Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland remains a deeply divided society. The number of 'peace walls', physical barriers separating Catholic and Protestant communities, has increased sharply since the first cease-fires in 1994. Most people in the region cannot envisage the barriers being removed. ~ Peter Geohegan

Northern Ireland is a constituent region of the United Kingdom in the northeast of the island of Ireland; its capital and largest city is Belfast.

Quotes

• Northern Ireland remains a deeply divided society. The number of 'peace walls', physical barriers separating Catholic and Protestant communities, has increased sharply since the first cease-fires in 1994. Most people in the region cannot envisage the barriers being removed, according to a recent survey conducted by the University of Ulster. In housing and education, Northern Ireland remains one of the most segregated tracts of land anywhere on the planet. Less than one in ten children attends a school that is integrated between Catholics and Protestant. This figure has remained stubbornly low despite the cessation of violence.
  • Peter Geoghegan, "Return of the Troubles: Is Northern Ireland falling apart all over again?" (20 December 2012), Foreign Policy

• Serbs informed me what a putative peace-building trip to Northern Ireland had actually taught them. 'We need bigger walls,' one said.
  • Peter Geoghegan, "Will Belfast ever have a Berlin Wall moment and tear down its 'peace walls'?" (29 September 2015), The Guardian, United Kingdom

• I was stopped by a soldier, he said 'You are a swine'. He hit me with his rifle and he kicked me in the groin, I begged and I pleaded, sure my manners were polite. But all the time I'm thinking of my little Armalite...

  A brave RUC man came marching up into our street, six hundred British soldiers he had lined up at his feet. 'Come out, ye cowardly Fenians, come out and fight'. But he cried, 'I'm only joking', when he heard the Armalite.

  • "My Little Armalite" (1975)

• England is home to some 53 million people, while Northern Ireland has less than 2 million.
  • Naomi O'Leary, "Where the Brexit Stakes Are Highest" (22 June 2016), The Atlantic

• We share a deep concern for peace and justice in Northern Ireland and condemn all violence and terrorism in that strife-torn land. We support the process of peace and reconciliation established by the Anglo-Irish Agreement, and we encourage new investment and economic reconstruction in Northern Ireland on the basis of strict equality of opportunity and non-discrimination in employment.
  • Republican Party Platform of 1988 (16 August 1988), Republican National Convention
• We urge peace and justice for Northern Ireland. We welcome the newly begun process of constitutional dialogue that holds so much promise. We encourage investment and reconstruction to create opportunity for all.
  • Republican Party Platform of 1992 (17 August 1992), Republican National Convention

External links

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Northern Ireland