A Silver-lining for a National Remembrance IX? - Non-Recurrence, Bessborough & the loss of Social Justice
I return to the growing development of the National Centre for Research and Remembrance, or the NCRR, and examine how the failure of non-recurrence has all the potential to fail the very concept of social justice the centre was intended to deliver. Are the voices and experiences of the invisible dead, and the very reasons why so many suffered the injustices they did, to be lost through the failure of a commitment?
But as is now customary, I begin my own update of how I am getting on in advocating not just for the delivery of non-recurrence, but the very voices of those who represent the invisible dead, to sit at the top table as the NCRR is being developed.
Non-recurrence is about creating the conditions to tell the whole story of what happened to so many victims and survivors, delivering the truth of their injustices - it is about the why, who, where, when and how. The concept sits at the very core of International Law and indeed the Irish Government has made open and direct commitments to deliver non-recurrence into the NCRR. When I speak about the invisible dead, I am talking about all those who died, either within Institutions or once individuals became free of those Institutions, but are excluded by the general narrative of a tangible justice following a State Apology. If they are spoken of, then it is simply their numbers and not the individuals who once lived, whose lives are now expressed by their own families.
I initially sought answers to the question of what the Irish Government understood by their commitment to non-recurrence, and, how did they intend to deliver non-recurrence within the NCRR. You won’t be surprised that some 2 years down the line, I still don’t have the answers!
Not deterred, I have sought to inform, debate and seek access to a personal dialogue, all, so far, to no avail.
To read the rest of my article, please visit my Substack Page.....
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