The Hardest Bridge screens in Ballinamore

A screening of the documentary “The Hardest Bridge” took place in The Island Theatre, Ballinamore last week.

The award winning documentary looks at the friendship that developed between Jo Berry and Pat Magee.

Magee was convicted of planting the IRA bomb that killed five people at the Conservative Party Conference in Brighton in 1984.

The main target of the explosion was Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. While she emerged unscathed, one of the partys MP's, Anthony Berry, was killed.

Jo Berry is his daughter and in the past 25 years, she has developed a friendship with Belfast native Magee. Magee had received a 50 year sentence for the bomb but was released under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement, which was signed in 1998.

Jo Berry sought out a meeting with Magee in 2000 and since then, they have been on a journey of reconciliation and understanding.

The two have spoken around the world together about reconciliation as part of the Building Bridges For Peace organisation.

The event in The Island Theatre was hosted by Leitrim Volunteer Centre. The film was shown as part of the PeacePlus project, a cross-border programme.

The 45 minute documentary is directed by Dr Imad Karam, an award-winning British-Palestinian filmmaker who grew up in Gaza City. Dr Karam made this documentary to bring Jo and Pat’s deeply personal story of forgiveness and transformation to a wider audience.

The gathering in The Island Theatre watched the film and there was then a question and answer session, led by former RTE journalist Carole Coleman, with Berry and Magee.

The film outlines the history of their relationship and also covers some of the background to the Troubles.

Introducing the discussion, Carole Coleman said that the Brighton Bomb brought the “realisation that the war has come to Britain.”

Speaking about her relationship with her father, Jo Berry told the audience that “I was rebellious when I was young. I think my father understood that I was different to him.”

Pat Magee told the audience that was it not for the Good Friday Agreement, he would not have been due for release from prison until 2036.

He stated that from the outset of their meetings, Jo had a “preparedness to listen.”

Carole Coleman asked Jo Berry what had compelled her to meet Magee.

Jo said that shortly after her father's death, she was sitting in a church and contemplated the outcome of his death.

“I then met a stranger from Northern Ireland and I tried to gain an understanding of why people joined the IRA. In later years, I met people who had been in the IRA, as well as loyalists and soldiers,” she explained.

“On three occasions, people tried to stop me from meeting Pat. My family didn't know I was going to meet him,” Jo added.

Pat Magee said that he didn't know “if it would be safe” meeting Jo.

“However, I was assured that she just wanted to understand and put her father's death in context,” he commented.

“It was a profound experience meeting Jo. I had my political hat on, explaining the past. I never felt more alive,” Pat added.

Jo Berry explained that, “I didn't meet Pat to change him. I had already rehumanised him. Pat saw my dad as a human being, so I decided I needed to stay.”

Pat said that “the first meeting went on for three hours.”

Jo's future plans include continuing the work she is doing with a “positive change making programme with young people.”

Jo is a cousin of the late Lady Diana Spencer, who she described as “an incredible humanitarian.”