Prince Charles took his audience at Glencree by surprise yesterday, writesDeaglán de Bréadún, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Britain's Prince Charles dropped a peace bombshell at Glencree yesterday. As he arrived for the last official function of his two-day visit, there was little expectation that this would be more than the usual perfunctory royal performance.
While some standard remarks had been prepared for him by officials, few if any of those present were prepared for his more expansive and conciliatory comments which were entirely his own. He won the undivided attention of his audience when he said:
"I am only too deeply aware of the long history of suffering which Ireland has endured, not just in recent decades but over the course of its history."
In phrases reminiscent of the poet Seamus Heaney, he pleaded that the wrongs of the past be turned into something new and creative: "We can, I believe, integrate our history and memory in order to reap that subtle harvest of possibility. Imagination, after all, is the mother of possibility."
Interestingly, the prince had dined with Seamus and Marie Heaney the night before in the British Ambassador's residence at Glencairn, Co Dublin.
Other guests included the historian Thomas Pakenham, Mrs Justice Susan Denham of the Supreme Court, the Earl of Rosse, the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Mary Harney, former taoiseach John Bruton and the psychiatrist Anthony Clare.
The setting for his conciliatory remarks was not lacking in historical resonances. He stood in front of a former British army barracks, built to keep down the Wicklow rebels in 1800 but now turned into a centre for peace and reconciliation, part of the Glencree complex. Nearby was a German war cemetery.
On arrival at Glencree, the prince met a group of people bereaved by the Northern Ireland troubles, including Mrs Rita Restorick, mother of Lance Bombardier Stephen Restorick, the last British soldier killed in Northern Ireland.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said there was "still a journey to travel" before the vision of the agreement reached on Good Friday could be fully realised.
"After decades of conflict and division in which great wrongs were done and deep hurts inflicted on all sides, there are many for whom feelings of personal loss and regret will always be strong and keenly felt.
"Our journey towards reconciliation and rapprochement will, necessarily, be difficult and sometimes painful. In it, we will all have to confront the realities of our past. But in doing so with honesty, and without recrimination or rancour, we can strengthen and enhance the overall healing process," Mr Cowen said.