Church of Ireland Bishops to Meet with Sinn Fein

The Bishops of the Church of Ireland will meet with a delegation from Sinn Fein next Monday as part of a process of engagement with political parties.

The Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, the Most Rev Dr Robin Eames will lead the delegation of five, which also includes the Right Revd Alan Harper, Bishop of Connor; the Right Revd Michael Jackson, Bishop of Clogher; the Right Revd Ken Good, Bishop of Derry and Raphoe; the Right Revd Ken Clarke, Bishop of Kilmore.

The delegation will address the urgent need to make political progress, which the Bishops stress can only be achieved by full and equal participation in and commitment to the structures of democracy.

This view will be reinforced at the meeting, with reference to the fundamental link between political stability and full civic participation from all communities.

The meeting at the Parliament Buildings at Stormont follows previous meetings between the Church of Ireland and the UUP, the Alliance Party, and the SDLP.

The Church of Ireland is also in the process of requesting a meeting with the DUP.

Previous meetings have also taken place between the Legislation and Politics panel of the Church in Society Committee of the Church of Ireland and various political groupings including Sinn Fein.

The meeting follows the recent intensive three-day talks between Sinn Fein and the DUP in St Andrews, Scotland, to work out how the two parties could share power.