Press Releases20 Jun 11

Statement from the Archbishop of Armagh in response to Gazette editorial of 17 June 2011

CHURCH OF IRELAND GAZETTE EDITORIAL (17 June 2011)

STATEMENT IN RESPONSE BY THE MOST REVEREND ALAN HARPER, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH AND PRIMATE OF ALL IRELAND

I wish to disassociate myself entirely from the sentiments expressed in the most recent Editorial of the Church of Ireland Gazette in respect of the Revd Dr Lesley Carroll and Mr Denis Bradley. The Gazette enjoys complete editorial freedom, but with freedom comes responsibility. The Gazette also claims the name of the Church of Ireland: therefore the Church has a right to expect that opinions offered under a Church of Ireland masthead shall be expressed responsibly and respectfully, especially when referring to named individuals. The personal slight on Dr Carroll and Mr Bradley was gratuitous. I regret that such discourtesy has become associated with the Church of Ireland and apologise to them for it. They are honourable and highly respected people with many friends throughout Ireland and indeed the Church of Ireland.

The report of the Consultative Group on the Past, which featured in the discussion on BBC Radio Ulster’s Sunday Sequence programme on Sunday 12 June, whether subsequently side–lined or rejected, was a brave and principled attempt by courageous people, including its co–chair, Lord Eames, to provide a foundation for the way in which society in Ireland might begin to address one of the most significant and difficult issues of our time: that of dealing with the painful legacy of the past. The report divided opinion and it has not been followed by substantive action, but personal attacks on members of the CGP team benefit no one. 

ENDS

The Editor of the Gazette has issued a reply, as follows:

In the Gazette’s editorial [issue 17th June] it was indicated that on the BBC’s Sunday Sequence programme last Sunday, the Revd Lesley Carroll, who was a member of the former Consultative Group on the Past (also known as the CGP and ‘Eames–Bradley’), said that if she were doing the CGP report again she would not do anything differently. The editorial also indicated that Dr Carroll had suggested that the report had been shelved.  Dr Carroll’s comments were challenged in the editorial by reference to the fact that the Northern Ireland Office had conducted a public consultation on the recommendations of the CGP, and by stating that the CGP report had been rejected as opposed to shelved.  The editorial thus described the suggestion by Denis Bradley – who was a Co–Chair of the former CGP – in the same discussion on Sunday Sequence, that people had not considered the CGP report in a sufficiently rational way, as “an affront to the public”. The editorial described both Dr Carroll and Mr Bradley as having come across on the programme “rather as spoilt children who had not got their way”. This was not a personal attack and was fair comment upon an issue of considerable public interest.  The Gazette is well aware of the need to encourage reconciliation and has pointed to last year’s ‘Advice to Government’ of the Commission for Victims and Survivors, in its Dealing with the Past document, as a good basis for discussion.