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Accepted Paper:
Peace without justice: the struggle over Legacy in County Fermanagh
Matthew Gault
(Queen's University Belfast)
This paper will examine the ways victims’ groups and individuals use commemorations, rituals, and storytelling to sustain the memory of their loved ones while holding aspirations for a form of justice which may not be realised in post-conflict Northern Ireland.
Paper long abstract:
During the conflict in and about Northern Ireland, 115 people lost their lives in County Fermanagh. Only 5% of the investigations into those killing resulted in convictions. Victims of the conflict across County Fermanagh have been campaigning since 1998 for investigations and inquests to be carried out into the deaths of their loved ones. These campaigns have met with some minor success, but on the whole little progress has been made on holding perpetrators to account for their actions throughout the conflict. Many feel that, since former members of paramilitary groups are in government, they are being denied justice to protect those in power and maintain peace within the province. In spite of this, they still have aspirations for what they see as true justice, where perpetrators are imprisoned and the parties that supported them are disbanded. Victims know that these aspirations may be impossible to realise. This paper will examine the ways victims’ groups and individuals use commemorations, rituals, and storytelling to sustain the memory of their loved ones and challenge a system which they believe would prefer them to remain silent while managing the tensions between the hope of obtaining justice through the courts and the reality that, as we progress further from the end of the conflict, such justice is unlikely to be obtained.