A SENIOR clergyman in the Church of England, in a book launched in Dublin today, is calling on Britain to apologise for its "misuse" of Ireland and the Irish people.
Canon Nicholas Frayling says the British people should be charged with the responsibility of expressing their sorrow, and he hopes that from this regret understanding and peace may come.
Canon Frayling (52), Rector of Liverpool, is the author of Pardon and Peace, which is being launched in Christ Church Cathedral this evening by the former Taoiseach, Dr Garret FitzGerald.
Canon Frayling says the IRA bomb attack on Warrington three years ago, when Tim Parry and Johnathan Ball were killed, inspired him to call for a British apology to Ireland. Nine days after the Warrington bombing, he wrote to the London Independent on March 29th, 1993, calling for sorrow and penitence to be shown by the British people towards Ireland.
He says his letter received an overwhelming response from both Catholics and Protestants.
This response gave him the impetus for writing Pardon and Peace, and he says his book is a personal account of his "journey of discovery".
Canon Frayling has visited Ireland regularly since the 1970s and returned for three months after the Warrington bombing "to listen and learn" before writing his book.
He says he has been profoundly struck by the depth of feelings of injustice and betrayal shown by both unionists and nationalists.
"A peace process which fails to take account of past injustice cannot ultimately deliver peace," says Canon Frayling. "You cannot be a maker of peace without taking risks."
"As I have become more and more involved in dialogue with people in Ireland, I have become convinced that Britain must acknowledge its responsibility for the agony there, and apologise to the Irish people," he said.
"Without sorrow and penitence, there can be no lasting reconciliation . . . I write as a Christian, but what I have to say should also help people who do not share my faith to understand what is happening in Northern Ireland, and Britain's responsibility to bring healing.
Canon Frayling's ancestry is partly Irish and he says he is deeply conscious of the Irish component in Liverpool.
His book, published by SPCK, has been endorsed by a number of church leaders, including the Archbishops of Armagh, Dr Robin Eames and Cardinal Cahal Daly, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey, the Bishop of Liverpool, Dr David Sheppard, and the late Archbishop of Liverpool, Dr Derek Worlock.