Irish Examiner view: Untampered Troubles testimonies shine a light

Martin McGavigan, 62, and his daughter Maria McGavigan, 37, in Russell Square, London, on Tuesday. Mr McGavigan's sister Annette was shot dead by British soldiers during a riot in the Bogside area of Derry in 1971. She was just 14 years old and still wearing her school uniform. Picture: PA

There is an immense power in stories being presented verbatim without heavy intervention from an editor or a dramaturge. The account, pure and simple, can be allowed to speak for itself.

And that is what MPs have been hearing in a committee room in the Parliamentary rooms at Portcullis House in London where the histories of children killed in the Troubles have been relayed by relatives and friends.

The testimonies of the relatives of six young people who were killed by the British Army, the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries have been gathered by a writer, Jo Egan, who carried out interviews and the event has been organised by the Playhouse, an arts centre in Derry, where The Crack In Everything was presented earlier this week.

Cross-party MPs from Britain and Northern Ireland were invited to attend a timely event coinciding with the first steps being taken in Westminster to potentially dismantle the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Six families who have experienced the killing of a child between 1971-81 have contributed their experiences. Among the 20 people who have participated have been friends of the children, teachers, neighbours, peace activists and bereavement and trauma counsellors.

Josephine Egan, who has an MFA from Trinity College Dublin, said: “It’s not a play, it’s testimony, so we won’t be using any staging. 

The stories of children lost in the Troubles remain untold, almost as if it was too traumatic. When you hear these six stories together it’s extraordinary.

In addition to the controversy over the Protocol, the event is also being held amidst proposals to grant conditional immunity to those accused of murder and offences during the Troubles.

MPs will hear descriptions of what happened to eight-year-old Damien Harkin, hit by an army lorry in 1971 and Annette McGavigan, 14, shot by soldiers, that same year. In 1972 eight-year-old Kathryn Eakin was killed by an IRA bomb. The following year Henry Cunningham, 16, was shot by the Ulster Volunteer Force, and Kathleen Feeney was shot by the IRA. Julie Livingstone, 14, was shot by soldiers in 1981.

Mary, the elder sister of Kathleen Feeney, who was 14 when she died in 1973, explained how sharing her story had eased her grief. Her daughter, Sarah Feeney Morrison, was selected to act out the testimony of the aunt she never knew.

Truth and reconciliation in Ireland is important for the future and we will need to find multiple means of confronting the past. The Crack in Everything — drawn from a memorable line in a Leonard Cohen song which explains that this is how the light enters — is a courageous contribution.