Northern Ireland has a long way to go to overcome the intergenerational trauma inflicted by the Troubles, a commemoration for victims has heard.
Bereaved relatives and people injured during the conflict gathered at Stormont on Monday to mark European Day of Remembrance of Victims of Terrorism.
A number of victims addressed the event in the Senate chamber of Parliament Buildings, recounting their lived experience of trauma and violence.
Peter Heathwood was left paralysed after being shot by loyalist paramilitaries inside his house in north Belfast in September 1979. The trained teacher and insurance salesman was targeted in a case of mistaken identity.
His father suffered a fatal heart attack when he came upon the scene of the shooting.
Mr Heathwood’s wife Anne suffered PTSD following the incident and struggled with alcoholism for the rest of her life. She died in 2006.
In a pre-recorded address played to Monday’s event he spoke about the “ripple effect” created by the attack.
“The damage done to this society is not just the 3,700 dead and the 40,000 injured,” he added.
“It’s that ripple effect into all our families. The brothers and sisters, the mothers and fathers. This society is damaged right down into transgenerational stuff and it has a long way to go to get beyond it.”
The Stormont gathering, which began with a minute of silence, was organised by victims’ advocacy group South East Fermanagh Foundation (SEFF) in conjunction with TUV leader Jim Allister, who hosted the proceedings.
Several politicians attended, including DUP deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, junior minister Pam Cameron and UUP leader Doug Beattie. DUP MLA Diane Dodds and Alliance MLA Danny Donnelly also addressed the event.
Mr Allister’s co-sponsors of the gathering were SDLP Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole and UUP MLA Tom Elliott.
It came on the 20th anniversary on the bomb attacks on the transport network in Madrid that killed almost 200 people.
Representatives from a Spanish victims’ group attended the event at Parliament Buildings.
Inigo Gurruchaga witnessed his father being shot dead by ETA gunmen in 1982.
Addressing the commemoration, Mr Gurruchaga said his father was a “great man”.
“Death and shootings, assassinations are not necessary,” he said.
“And this society must work better to stop this, they have to protect the victims with justice, honesty and truth.”
Michael Bingham told the invited guests about the death of his grandparents William and Elizabeth Herron and his aunt Noeline in a firebomb attack on a drapery store below their home.
He told the event that the family was not consulted when two people given lengthy prison terms for the manslaughter of the three family members were released in 1985 after four years in jail having been granted Royal Prerogatives of Mercy.
“Despite addressing this severe injustice with the then Prime Minister (Margaret Thatcher), we still seek answers to this day, almost 50 years on,” he said.
“The dignified manner in which my family have dealt with this atrocity deserves great respect in honour of my grandparents and aunt,” he said.
“Our only request has been for truth and justice, that our family has the opportunity to tell our story, and that our story would not be rewritten by others or, worse still, written out of history in some distorted attempt to justify the murders of innocent people.
“It should be the same for all the innocent victims of our troubled past. Healing is made much more difficult when truth and justice are corrupted. We as a family simply want to see peace, reconciliation for a better future and the younger generation to come, particularly now that our government has been restored here at Stormont.”
Former UDR soldier David Evans was shot in an ambush in 1984 between Bellaghy and Magherafelt. The attack happened eight years after his policeman brother Clifford was murdered when two gunmen opened fire on his police car in Co Antrim.
“I am eternally grateful I survived,” Mr Evans told the victims’ event.
“I got to see my children grow up and meet my grandchildren. And so many of my friends and colleagues never got that chance.”
