Harri Holkeri Lecture 2018
President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins delivers lecture at Queen's University Belfast
The President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins visited Queen’s University Belfast today (Tuesday, 29 May) to deliver the sixth, annual Harri Holkeri lecture, organised by the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s and the Embassy of Finland, London.
The President gave his speech on the twentieth anniversary of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, built around the concepts of ‘remembering, forgiving, forgetting, and imagining’.
Acting Director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s, Professor John Brewer said: “The Annual Harri Holkeri Lecture is one of the significant events in the calendar of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute and there is no public figure more prominent this year to grace the Lecture than President Higgins."
“Coming in the year of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and at a time of political uncertainty in Europe, there is much to be said that honours the peacebuilding efforts of the late former Finnish Prime Minister and statesman, Harri Holkeri. President Higgins is a thoughtful and incisive speaker and we have all benefited from his lecture.”
The Harri Holkeri Lecture Series recognises and celebrates the contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process of the late Finnish Prime Minister Harri Holkeri. Holkeri’s aspiration to transform conflict and promote social justice in Northern Ireland and across the world is shared by the Institute.
The lecture was streamed live on Queen's Facebook page. To watch it again, please click here.
Pictured (L-R) are: Professor James McElnay, Acting President and Vice-Chancellor of Queen’s; Sabina Higgins, wife of the President of Ireland; President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins; Anthea Smyth, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Belfast; Professor John Brewer, Acting Director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice at Queen’s; Anne Mutanen, Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy of Finland, Dublin and Kevin Conmy, Joint Secretary at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland.
To read the full speech by President Higgins, please click the following link: