Bombing.
Later, during the marathon talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement itself, “some of the people who were at our workshops were up at the talks and of course because they knew each other they were able to be part of sending messages or checking things out or talking with each other”.
As to how the weekends actually worked, the groups – sometimes made up of more than 20 people – would arrive on Friday evening and hold an initial ice-breaking session later on Friday night.
Saturday morning was “agenda setting”, as members proposed the issues they’d like to address. ”My role would be to distill those down into four or five issues to discuss.”
The participants would sit on sofas and comfortable chairs around a fire – adding to the air of conviviality.
“It wasn’t about negotiation – it was to create understandings between the parties as to what they were actually about and the political context and the constraints that a party has.
Republicans got to hear the constraints of unionists and unionists got to hear the constraints of other parties – that was a huge grounding.
“It became organic,” he explained. Unionists would attend knowing they would get some insight into political thinking in the south, “then they kept coming, and in turn they would be giving the inside track”.
You’d be hitting issues a month or two months before they were hitting the public sphere.
One weekend, he recalled, unionists broke the “party rule” and came to Glencree when Sinn Féin were also attending. That made for an illuminating encounter during the group discussions.
“We’d managed to succeed in having the Brits there as well – so you had this kind-of Tory Conservative Eton type – he had been in the Army too – and amazingly you had this unionist guy saying to the Tory Conservative ‘you’re not really understanding what Sinn Féin is saying – that’s not what he’s saying, this is what he’s saying’.
Suddenly you had the Irish – both green and orange – being able to say to the Brits ‘you don’t get it’.
One the of the big cultural learnings that became evident during the sessions was in the difference of approaches to the negotiations.
Protestant unionism is very much into text, into the literal meaning of words – whereas southern Irish politics and John Hume nationalism and to some extent Sinn Féin as well, it’s been described as reading between the lines or understanding more the relational dimension of things.
That difference in perspective meant that the top-level negotiations to address sticking point issues – decommissioning of weapons, for instance – often dragged on for years.
DUP
Into the 2000s, as efforts between leaders to break that decommissioning logjam lumbered on, and as Ian Paisley’s DUP emerged as the primary force within unionism, Glencree again played a part in contributing to the momentum of the peace process.
Paisley’s party hadn’t been involved in the 1990s workshops, but began to participate years later in the run up to the St Andrew’s Agreement in Scotland, which would pave the way for the recommencement of power-sharing and the appointment of the then-DUP leader as First Minister.
“We now understand that those meetings were quite significant because suddenly with the DUP in the room there would be some PDs,” Corry said.
The PDs, particularly after the Northern Bank raid, they were trenchantly anti-Sinn Féin. For the DUP it was an eye-opener to hear people in the south more trenchant than they were.
DUP members – in addition to familiarising themselves with the views of the now-defunct Progressive Democrats – were given on-the-ground insight into the thinking of southern Irish politicians. And again, of course, the process worked both ways.
In London, Dublin, and in the North the senior politicians and officials who were at the centre of the peace process also built a bond of trust over years, sometimes confined in buildings for days as they attempted to overcome the latest impasse.
Said Corry:
If you like it’s an experiential learning and I think that’s the big difficulty over the last ten years – we’ve lost that because of the financial crisis and so on, all the politicians who were handling or who had that experience of unionism, they’ve gone on to other things.
We now have a generation of politicians who don’t really have any experiential understanding.
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Dear HSE management,
Please contact any of the taxi app developers. They’ll bring you through the process of using real time spatial analysis and time processing. It’s been around for years, part of IT boom.
And the best part is that it doesn’t require a raft of managers and secretaries to oversee a handful of staff.
Sincerely,
@MF: Brilliant.
@MF: Jobs for the boys, and social welfare programs for everyone whose two feet are on Irish land and make a claim. You can even give them fake documents I’ve heard.
Jesus H. Christ. Is there anything, actually anything, Ireland’s system does well? Anything?
@James Carew: Every day a little apocalypse.
@James Carew: Revenue, now there’s a well oiled machine
@James Carew: HAP
@James Carew: The IDA and Horses. Couple of good Golf Courses. Certainly not patient led health policy anyway.
@James Carew: Irish system does corruption very well.
@James Carew: We are one of very few countries that can make an entire day miserable using only 0.2mm of rain
@James Carew: yes there is. Its the system where TDs vote for their own pay increases. That works perfectly.
@Connor Coady: Makes you wonder.
@James Carew: Yes. Breast screening and breast cancer treatment is second to none. I had a tiny lump picked up at very early stage. Had a type of radiation therapy not available in most European countries of America at the time.
@Hilary Lyons: sorry… Typo… OR America.
@James Carew: yes there is actually, our civil service is brilliant at creating complete F..k-ups
@James Carew: revenue works well
@James Carew: yes , taxing people.
@Connor Coady – you beat me to it, yep apparently we’re up there with the best when it comes to efficiently riding the working man on every cent he earns. Such a pity we don’t have the same efficiency when it comes to you know, building roads / hospitals / other basic infrastructure of an allegedly rich country.
