Peace Bowl Liam O’Neill Stands on the Battle Site Near Where the Tree Once Stood

The Liam O’Neill Peace Bowl Liam O’Neill stands on the battle site near where the tree once stood.

were treated as a fifth column of the Nationalist South. In the late sixties, Catholics in Ulster began demanding civil rights and equal opportunities. The largely Protestant security forces attacked their marches and a thirty-year spiral of violence and retaliation led to 3,500 deaths.

Partition Ireland has four provinces and three of them had Catholic nationalistic majorities. The province of Ulster, on the other hand, had a majority of Protestants who were determined to remain part of the United Kingdom. In turned wood bowl. The Brief historical background the treaty negotiations that followed, Northern Ireland peace pro- The Ulster question has bedeviled Ireland was partitioned. A cess. How are they related? Irish–British relations since the final The government of the state that Let me tell you. It all began in 2005 defeat of the last standing Irish army at developed in Northern Ireland enjoyed when Fergal Martin approached me. the River Boyne in 1690. a majority, but felt vulnerable to what Martin was in charge of the Battle The protestant British King William they perceived as the nationalist threat. of the Boyne site-restoration project of Orange set a process in motion that By fair means or foul, they would ensure and wanted to know if I would come led to Catholic Ireland being governed that the minority would never be in a to Oldbridge House and have a look by a Protestant ascendancy. position to change the status quo. at a remarkable walnut tree. The tree In 1922, following a war of indepen- Meanwhile, in the 1960s in the would have been forty years old when dence, twenty-six of the thirty-two United States the civil rights move- the battle was fought in 1690. Its roots counties were granted independence. ment marched on Washington, DC, had become diseased and the wind A separate state was set up in Ulster to hear Martin Luther King Jr. speak. blew it over during the winter of 2004. and retained as part of the United The Catholics of Northern Ireland I was subsequently commissioned Kingdom to accommodate the largely took notice and formed their own civil to make a number of pieces from the Protestant majority who lived there. rights movement. At the outset, most wood and I elected to turn hollow A significant Catholic minority marchers wanted equal opportunities vessels. I kept one particularly beauti- found themselves cut off and second- in housing, jobs, and politics—they ful piece aside for a special purpose. class citizens in a state where they were not at all interested in reuniting

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Ireland. The government’s heavy- the evening of the second day, a hand. The whole gathering looked on handed tactics provoked a backlash sense of gloom descended as the in astonishment. that culminated in the emergence of parties struggled to come to terms Visibly moved, Dr. Paisley the provisional IRA. with each other. Dr. Paisley and announced, “Mr. Ahern has just During the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, his wife were anxious to get home explained to me that this vessel Northern Ireland endured a terrible to Ballymena to celebrate their is made of walnut from the site of war as paramilitaries on both sides wedding anniversary and were also the Battle of the Boyne. Today this outdid one another in acts of savagery. worried about what kind of recep- bowl has come home. We have Throughout the conflict, there were tion they would get in Belfast if they been working hard for three days those who kept channels open with signed a deal. Sinn Féin were behav- and I think we have seen the first the leaders of these groups and eventu- ing as if there was not going to be a sign of a new light. I hope that this ally it became clear that there would deal and were trying to ensure that light shines not just on those in never be winners. A way of making it was the DUP who walked out first this room, but also on our children peace would have to be found. and caused failure. and grandchildren.” In the midst of The peace process that followed According to Blair’s right-hand the applause that followed, Gerry was a tortuous series of negotiations. man Jonathan Powell, the British Adams was heard to say, “I think we The U.S. and UK governments pro- side was starting to prepare for a are going to see business being done vided internationally experienced breakdown of the talks. Bertie after all.” negotiators. The government of the Ahern was worried about the sce- Republic of Ireland played a key role nario arising where he would be The big question in assuring the loyalist majority that going into a general election cam- Why did the gift of the walnut vessel they had no designs on establish- paign in the Republic the following have such an impact? ing hegemony over the North by year with an unresolved impasse in Veteran TV reporter Tommy removing from the constitution the the peace process and was probably Gorman, who witnessed the event article that claimed jurisdiction over the most inventive negotiator there and told me about it, said it would Northern Ireland. for that reason. be no exaggeration to say the talks The peace conference that finally were headed for the deepest part reached a settlement was held at St The gift of the ocean. When Bertie Ahern Andrews in Scotland in October 2006. Blair and Ahern, along with their respec- presented the gift, it changed every- tive assistants, had dinner together. thing. Paisley’s attitude was key to The breakthrough Ahern said to Blair, “You know, it’s the success of the talks and he inter- All the main players in the peace nego- Dr. Paisley’s fiftieth wedding anniver- preted Ahern as saying, on behalf tiations were present at St Andrews: sary?” “Ah, yes,” said Blair. “Are you of the Irish nation, “The orange British Prime Minister Tony Blair; giving him a gift?” Ahern told Blair he tradition has nothing to fear from Prime Minister of the Irish Republic, had a walnut bowl from the Battle of the South. We are not seeking to Bertie Ahern; Dr. Ian Paisley, leader of the Boyne site and intended to present denigrate your culture; in fact, we the Ulster Loyalists; and Gerry Adams, it the next day. recognize your right to celebrate it. who as president of Sinn Féin, rep- On Saturday, all the parties assem- This bowl made from walnut from resented the Nationalist Republican bled for a final plenary session. The the site of the Battle of the Boyne people of Ulster. room was jammed. Bertie Ahern took proves it.” It was make-or-break time. Dr. the bowl in his hands and started to I had no idea when I was asked to Paisley’s Democratic Unionist Party make his way across to Paisley at the make the bowl what it would be used (DUP) and the Sinn Féin republicans far end of the room. Everyone real- for. Any woodturner could have made had become the two most influential ized something was happening and it. I was blessed to have my work used leaders in Northern Ireland. Tony Blair the room went quiet. Ahern said, “I in this way. and Bertie Ahern had an amazing believe it is your fiftieth wedding working rapport. If ever there was to be anniversary. I have brought you a gift a settlement of the bedeviling Ulster on behalf of the Irish Government.” Liam O’Neill is a founding member of the question, this was it. Dr. Paisley then did something he had AAW and regularly teaches workshops in For two days the parties struggled never done before—he spontaneously the U.S. More of O’Neill’s work can be seen to come to an agreement, but on reached out and shook Bertie Ahern’s on his website, liamoneill.com.

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