English Translation of the article "Glencree quiere compartir sus técnicas con el País Vasco" in El Correo, 2 October 2006

Glencree wants to share its techniques with the Basque country

By Íñigo Gurruchaga

The Chief Executive of the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation, Máirín Colleary, knows perfectly well that two conflicts are never the same in the world, but at the same time she is explicit about her wish to share the Centre’s experience for the benefit of Spanish or Basque institutions.

“We have developed a programme called ‘Shared Learning’, which has precisely aims to make available the techniques that we have developed and to learn from other experiences”.

The aim of the programme is not to give lectures on the Irish peace process but rather to share our experience, by way of example, about how the work of Jacinta de Paor with the programme for victims has changed over time.

In mediation work with former members of violent groups, for example, it was  very early understood that it was not good to invite them to meet victims again and then facilitate their immediate trip back home. They were confronted with very challenging questions and left to their own devices,  quite lost. It was decided to incorporate them to the residency programme.

The lessons of experience suggest a slower pace towards meetings of mix groups. Now, victims who go to Glencree spend two or three weekends at the hostel, getting together with other victims, before moving on to a mixed meeting.

Glencree does not offer therapy. Although those in charge recognise that its activity can have a therapeutic effect, specific forms of therapy, assistance or training, are provided by victims’ groups which do exist in Northern Ireland. This mountain refuge is in contact with these associations and its speciality id to manage mediation with those people who want it.

No involvement

Another peculiarity of Glencree has been to incorporate into its meetings people who fall into the category of those who say that they had no involvement in the conflict.

Directors in the Business Club, who have been crucial in the financing and promotion of Glencree, have been recruited to be part in trips to the South African vilderness with former members of terrorist organisations.
 
South African Wilhelm Verwoerd, husband of a former ambassador from that country to Ireland, is in charge of the work with the ‘ex-combatants’. He developed the idea of that kind of trip as a way to learn together about the relationship between man and nature.

Photo caption:

RETREAT
The hostel is situated in a peaceful area of Wicklow.