President heralds North's community workers

President Mary McAleese today paid tribute to dedicated community workers who are helping to bring peace to divided communities in Northern Ireland.

Although sectarian tensions and violence still plague some parts of the province Ms McAleese said “miracles” had been achieved since the signing of the Good Friday peace accord in 1998.

Speaking in Dublin, Belfast-born Ms McAleese said: “We are watching the dying entrails of a culture of conflict and the seed-bedding of a culture of consensus.”

Around 300 youth, education and community workers had gathered at the President’s official residence in Phoenix Park for the reception to honour Co-operation Ireland, a body dedicated to fostering peace and reconciliation.

Ms McAleese, who is a joint patron of the group alongside the Queen, thanked the community workers for “continually and relentlessly building bridges between divided communities”.

She said: “When we look back on the time that has passed since the Good Friday Agreement was so greatly endorsed by the people of both parts of this island, we sometimes forget how far we have travelled and how much good has been achieved in those few short years.

“We deny none of the problems that remain, none of the needless hurts inflicted daily but we must surely be grateful for the many miracles we have each been witness to, the many signs of extraordinary change being wrought by ordinary people.

“The greatest impulse on this island is an impulse to sustain peace and it lies deep in the heart of by far the greatest number of people.”

Ms McAleese grew up in the Ardoyne area of North Belfast, one of the main sectarian flashpoints in the city which last year witnessed the blockade of the Holy Cross Primary School by loyalist residents.

Co-operation Ireland was set up in 1979 to bring together communities in Northern Ireland and to encourage greater links between the north and south of the island.