SENATOR GEORGE MITCHELL, who helped negotiate the historic Good Friday Agreement, has said young people are vital to sustaining the peace process.
His remarks came as part of his keynote lecture at the ‘Passing the Torch’ event at Queen’s University Belfast, where he previously served as chancellor between 1999 and 2009.
Also speaking at the event, TD James Lawless paid tribute to Senator Mitchell, saying he ‘gave voice to people who were marginalised in a divided community’.
‘Wave of hope’
Addressing more than 600 people at the university’s Whitla Hall, including many secondary school children, Senator Mitchell said that peace must not only be sustained but must evolve.
“You, the young people of this island, are needed here in order to sustain this ongoing peace,” he said.
“Do not let your truths and your dreams leave when there is so much to be done at home.”
Senator Mitchell pictured in Belfast in 1995 (Image: ALAN LEWIS / AFP via Getty Images)He added: “Hope, then, meets hope. And that hope creates an overwhelming wave.
“This is what our peace needs: a wave of hope, sustained by you, so that it moves forward, and crashes onto other shores.”
He continued: “The peace we have created and enjoyed since 1998 must evolve. The work is constantly unfinished.
“We must acknowledge the past, but not become beholden to it. It is our job to become continually new.”
‘There is more to do’
Mr Lawless, Ireland’s Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, echoed the senator’s words, saying young people ‘are the future of this island’.
“I am taken by the title of today’s event — Passing the Torch. Responsibility for sustaining peace now rests with all of us living on this island,” he said.
“Senator Mitchell, you were the person who enabled their participation and gave voice to people who were marginalised in a divided community.
“You created the context, where the focus shifted from the past to the future. You never sought for any person to forget their past and heritage; you painted the future for all.
“The young people in this room are the future of this island. The leaders, the thinkers, the makers, the creators.
“Whether from Cork or Derry, Dublin or Downpatrick — they all have something in common: they are the generation who can build a future that is more inclusive, more connected, and more united in purpose than ever before.
“We’ve come a long way. But there’s more to do — and the journey belongs to them now.”
For his role in the peace negotiations, Senator Mitchell was awarded the Liberty Medal in 1998 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1999.
That same year, he was awarded an honorary knighthood for his efforts, while in 2018, he was awarded the Freedom of the City of Belfast.