Political Dialogue and Training Programme

Rather than scapegoating politicians for not driving the peace process forward strongly enough, Glencree appreciates the difficulties faced by politicians in finding a political way out of conflict, negotiating an accord and leading their constituencies towards peace. For this reason Glencree engages in three main activities which complements the efforts of all political stake holders in the peace process:

Political Dialogue Workshops

Since the commencement of this programme in 1994, all political parties from Ireland, North and South and the main parties from Britain have participated. Over 50 weekend residential workshops have been held. Nearly all the dialogue workshops are inclusive and multilateral attempting to bring all the parties in the conflict together over a period of time but not necessarily in each workshop. Occasionally bilateral workshops are offered when particular political relations need to be addressed. Three main ground rules operate:

• Participants control the Agenda
• Glencree controls the process.
• Participants feed back new understandings and political analysis to their party without attributing specific remarks to individuals.

Annual Summer School

The annual Glencree Summer School takes place at the end of August and provides an opportunity for peace and community activists to engage with politicians on peace building issues.  The event takes place at Glencree during a weekend and brings together about 16 speakers and about 40 participants. 

Political skills training for community and political activists

Glencree believes that a vibrant and inclusive democratic society can best be achieved when people have the opportunity to become politically engaged. There are many political, community and former paramilitary activists who feel isolated from political processes and by offering a training programme focussing on political skills some 100 people annually are better positioned to play a positive role in political development. Themes covered in the training include, negotiation skills, public relations skills, leadership skills and developing political strategies.

Miscellaneous activities in the political arena

From time to time Glencree facilitates meetings between politicians from different parties to discuss specific issues or provide support and encouragement to politicians in furthering issues related to peacebuilding.