John, Lord Alderdice, on lessons of love growing up and working in Northern Ireland.
Northern Ireland politician and Member of House of Lords of the United Kingdom
As Leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland for more than 10 years Lord Alderdice played a significant role in the negotiations of the 1998 Good Friday agreement. He then became the first speaker of the new Northern Ireland Assembly and the Chairman of the Liberal Democrat Party in the House of Lords at Westminster.
“We need to engage with everyone as human beings, beyond the politics. Then you can actually begin to make changes in the politics that are more humanising.”
“When building peace we need to address disturbed historic relationships between people in communities, then new political structures or institutions can emerge that can help facilitate better communal relationships, not vice versa.”