Dealing with the Past in Northern Ireland The London Irish Studies Seminar Symposium, Wednesday 25 June 2014 Political life in Northern Ireland continues to be dominated by the violence of the recent past. The Haass Proposals of last December contained a series of mechanisms to address the legacy of the Troubles, including acts of acknowledgement by paramilitary organisations and governments of their responsibility for deaths or for violations of human rights; a Historical Investigations Unit; an Independent Commission for Information Retrieval; and the establishment of an archive for oral histories, documents, and other materials relating to the conflict. How can political stability in Northern Ireland be protected from unresolved conflicts over the past? Is it time to remove politically-motivated crimes committed before 1998 from the criminal justice system? What is the proper role of historians and other scholars in the process of dealing with the past? Programme All sessions in the St David’s Room, first floor, King’s Building, Strand Campus. 10:00 Registration and Coffee 10:30 John Larkin QC, Attorney General of Northern Ireland, ‘The Law and the Past’; Chair: Prof. Aileen McColgan (King's College London). 11:45 Coffee 12:00 Panel One: Paul O'Connor (Pat Finucane Centre); Dr Huw Bennett (Aberystwyth; expert witness in the Mau Mau court case); Yasmine Ahmed (Rights Watch UK). Chair: Prof. Clair Wills (Queen Mary, London). 1:15 Lunch 2:00 Prof. Paul Bew (Queen’s University Belfast), ‘The Role of History: Some Sceptical Reflections’. Chair: Prof. Michael Kerr (King’s College London). 3:15 Coffee 3:30 Panel Two: Dr Simon Prince (Canterbury Christ Church); Dr Niall Ó Dochartaigh (Galway); Prof. Ian McBride (King’s College London). Chair: Prof. Marianne Elliott (Liverpool). 4:45 Concluding Remarks: Brian Walker, (UCL; former senior journalist for the BBC). 5:15 Drinks reception: History department, 8th Floor, Strand Building Location: King’s College London (Strand Campus, King’s Building, St David’s Room); Nearest Tube stations: Temple, Charing Cross, Covent Garden, Holborn. Cost: £15 (lunch and refreshments). Payment on the day. Places are limited. To register please email Ian McBride ([email protected]) and copy to Margaret Scull ([email protected]). Supported by the British Association for Irish Studies; by Goldsmiths, Queen Mary, and King’s College London; and by the Centre for the Study of Nationalism and Organised Violence at NUI Galway.