Northern Ireland Community Relations Council - About Us - Press Releases

21 March 2011

On Monday, 21st of March the Community Relations Council and Heritage Lottery Fund will be hosting a one day conference at Belfast City Hall called ‘Remembering the Future’. The conference will focus on the potential impact of the forthcoming anniversaries of events such as the Ulster Covenant, Plantation and Easter Rising.

It is hoped the conference will kick-start a public debate on how the past is acknowledged and how pivotal events in the past can be turned into opportunities for learning, challenge and engagement.

Jointly commenting on the event Tony McCusker, Chair of the Community Relations Council, and Ronnie Spence, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund, said:

‘The decade of anniversaries, many of them contentious, that now lies ahead of us is both a challenge and an opportunity to create a better understanding of our past. It is a complex inheritance with many interpretations. In the public debate that follows we hope to put aside the myth-making and create a shared culture of learning which will encourage tolerance and pluralism.’

The key note speakers include Fintan O’Toole of the Irish Times who will be considering questions such as: who owns culture; why specific events are chosen, and whose story are we telling? The BBC’s Jeremy Bowen will then look at how the past is remembered in the Middle East.

William Crawley will chair a discussion from a panel which includes Eamon Phoenix, Brian Walker, Marianne Elliott, Johnston McMaster and Susan McKay. Issues that will be explored will include what our approach to these events will say about our maturity as a society, and why many of these events have taken on a resonance and meaning far beyond the complex original facts and evidence.

The conference will conclude with a panel of politicians looking at how political leadership can support a mature and constructive approach, and consider the role of government institutions and the state over the forthcoming period.

For further information

contact

Ray Mullan,

CRC Director of Communications,

Tel 90-227500

Email: rmullan@nicrc.org.uk