Summary
A. Community Dialogue encourages sharing about our political future within and between community groups and local associations.
B. We are asking local community workers to gather groups together to find out the views and feelings of local people about the Peace Negotiations and how they affect their lives. At these meetings we hope people will ask themselves:
i. what do you want from the Peace Negotiations?
ii. what can you live with, given that the views of other traditions may differ from your own?
iii. Some people may find themselves switched off the Political Negotiations. If so, what alternative can they suggest?
At the end of the discussions we would like people to summarise their views and send them to us.
C. We will be holding Public Hearings throughout Northern Ireland before Easter to which groups can make known their feelings and views. We will then feed these views to the political parties and the media.
D. Community Dialogue have Discussion Packs to help community workers facilitate the local meetings, and we can also offer other support.

1. What can you do?
a. Ask one or more groups in your area to discuss the Peace Negotiations. (Let Community Dialogue know of any groups you set up). We outline a possible process for Group Discussion in Section 6.

b. Draw up a summary of the views and feelings which people express in these groups. Then:

- Send a copy of these views to Community Dialogue by 3 April;
- Ask groups to consider giving their views to a Public Hearing to be held in your area. (See below for more details about these Hearings). Groups might work on a single identity or cross-community basis, or `piggy-back' on an existing group process.
- Publicise the Public Hearing to be held nearest your area.

c. Public Hearings: A series of Public Hearings will be held towards the end of March throughout Northern Ireland. At these Hearings the views of community groups, voluntary associations and individuals will be heard by a panel. Members of the panel may raise issues which would be important to people from other traditions. The purpose of the questioning will be to tease out ideas and feelings, not to trip people up, because Community Dialogue assumes none of us have all the answers.

d. Community Dialogue will liaise with local groups to find suitable people to serve on panels for the Hearings.

e. People can make their views known to Hearings in many different ways: written, video, audio, painting, etc.

3. A Possible Process for Group Meetings

You can see below some notes on the current Peace Negotiations. There are three strands in these negotiations. For now it may be worth noting that:
Strand One: deals with matters within Northern Ireland (e.g. the question of an Assembly);
Strand Two: deals with North-South structures;
Strand Three: deals with London-Dublin relationships (e.g. the Anglo-Irish Agreement).

Groups will work out different ways of discussing how people feel about the Talks.
What follows is one possible way of doing this:

First Stage: Your own tradition
By way of introduction ask people:
a. How do you feel about the talks process?
b. What do you think the talks process offers your political/cultural tradition?
c. How do you feel the Talks Process will lead to more respect for your identity?
Summarise what people have said.

Second Stage: The Other Tradition
a. Spell out what you think the other tradition wants under each strand of the Talks;
b. What do you want the other tradition to recognise and to accept about your own identity? Summarise what people have said

Third Stage: Your openness to change?
What kind of change are you willing to accept?
a. On each of the Three Strands:
b. In confidence-building measures?
c. In terms of your identity?
In each case ask yourself:
a. Are you taking serious account of the other tradition?
b. Are your suggestions for change workable?
c. How will the changes you suggest make a positive change in the daily lives of you and your community?
d. Summarise and try to shape what people have said so that it can be presented to a Public Hearing if the group are willing to do this.

Note
You may find that some or many in your group are getting switched off the process. If this happens, ask them is it:
a. because they find it too complicated; or
b. because the issues do not really matter to them. If this is the case, ask them are prepared to allow the situation to return to violence, and whether they would support or condone others engaging in that violence? Find out what issues are really important to them and get them to spell these out. Use these to make a submission.

4. What is Community Dialogue?
Community Dialogue was started in October 1997 by people working in different community groups and committed to a cross-community solution to our political, social and economic problems. Our aim is to encourage dialogue within the community sector about our political future.

Some of the factors which encouraged us to believe that there is an urgent need for such dialogue are:

During the 1994 cease-fires many people sat back and left politicians to sort things out on their own;

Politicians should not be left with all the responsibility of reaching agreement. They need to know
that most people want them to reach such an agreement and a wider process of dialogue may help this;

In making their voices heard it is hoped that ordinary people will also be able to engage in dialogue,
thus widening the amount of communication in our society;

As we appear to be living in a period of change, it is vital for people of all persuasions to feel part
of the process of re-building our society.

