The Prince of Wales today talked of "the long history of suffering" endured by the Irish people as he ended his two-day visit to the Republic.
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Prince Charles in Dublin yesterday
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Speaking at the opening of a new headquarters in Co Wicklow for the Glencree peace and reconciliation project, Prince Charles said he knew it was a history that caused "much pain and much resentment in a world of imperfect human beings".
He stressed it was always too easy to over-generalise and attribute blame.
He said: "For over 30 years the Northern Ireland conflict has destroyed individual lives. As the violence careered forward it reeked havoc, but over the lonely years places like Glencree have never ever given up. They are the quiet places that painstakingly fostered understanding, hope and love".
The prince was apparently speaking off the cuff and his comments were met with a degree of surprise by his audience.
He said he was only too well aware of the long history of suffering "not just in recent decades but over the course of its history".
The converted British Army barracks now being used for the peace and reconciliation project symbolised "the quiet but strong places of communities and hearts that never let the dream of peace die", he said.
"We need to remember that the underlying meaning of peace is not just the absence of conflict. It is equally a climate in which understanding of others goes beyond caricature and where frozen images of hatred and negativity yield to a new vision of shared value and goodness".
After today's opening ceremony at Glencree the Prince was taken to Baldonnel Military Airfield near Dublin to be flown to London for Princess Margaret's funeral.
PA