IT WAS a sight that would have seemed impossible only a few years ago. Colin Parry, whose 12-year-old son Tim died as a result of an IRA bomb attack in Warrington in March 1993, last night shook hands with Gerry Adams, the man who was most closely identified with the terrorist movement.
But, in a further hopeful sign that the violence and division which dogged Northern Ireland for decades is being replaced by reconciliation, the two were able to put the past behind them and share a public platform.
Mr Parry and his wife Wendy were attending a debate with the Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams on paths to peace at London’s Canary Wharf.
Following the deaths of 12-year-old Tim, and three-year-old Johnathan Ball, in the 1993 explosion, Colin and Wendy Parry set up a foundation to encourage reconciliation in Northern Ireland with the support of Wilf and Marie Ball, Johnathan’s parents.
Speaking before the debate, Mr Parry acknowledged it would be difficult for him to share a platform with Mr Adams.
“Meeting Mr Adams and sharing a public platform with him will be very challenging for me,” he said.
“However it is a vital step on my own personal journey to reconciliation and a vital step too for the foundation in living up to its charter principles.”
He later said: “I can say that inviting Gerry Adams to join me here tonight was not, as you might imagine, easy for me or for Wendy.
“But it was infinitely easier than holding my son dying. It was infinitely easier than carrying him for the final time in his coffin.
“It was infinitely easier than saying my final farewell to him with my wife. I can also tell you that it is infinitely easier for Gerry and I to talk than to fight.”
Speaking before the event, Mr Adams agreed that the Warrington bombing was a key milestone on the road to peace.
He said: “The fact that two children were killed obviously had a devastating impact, not just on their families and their communities, but on parents including me back in Ireland.
“The IRA cessation came within a year of that bombing, and those deaths, but I have to say it was a long time in the making before that.”
In his speech Mr Adams acknowledged that the blasts had brought “huge grief” and said the IRA had expressed its regrets.
He went on: “I have also expressed my personal and sincere regret, and apologised for the hurt inflicted by Republicans, and I do so again this evening.”
“As we seek to move forward there’s a requirement that we address the tragic human consequences of our actions.”
During the debate, Mr Adams also paid tribute to Colin and Wendy Parry, saying they had “borne their loss with remarkable grace.”
In the debate held in the offices of law firm Clifford Chance, Mr Adams suggested that United Nations officials could chair an independent Truth Commission probing killings carried out during Northern Ireland’s troubles.
The Sinn Fein president said the formation in May of a power sharing executive of unionists and nationalists at Stormont was a remarkable achievement.
However, he also called for a victim-centred truth process to help Northern Ireland deal with its bloody past.
That process, he proposed, should involve all people, including those in England and the Irish Republic, bereaved or maimed during the Troubles.
“A truth process must reach out to these people,” he argued.
“One way of achieving an independent process is to have an international inquiry. The United Nations or another reputable agency could be involved.”
Stormont First Minister Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness have yet to appoint a Victims Commissioner in Northern Ireland to champion the rights of people who were injured or lost loved ones during the Troubles.
They hope to do so before Christmas, having reopened applications for the post.
alanweston
