Radicalisation of young people threat to world society: Irish President

The radicalisation of young people is fast becoming one of the most significant threats in global society, the President of Ireland said in a keynote speech Wednesday at a peace center in northern England.

President Michael D Higgins used his speech to urge people to reach out to those at risk of being sucked into radicalisation and extremism.

The president was visiting the Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Peace Foundation in Warrington, built as a reconciliation center following the murders by the IRA of the two boys in a bomb attack in Warrington town center in 1993.

Describing as an inspiration the work of the foundation which opened 15 years ago to support people affected by terrorism and conflict, the Irish head of state said socially isolated people are increasingly invited to turn to extremism as they seek, or have suggested to them, a purpose, a role and an identity.

The president said: "For all of us who are committed to the ideals of freedom, tolerance and peace, it is essential that we engage with those excluded individuals who may be drawn towards extremism and radicalisation.

"We must give leadership in identifying and tackling the social conditions in which extremism can take root.

"Tackling issues such as youth unemployment, inadequate social infrastructure, and limited opportunity for participation are important in this regard, as is a critically aware engagement with belief systems and ideologies, an engagement that eschews any imposition of claims of certainty, or fear or exclusion of 'the other'."

Ireland's ambassador to Britain Dan Mulhall joined Mr Higgins on the visit to Warrington.

The two boys, Tim Parry aged 12 and Jonathan Ball who was just three, and unknown to each other, were the innocent victims of an IRA bomb planted in a litter bin in Warrington's main shopping street. Jonathan was out shopping to buy a card for Mother's Day, the next day, when the bomb exploded without warning. Fifty people were hurt by the blast.

In his speech at the foundation, President Higgins added: "While a terrible and heinous act cannot, and should not, for the most moral of reasons, be dissolved or forgotten, it is only through an act of imagination and creativity that we can prevent that tragic memory from colonising the future.

"The immense space left behind by the loss of Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball has been used to build a place of healing and reconciliation - that is an achievement from which we can all draw inspiration.

"This Peace Center reminds us of the good that can come from transactions and consequences of great tragedy, and of all that can be achieved when we remember ethically, in ways that have the potential to release us from bitterness, revenge or denunciation and allow us to move forward and achieve new beginnings."

The center's work has evolved to include a residential program to reduce young peoples' vulnerability and increase their resilience to radicalisation, with workshops to explore the experiences of former Islamic extremists. Endit