Derry college welcomes Lord Caine to reflect legacy concerns

Oakgrove Integrated College welcomed the NIO’s Lord Caine to a meeting with students to hear from them about the UK government legacy proposals on Friday morning last. 

Acting Principal John Harkin explained that the event was organised because the students had recently attended a Victims event at Queen’s University at which Lord Caine was in attendance. 

Reminding students that the Oakgrove schools were established by parents to make a difference in the midst of the city’s darkest days, he said: “I have always felt it a duty to remember and to honour all of those lives lost, and those lives damaged because there was conflict in Northern Ireland.”

The Lost Lives book which charts each of the thousands of lives ‘lost’ formed a back drop to the meeting, with students reading the life stories of some of those killed.  Referring to renewed acts of violence in the last week, Mr Harkin pointed to the harm these had done in the past, as well as to the hope which came from ceasefires and agreements, from the Good Friday/ Belfast Agreement and others since.

Students and staff reflected on the ways in which the events of the past impact on lives now in many ways.

One quoted the words of the Minister at the funeral of Elizabeth O’Neill, that sectarianism taints the choices we make, as well all aspects of life.  Others spoke of different lives, from different backgrounds, all cut short leaving a legacy of grief and pain.

Listeners heard of some of those who died whose loved ones turned dark events into action for others: a widow who supported the Good Friday Agreement because her husband would have done so; a sister who wished the Oakgrove students a happy life, which her 17 year old brother had not lived to see; a daughter who set up a charity to honour her slain father; a police officer whose service was described by a priest as a model of community policing; a mother who wore her dead soldier son’s coat as she begged politicians to end violence; and an uncle who begged people to remember the pain of every single death, rather than simply those which made it to the news.

On his visit, Lord Caine lit a candle and paused with head boy, head girl and the Chair of Governors, Dr Anne Murray, to remember lost lives.  A candle burns each day at the school’s entrance in memory of all whose lives ended or were damaged because of violence across the north.

Mr Harkin referred to previous events over many years to reflect on the past.  He mentioned specifically the counsel shared by the late Bishop James Mehaffey who had reflected with Bishop Kevin Dowling from South Africa about how issues of the past could be addressed. 

The Northern Ireland Office’s Lord Caine pictured with staff and pupils during last week’s visit to Oakgrove Integrated College where he met with to hear from them about the UK government legacy proposals. (Photos: Jim McCafferty Photography)

Mr Harkin wondered how so many years after that seminar ‘Building the future while remembering the past’ as a society, we are still only trying to do just that.

Lord Caine told students about the controversial legacy bill, and steps he is taking to deal with its most difficult parts.  He answered student questions about the bill including how he felt when people suggested that attempts had been made to ‘put a price on a life’ with compensation payments.

Students expressed their fears about the bill and its impact on relatives and justice.  They asked Lord Caine about his feelings when listening to the testimony of victims and survivors.  He expressed the impact these events had on him, referring also to the personal loss of a friend in a 1990 bombing.  

Lord Caine lights a candle at Oakgrove Integrated College to mark those whose lives were lost because of conflict in Northern Ireland, during last week’s visit.

As well as the focus on legacy, students voiced their hopes for a future which would be better than the past, where politics was not as divisive, and where people worked together to meet real needs.

In closing, Mr Harkin told Lord Caine: “I thank you for the open response you gave to our invitation, for the effort you have put into this land we love and call our home, and for your willingness to hear our students’ views today.”