Community Dialogue, as an organisation, has no political position whatever on any of the issues on the talks agenda. However, we believe it is important that people have an opportunity to make their voice heard, no matter what it is they wish to say, before a referendum which may be held in June.

5. The Process
Community Dialogue will work with local committees to set up public hearings to be held throughout Northern Ireland towards the end of March. We will then ask these committees to get every one in their area talking so that they send in their views to the public hearings on what they want to see happening in the talks process.

6. Who is involved in Community Dialogue?
Executive: Noreen Christian (Chair), Sam Burch, Ernie Carroll, Tanya Gallagher, David Holloway, Bernie Laverty, Roisin McDonough, Anne Carr.
Support Group: Mairaid Bradley, Anne Kilroy, Billy Mitchell, Rosaleen Murray, Trevor Williams, Terry Carlin, Kathleen Keane, Avila Kilmurray, John McQuade, Mary Dunne, David Officer, Tommy Gorman, Angela Courtnay, Derek Poole, Mary DeLargy, Jackie Hewitt, Andy Pollak, Tania Gallagher, Michael Docherty, Maureen Hetherington, Sandra Peake, Libby Keyes, David Porter, Aubrey McClintock, P.J. McLean, Geraldine Donaghy, Jackie Redpath, Jim McCorry, Michael Atcheson, Davy Kettyles, Mary Lyons, May Blood, and Sam Burch.
Coordinators: Brian Lennon, Ken Logue
Field Worker: Mary Lavery. Secretary: Jennifer McGivern.
For further information contact: Community Dialogue: Belfast 329995

7. Some Notes on the Three Strand Process
The two Governments and all the political parties taking part in the talks have agreed to consider the political issues dividing us under the headings of the three strands, which we outlined briefly in Section 6.
Broadly speaking, most Unionists are comfortable discussing an Assembly for Northern Ireland, but fear the imposition of North-South structures because they believe these might give the Republic of Ireland some control over Northern Ireland.
Many Nationalists are uncomfortable about the idea of an Assembly because they fear it might lead to a return to a unionist dominated Stormont.
Naturally, these are very simplistic summaries of positions. But how do you feel?

Sample Questions for Discussion

First, some general questions:
- What is your greatest problem with the Peace Negotiations
- What changes can you offer other traditions in this general area?
- What is your greatest hope for the Peace Negotiations?

Other questions, some of which you might like to tackle:
A. Strand One: (concerning Northern Ireland issues)
- Is it important to you that there is an Assembly in Northern Ireland?
- If so, does it matter to you if it is a power-sharing one or not?
- What areas of decision making authority should it have?

B. Strand Two: (concerning North-South relationships)
- Why do you want, or object to, North-South structures?
- How would such structures help or hinder your work, your wealth, your safety or your identity?
- Do such structures have to be either `executive' or `non-executive', or is the situation more complex? (`Executive' means having the power to make and put decisions into practice. `Non-executive' means having the power only to make recommendations, which may or may not be put into practice.
- If you are a Nationalist do you recognise the right of Unionists living in Northern Ireland to be British?
- If you are a Unionist do you accept that the Irish Government has a legitimate role to play in any settlement?

C. Strand Three: (concerning London-Dublin relationships) VV
- How do you think both Governments should cooperate over Northern Ireland?
- Do you think that Articles Two and Three of the Irish Constitution should be scrapped? (Article Two defines the territory of Ireland as including Northern Ireland; Article Three limits the laws of the Irish Parliament to the Twenty-Six Counties).
- Do you think that Article 75 of the Government of Ireland Act should be scrapped? (Article 75 gives power to change the constitutional status of Northern Ireland to the British Parliament and not to the people of Northern Ireland.
- Do you see a role for the European Union in any settlement?

D. Civil Society - Should there be an institution for civil society (community groups, voluntary organisations, churches, trade unions, business and the farming sectors) to make its voice heard?
- If so, what kind of institution?
- How would it be appointed, funded, etc.?

E. A Final question - Are you willing to accept the outcome of any referenda put to the people of Northern Ireland and of the Republic of Ireland