THE “TIRED” paramilitary culture in this country is fading but has not yet gone away, President Mary McAleese has warned.
The President was speaking in Limerick last night where she addressed a gala dinner organised by the Irish Peace Institute.
The institute was established 25 years ago by Dr Brendan O’Regan, who died last year – and last night the President honoured the institute’s founder.
“Brendan brought to the work of peace his vast experience as a highly successful and innovative businessman. His work with the Shannon Duty Free Zone, Shannon Development and Bord Fáilte had long convinced him of the huge economic benefits that would follow from a new culture of all-island co-operation,” the President said.
“In this anniversary year the institute has much to be proud of and hopeful about. But that hope needs hands and hearts to bring it to life, ” she continued.
According to the President, long after the economic woes have passed, the most valued legacy of this generation will be its work to achieve peace on this island.
She warned, however of the need to maintain the momentum.
“The remaining sectarian and political fault lines still demand our attention and our commitment if we are to maintain the hard-earned momentum which has brought us to these times of hope,” she said.
“The tired culture of paramilitarism is fading but has not yet gone, and even in recent months has claimed new victims. There are some knots that are so tight that we ignore them at our peril,” she continued.
The President also spoke last night of the need to include communities that have not felt the positivity “which now energises the peace process”.