Orla Mallon – daughter of Seamus Mallon – and the John and Pat Hume Foundation are delighted that Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD will deliver the Annual Seamus Mallon ‘Shared Homeplace’ Lecture in the Navan Centre & Fort, Armagh.
Taking place at 5pm on Tuesday July 22, this annual lecture commemorates Seamus Mallon, former Deputy First Minister and MP for Newry & Armagh who was an uncompromising champion of peace, democracy and reconciliation.
Previous lectures were delivered by Lord Chris Patten, Sir Hugh Orde and Enda Kenny.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said: “It is truly a great honour to deliver the Seamus Mallon Annual Lecture. Seamus was my friend, my long-time political hero and a truly great Irishman.
“In the difficult and complex history of Northern Ireland, there are very few political leaders who emerged with an unblemished record of service that stands up to detailed scrutiny. Seamus Mallon is one of them.
“The new ‘Shared Home Place’ programme as part of the Shared Island Initiative is inspired by Seamus’s life-long work to deepen a shared connection to place and to community and build an inclusive and generous island of Ireland for all communities based on peace and reconciliation.”
Dawn Purvis, Vice Chair of the John and Pat Hume Foundation said: “The John and Pat Hume Foundation are delighted that Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD will deliver the Annual Seamus Mallon ‘Shared Homeplace’ Lecture which will recognise the selfless and courageous political contribution made by Seamus Mallon.
“I got to know Seamus Mallon during the negotiations for the Good Friday Agreement where he was a tough, straight talking and unflappable negotiator with a wicked sense of humour.
“Seamus never lost faith in the primacy of nonviolent peaceful changemaking, even in the darkest days of the Troubles. Without Seamus Mallon the spirit of integrity and democracy might have been quenched.”
Orla Mallon, daughter of Seamus Mallon said: “It is an honour that Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD – a good friend of my late father – will deliver the annual Seamus Mallon Lecture.
“The Mallon family were also delighted that the new the Shared Island Initiative called the ‘Shared Home Place’ programme was partly inspired by Seamus Mallon’s words in his book ‘A Shared Home Place’.
“My father always sought the genuine reconciliation of conflicting traditions and recognised the power of connecting place and community.”
