Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa Visits Glencree

 

20/10/2022: H.E. The President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visited Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation today as part of his two-day state visit to Ireland. Together with a large delegation the President met with Glencree CEO Naoimh McNamee, as well as representatives from the Herstory Exhibition #PeaceHeroines and thereafter with Glencree’s Political Dialogue team to discuss the Northern Ireland Peace Process, issues around Legacy and the prevailing situation on the island post-Brexit.

The President visited the Herstory Exhibition #PeaceHeroines in the Armoury Café, Glencree and was delighted to meet with Herstory representatives for #PeaceHeroines, Anne Walker Colgan, Facilitator of the Theatre of Witness, Joanne Fitzpatrick, Core Programming and Curriculum Specialist at PeacePlayers Northern Ireland and Treacy O'Connor, a Board Member of Herstory. Together with the President, they explored the exhibition and discussed the huge role and impact women have played in the Northern Ireland Peace Process. #PeaceHeroines runs until 31st October in the Armoury Café and will then go on tour across Northern Ireland and Ireland.

H.E. The Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Professor João Gomes Cravinho, H.E. the Ambassador of Portugal to Ireland Bernardo de Lucena and H.E. The Ambassador of Ireland to Portugal Ralph Victory, along with Rúairí de Búrca, Director of the United Kingdom and Americas (IUKA) Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs were also in attendance and took part in the tour of the Herstory exhibition and a facilitated dialogue.

Following the exhibition, the President and over thirty people in his delegation, were invited to take part in a facilitated dialogue in the Bridge Building. Themes discussed included the progress of the Northern Ireland Peace Process over the last 25 years, the prosperity that has developed, as well as the outstanding challenges that remain for many communities who were impacted by the violence of the previous period. The 25th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement gives everyone involved an opportunity to pause and reflect as to how far we have come across the communities of Great Britain and Ireland. Despite the current challenges posed by Brexit, Glencree continues to be a hospitable place for authentic yet confidential dialogue.

Naoimh McNamee, CEO of Glencree said: “We are delighted to welcome H.E. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to Glencree and appreciate his strong interest in understanding our work, which is so important particularly at this time. We also greatly value the ongoing support and interest of H.E. Ambassador of Portugal to Ireland Bernardo de Lucena and the Portuguese Embassy.”

Click on the video link to view highlights from President de Sousa's visit to Glencree.

Video © Ricardo Coutinho/Presidência da República

ENDS

About Glencree:

Glencree (www.glencree.ie) is dedicated to transforming violent conflict and building peaceful, inclusive societies across the island of Ireland, within Northern Ireland, between Ireland and the UK, and internationally. Established in 1974 in response to the conflict in Northern Ireland, Glencree played a key role in the peace process bringing together those in conflict for confidential dialogue and building relationships across divides. Today, we work with victims and survivors in Northern Ireland; women across marginalised communities who experience political conflict/violence; migrants, refugees and members of ethnic and faith minority communities; students and young adults north and south of the border; and policymakers, politicians, diplomats and civil society leaders who work to find solutions to sustainable peace. We also continue to share learnings in conflict and post-conflict societies internationally including Haiti.

https://glencree.ie/events/herstory-exhibition/

About Herstory:

Peace Heroines is an uplifting and inspirational project that explores a difficult and painful era of Northern Irish history through the empowering stories of 30 ordinary women who overcame extraordinary challenges and personal sacrifices to play a pivotal role in the peace process. Peace Heroines will inspire young people with authentic role models and equip them with the skills and confidence to take an active role in co-creating lasting peace. Research shows that achieving gender equality helps to prevent conflict and when women are involved in peacebuilding, the probability that violence will end increases by 24%. Peace agreements that involve women are 35% more likely to last at least 15 years. However, a report by UN Women revealed that only 4% of participants in peace processes were women.

https://www.herstory.ie/peaceheroines

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Diary Note:

EVENT: H.E. The President of Portugal Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa visit to Glencree Centre

DATE: Thursday 20th October 2022

ADDRESS: The Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, Glencree, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow, A98 D635, Ireland

For media queries, please contact:

GLENCREE MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Ringrose Fitzsimons | +353 86 3771020 | Valerie.fitzsimons@glencree.ie

HERSTORY MEDIA CONTACT: Katelyn Hanna | khanna.herstory@gmail.com

#glencree4peace.