Author: Lord Alderdice
The 2018 Dr Garret Fitzgerald Lecture.
Delivered by Professor the Lord Alderdice FRCPsych at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, St Stephen’s Green, Dublin
Lord Alderdice has today (Tuesday, July 10) been awarded an Honorary Doctorate (Doctor of Literature) by the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
In the first of two papers in this Special Issue, Lord Alderdice draws on his personal experience of living and working in Northern Ireland and other countries that have suffered from terrorism, and describes from a psychoanalytic and systemic perspective the history of national, cultural and political conflicts which form the backdrop to the struggles against fundamentalism, radicalization and terrorism in current times.
Prior to the watershed events of 11 September 2001, terrorism was generally seen simply as politically motivated, criminal violence.
My Lords, I, too, thank the Minister for presenting in a clear and concise way the implications of the order. I accept that, unfortunately, it is necessary to bring this order back for another two years. Indeed, only yesterday, his right honourable friend in the other place, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, said in a Written Statement that the report of his honour, Brian Barker QC, the independent reviewer of national security arrangements, confirmed that,
On the long and winding road of the Northern Ireland Peace Process the most important lesson we learned was that such intractable, violent, political problems were a result of disturbed historic relationships between communities of people.
Lord Alderdice issues warning to PM during Brexit debate, reported by Stephen Walker BBC News NI Political Correspondent
Some years ago, as fathers often do, I gave a piece of advice to my three children. In fact it was more of a plea than a piece of advice. I told them to stay close to each other because bad times were coming when the only people they could really depend upon would be family and very close friends.
The last year has again seen a remarkable level of activity for the Centre for Democracy and Peace Building, from the excitement of our Van Morrison fund-raiser, to our rapidly expanding international activities and our engagement with ground-breaking digital developments. However across the world, it has been a disturbingly challenging time for those of us committed to democracy and peace building.