From the article you’d think the problem is the location of the control centres. The issue is sending units from the wrong areas
The control centre can be anywhere as long as the closest unit gets dispatched.
That’s what’s missing
@Bluechip78: my reading of it was that the nearest available ambulance was sent, however, if the system as a whole doesn’t have sufficient units then the nearest available may not actually be that near. In effect the lower the number of ambulances in the system the larger area they are required to cover.
The logic of the system actually makes perfect sense, it is simply under-resourced, the solution is to provide more ambulances and focus them on areas of higher demand.
@D. Memery: yes and no. Is there any point sending a unit from 200kms away Vs a unit nearby that is currently busy but will free up in 10 mins?
@Elaine Phelan: And that’s the crux of the problem.
Prime time did an investigative programme some years ago on the ambulance service and highlighted what a shambles the service was. So this isn’t new.
@Teresa Ryan: yes exactly. They need better software for the dispatches to use
@Bluechip78: agreed. The location of call centres is not an issue….this looks like it was worded badly
@Elaine Phelan: I was wondering if the story in the article about the ambulance spending the whole day travelling 100s of km only to be stood down was as a result of a nearer ambulance subsequently become available? If so, such a scenario would also be alleviated by more ambulances. There is also the concern that a nearer ambulance never becomes available, which means the 200km ambulance still has a role, assuming it doesn’t get lost.
@D. Memery: it’s hard to tell from the article whether it’s an issue with not enough ambulances, or just that they send the “nearest” ambulance without having the software to be able to assess if an ambulance closer will be available sooner. Probably a bit of both, but clearer the current system is not working
@D. Memery: either way, having ambulances travel long distances, only to be stood down because a nearer one subsequently becomes available, only to have them turn around to travel back, seems incredibly inefficient
Simple solution: The ambulance service in Dublin is operated by Dublin Fire Brigade who do an amazing job. However they have only 14 ambulances to cover the city and county, an increase of one over the past 30 odd years. When there is a shortage of ambulances in the city, fire engines are sent to medical emergencies as everyone on board is a paramedic, who then stabilise the patient until an ambulance becomes available. Given that most towns in Ireland have a local fire station, why not train up a couple of members of their crew as paramedics, provide them with equipment and allow them to do the same as in Dublin? This would ensure that medical emergencies have an adequare response time.
One fly in the ointment; the HSE would strongly object as politically this would weaken them.
@Peter White: Paramedic is a 3 year Degree Course. It’s not like a 6 week FAR cert. Imagine taking retained fire crews off the road for a 3 year course.
@Stephen Deegan: retained firfighters have Emergency First Responder & Cardiac First Responder Advanced training I’m sure NAS would be happy to call fire service to a Cardiac Arrest if NAS crew had a long distance to travel. Problem also lurking in fireservice where they don’t want crews being tied up in ambulance assist calls, who’s going to pay for it syndrome is at the heart of every fire service call.
@Stephen Deegan: the person doesnt necessarily need to be taken off the road for three years. This could instead be done through on the job training and classwork
@Peter White: Not anymore, as the NAS has dedicated bases for Dublin. The way the ambulances services are managed in Dublin is very poor. The DFB have a call center that doesn’t communicate with the NAS and any 999 calls go through DFB and they in turn have to ask the NAS for ambulances.
@Peter White: Hi Peter, you are wrong, the ambulance service in Dublin is not operated by DFB, yes DFB cover a vast number of 999 calls in and around the city however the National ambulance service (NAS) operate a huge number of paramedic emergency ambulances, motorbike and rapid response vehicles in the city also. Its a common misconception that DFB are the ONLY emergency ambulance service in Dublin, they are not. Currently at this moment there are probably 16 NAS emergency ambulances on duty in and around Dublin city.
Diverted to covid duties swabbing testing driving around the country in Jeeps trying to catch up on calls, back to the county services attached to local areas with local knowledge . Time to call a halt to the overmanageme the service is suffering from and back to EMT and Paramedic led service , get rid of the big ambulances and get van based ambulances , half the cost and spend the savings on staff and more vehicles and not Hyundai jeeps complete waste of money , btw think of the paramedics turning up to incidents sometimes hours after the call out . Remember the massaging of figures , dispatched in 90 seconds , yes but from Edenderry Portlaoise to a call out in Liffy Valley , shambles with real life consequences .
Strange that the article doesn’t mention people calling ambulances for minor things, and therefore using up the resources. Or GP’s using the ambulance service as a private taxi cab in the mistaken belief that their referred patient will be seen first.
Ah sure the coalition are doing a grand job altogether.
