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28/01/2009
President Welcomed On Shankill
On the eve of the publication of a ground-breaking report on dealing with The Troubles legacy, Irish President Mary McAleese has been doing her own bit for reconciliation in Belfast.
She has been welcomed at a Church of Ireland centre near the city's 'Peace Line' which is still separating the mainly nationalist Falls Road and loyalist Shankill Road in west Belfast.
This is itself ground-breaking as it is the first time that the President has attended a function in this area.
Building bridges was a role identified by Mary McAleese when she was elected President in 1997.
She was driven along the Shankill Road, past loyalist paramilitary murals, to Saint Luke's Church of Ireland building, close to the gates leading to the nationalist Falls Road, which are still closed each night.
Two years ago, after President McAleese's comments at a Holocaust commemoration ceremony were slammed, a proposed visit by the President to a school in the Shankill area was cancelled.
But yesterday afternoon, President McAleese was welcomed by loyalist communities as she heard about their hopes to establish a cross-community centre in the area.
(BMcC/JM)
She has been welcomed at a Church of Ireland centre near the city's 'Peace Line' which is still separating the mainly nationalist Falls Road and loyalist Shankill Road in west Belfast.
This is itself ground-breaking as it is the first time that the President has attended a function in this area.
Building bridges was a role identified by Mary McAleese when she was elected President in 1997.
She was driven along the Shankill Road, past loyalist paramilitary murals, to Saint Luke's Church of Ireland building, close to the gates leading to the nationalist Falls Road, which are still closed each night.
Two years ago, after President McAleese's comments at a Holocaust commemoration ceremony were slammed, a proposed visit by the President to a school in the Shankill area was cancelled.
But yesterday afternoon, President McAleese was welcomed by loyalist communities as she heard about their hopes to establish a cross-community centre in the area.
(BMcC/JM)
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