Gerry Grehan, chair of The Peace People, has described weeping tears of joy after watching crowds dance at the All Ireland Fleadh in Belfast last week, as the organisation marks 50 years since it was founded in the wake of three children's deaths.

The Peace People was formed in August 1976 after Joanne Maguire, aged 8, her brother John, aged 2, and their two-month-old brother Andrew died when a car driven by an IRA member struck them. The driver, Danny Lennon, had been shot by a British Army soldier while the vehicle was being pursued on Finaghy Road North in west Belfast.

Their mother, Anne Maguire, and another son, Mark, survived the crash. Anne Maguire took her own life four years later. In response to the deaths, one of the children's aunts, Mairead Corrigan, began a campaign to end the violence. She and Betty Williams, along with journalist Ciaran McKeown, established The Peace People. Corrigan and Williams later received the Nobel Peace Prize.

The group opened an office and organised marches that brought thousands onto streets in Belfast and towns including Ballymena, Londonderry, Enniskillen, Newry, and London. The sight of Protestants and Catholics walking together drew international attention. Corrigan and Williams met Pope John Paul II and Queen Elizabeth II.

Grehan, who is 77 and is an uncle of the three children, said the campaign reduced the level of violence by about 70 percent at the time and prevented what he believed would have been a civil war. He said the movement was against all forms of violence, though it took time for that to register with some people.

The Peace People remains active, with an office on the Lisburn Road in south Belfast. Mairead Corrigan is still involved. Betty Williams left the group in 1980 and died in 2020; Ciaran McKeown died in 2019. Grehan said that while guns have largely been taken out of the equation, society must demilitarise itself and give more to children. He urged politicians to preserve power-sharing at Stormont, saying the only way to keep peace is to keep the political process alive and warning that anything threatening it could encourage those who still hold arms.

Grehan this week visited the grave where Anne Maguire and her three children are buried. Their gravestone bears the message that they died so others could live in peace.