First of all the majority of the call out are medical card holders. Then you have drink and drug related call outs which clog up the system during the nights. Maybe the Journal could ask their paramedics about the nature of the calls, I heard of a ambulance being called to a house during the night for a in growing toenail, another woman rang a ambulance after going into Labour but didn’t trust the husband’s driving the 15 miles to the maternity hospital. Also stories of 2 drunken students drinking in a rural pub and couldn’t get a taxi 20 km to the city only to claim a chest pain and an ambulance called only to walk away when they arrived a the A&E. Just some of the calls paramedics have to deal with
@Patrick O Connell: spoke to a paramedic and he told me of a 999 call that he attended cos the guy had an itchy leg…….
We have 13 DFB ambulances for the city of Dublin and that’s what is wrong. DFB need to be funded properly and left alone alter that.
Trained fire personnel are also paramedics which is considered the best system worldwide.
HSE want to take over the DFB work and they should not. DFB have the best system and all that is needed is for government to pay up for the service provided by the DFB.
A fire and ambulance service combined is the best system their is, as any vehicle can be used to get trained personnel on site.
@Gary Kearney: yes , but how will they steal money then?
@Gary Kearney: DFB don’t have tracked ambulances if I’m right. Also 2 NAS ambulances in Swords, 4 in Drimnagh, 2 in Tallaght, 2 in Loughlinstown.
@Gary Kearney: Yes, fire-based EMS is a better model in metropolitan areas, as studies show. And paramedics who work full time on ambulances, rather than alternating between fire trucks are much more effective. But there’s a whole other country outside the M50. Rural ambulances are being diverted over huge distances and unfortunately this creates local shortages of resources. Everybody thinks that CPR and defibrillators are required for every call, those calls are thankfully very rare. It’s the ability to stabilise patients and give adequate pain relief when transporting, coupled with the experience to identify potential life threats that makes effective practitioners. Training people to this level can’t be done overnight, the NAS paramedic training takes 3 years to complete.
I am sorry, but did I not hear recently on a national radio show saying that Lifeline Emergency Services are also contracted by the HSE but are chosen not to be used in favour of the National Ambulance Service?
@d: did you?
People are dying because of this.
This has the stamp of Paul Reid all over it. He is a great fella for getting rid of things, look at his track record.
Irelands health system is stone age.
Look at the french: The whole country is up in arms protesting only because health staff needs to be vaccinated.
Why is there no strike in Ireland?
This is how it is done in Germany: By law an ambulance must be with you within 12 minutes. Or a helicopter….
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_medical_services_in_Germany
@Johannes Baader: Irish are used to be under the bad rule. Its in their genes. French , Poles, Germans( at some stage) are revolutionary, they would crush the cities long long time ago and get what people want.
There is a perfect fit for purpose service available through the fire service. Most are trained up to advanced cpr and first responder. They should be called to administer lifesaving treatment when ambulance is not immediately available. Further training to emt/paramedic could be run in parallel. There is a fire service in most towns. It works in other countries.. Why do we always feel the need to reinvent the wheel in this country?
Not only a bad dispatching problem but huge shortage of ambulances country wide not just in Dublin. The last several times I have called an ambulance I was given a wait time of over 2 hours. The last time was extremely serious but obviously not categorised as so. I don’t under any circumstances blame the paramedics or call centre, I do however blame the system
Prime Time Investigates did a programme a few years ago about the abuse of doctor-on-call vehicles being used as state vehicles to drive home in daily, as far as Donegal from Naas, and nobody cared. Hse continues to waste without hesitancy. Ambulance service are down the bottom of it.
I always thought that DFB cover the vast amount of ambulance call outs in the Dublin area and the NAS covers also. I think I’m the case of COVID and other minor calls when triaged the likes of The Order Of Malta should be put on standby say for covid swabs or patient transfers falls in homes etc and the NAS cover all other incidents but also I think regional fire service departments should have a paramedic division that is pressed into action during NAS busy periods or if the fire service is at an RTA the fire service Ambulance can deal with the casualties only needing NAS for backup.
The system has only one fault.
There are more calls than resources.
Either increase the resources, or reduce the calls.
There is no need to re-invent the wheel.
Also the picture is wrong. It shows a DFB ambulance. Which is actually an example of a properly resoursed service.
By the law of averages there will, at some stage, be an accident at one of our airports and we will not have enough ambulances and trained personnel to bring survivors to hospital.
@Tom Burke: And that’s why major incident protocols are in place, so that larger patient transport ambulances are put to use.
In response to the article, why can’t or won’t the NAS,HSE use the voluntary ambulances? The crew’s are highly trained with year’s of experience. The do almost the same training as the paramedics and advanced paramedics. They’re licenced to practice by PHECC.
In the UK they are used by the relevant NHS ambulance trust, so why not here?
@Brian Deegan: Because you have to be a professional to hold a PHECC P or AP license. I think you’ll find that ALL of the voluntary P or AP’s are actually DF/NAS/DFB personnel on their off days.
@Stephen Deegan: some of the OMAC volunteers are trained as advanced paramedics and are highly skilled and those that are not AP are PHECC also not sure about other voluntary organisations like Civil Defence St Johns etc. I think it’s also time to establish more community first responder groups around the country
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