Memories of Recent Conflict and Forgiveness in Northern Ireland

Abstract

In everyday discourse forgiving and forgetting are regarded as closely linked, sometimes, synonymous concepts. In this chapter we explore the relationship between forgiveness and memory in the context of the intergroup conflict in Northern Ireland. Much of the interest in forgiveness in the context of intergroup conflict has been inspired by the ‘miracle’ of South Africa’s transition to democracy and in particular the role played in this process by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The TRC however, according to Asmal et al. (1996) did not lead to the forgetting of ’accusations and counter accusations, but more a settling of them through a process of evaluation — like the accountant’s job of reconciling conflicting claims before closing a ledger book’ (p. 46).

It is said that: ‘The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.’ Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams to a meeting of the Sinn Féin Ard Comhairle, 24 November 1999