'From dying on the streets to dancing on the streets' - 50 years of The Peace People

A veteran peace campaigner in Belfast has said the sight of so many people enjoying the All Ireland Fleadh in the city made him shed tears of joy.

Gerry Grehan is head of The Peace People organisation which was founded 50 years ago this week, after three young children were killed during Northern Ireland's Troubles.

While watching tens of thousands of people enjoying themselves in Belfast last week at the Fleadh, the world's largest festival of Irish music and dance, Grehan became emotional.

"These were the streets where people used to die and now all of a sudden they were dancing," he reflected.

"I waited until I came back to my car… I cried tears of joy."

Grehan, 77, is an uncle of the three children who were killed in the summer of 1976.

Joanne, aged 8, John, 2, and two-month-old baby Andrew died after being struck by a car, driven by a member of the IRA, who had been shot by a British Army soldier.

In the wake of the deaths, one of the aunts of the children, Mairead Corrigan, started a campaign to try to stop the violence that was raging in Northern Ireland at the time.

Along with another woman, Betty Williams, and the journalist Ciaran McKeown, they formed The Peace People.

The two women were later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Although their campaign did not bring an end to the violence, it helped to decrease the scale of the killing.

Grehan said: "The Peace People reduced the violence at the time by 70%. Now that's undeniable and that's massive.

"If I could take the phrase from the (Covid) pandemic, the peace people flattened the curve.

"At that point we were heading towards an all out civil war on this island, I have no doubt about that."

The mother of the three children who were killed, Anne Maguire, survived the crash at Finaghy Road North in west Belfast. One of her sons, Mark (7), also survived.

Grehan used to babysit for the children along with his late wife Mary, one of the six Corrigan sisters.

The crash happened on 10 August 1976. Four years later, Anne Maguire took her own life.

After the deaths of the three children, The Peace People opened an office and led marches which drew thousands of people onto the streets demanding an end to violence.

Corrigan and Williams were raised as Catholics, but their campaign attracted support from across the religious divide.

The sight of Protestants from the Shankill Road and Catholics from the Falls Road in Belfast walking side-by-side drew international attention.

There were marches in other towns and cities including Ballymena, Londonderry, Enniskillen, Newry and London.

Corrigan and Williams were praised by world leaders and met Pope John Paul II and Queen Elizabeth II.

However, the killings continued.

Grehan remembers: "It was seen to be anti-IRA because they were involved in what happened at the outset, but The Peace People were against all forms of violence and it probably took a long time for that to register with some people."

The driver of the car involved in the crash, IRA man Danny Lennon, was shot while the vehicle was being pursued by a British Army patrol.

It was not until 1994 that the IRA and loyalist paramilitaries called a ceasefire.

It took another four years for a political deal to cement the peace process, with the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

The Peace People organisation is still active and is based on the Lisburn Road in south Belfast.

Its message remains the same as in 1976: "The only time ever available for making peace is now. And now is the time for all of us to play our part."

Mairead Corrigan is still involved.

Betty Williams left the Peace People in 1980 and later emigrated to America. She returned to Ireland in 2004. She died in 2020 at the age of 76.

Ciaran McKeown died the previous year, also at the age of 76.

As chair of The Peace People, Grehan believes work must continue to heal divisions in society.

He said: "We've taken the guns, to a large extent, out of the equation, but we must now demilitarise ourselves. We must give something more to the kids."

Politicians too must work hard, he said, and keep power-sharing alive at Stormont.

He said: "The only way of preserving the peace is preserving our political process. So anything that endangers that could encourage those people on the periphery of this who still hold arms.

"I implore them stay in Stormont and see this through."

Grehan this week visited the grave where his sister-in-law Anne and her three children are buried.

The words carved on their gravestone are "They died that others may live in peace".