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Apr 9, 2018
5 min

Day 20: Hope and History Rhyme

New York’s Times Square feels like the centre of the world. The relentless rush and roar of traffic. The press of the crowd. The flickering lights and ever changing images of the towering digital billboards. But on the icy cold morning of 5th December 2007, as I stood shivering on a small square of pavement in the heart of New York, the clamour and chaos of the city seemed to stop for a moment of history. The world’s biggest video screen (at that time) suddenly revealed the

Apr 8, 2018
4 min

Day 19: 2018 Reasons For Powersharing

The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) has undoubtedly been the cornerstone of the North’s peace and stability and as we approach its 20th Anniversary its absence in Local Government is felt more than ever. In a time of such toxic politics, divided people, and scandal after scandal, the GFA’s embodiment of the spirit of partnership and reconciliation is needed now more than ever. It seems many look at the GFA as something to honour and protect, like a trophy on your mantelpiece as o

Apr 7, 2018
6 min

Day 18: Towards a United Community

Twenty years on from the Good Friday Agreement, you could be forgiven for thinking our politics has fallen back to pre-1998 standards, with political parties still selling the “radical” politics of pursuing either a new Ireland or an ever-stronger union with the UK through a hard Brexit. With both these goals eternally incompatible, we are seemingly mired in political stalemate. But the radical politics is this: tackling the barriers that divide us, throwing them aside and wo

Apr 6, 2018
4 min

Day 17: The Saddest Day in the History of Unionism

The lead up to the 20th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement has so far been filled with the predictable backslapping and delirious nostalgia that has allowed many academics, elites and otherwise mediocre politicians to make a career out of being professional 'peace processors'. We even have academics and PR people that tour the world talking about the great success of the Belfast Agreement, and spinning all sorts of fanciful yarns about how wonderful it was. At no point do t

Apr 5, 2018
3 min

Day 16: Is This It?

Twenty years ago there when Facebook wasn’t a thing and tweeting referred to the birdsong that greeted the dawn, on that day that I went out to cast my vote in the referendum that followed the signing of the Belfast Agreement. My first vote was on something that was pitched as the decision of a lifetime. Social media was in its infancy, instant messaging was starting to appear on dial up internet connections while parents complained about sky rocketing phone bills, but the co

Apr 4, 2018
4 min

Day 15: Armalite to Ballot Box

I am 18, I have never experienced the tragic war that was brought to Ireland. I have never been subjected to war because of the great people who came before me. If they hadn’t had given what they had, I may have become a “casualty” of the war in Ireland. For this, I respect the Good Friday Agreement and I appreciate the sacrifice and struggle that went into earning it. I live in west Belfast, a community that was brutalised and continually attacked by British forces, and wher

Apr 3, 2018
4 min

Day 14: How Do We Teach These Kids?

My Granda took me with him when he went to vote in the referendum on the Good Friday Agreement. Our local polling station is in Saintfield Academy and I remember clearly the buzz of excitement and sense of hope that seemed to fill that classroom. I was only eleven years old at the time, having just sat my transfer test the previous October, and it seemed to me that Northern Ireland, like myself, was about to start an exciting new chapter. Twenty years hence, I find myself bac

Apr 2, 2018
3 min

Day 13: Will The Circle Be Unbroken?

Though from a traditional Hymn originating from the Mid-West that would scare the devil out of you, the lyrics of this famous song, covered by greats such as Johnny Cash, are indicative of a long standing theme in Northern Ireland: that people think this is a good as it gets. My Granny, right up until her passing, lived a simple life. A life where submission to the voices of political leaders and a world where you knew your place trumped one of freedom and a world where you k

Apr 1, 2018
5 min

Day 12: Interested Outsiders, Not Insiders

“I detect an accent…where are you from?” Since starting university in Washington DC last September, this has been the question I have received most frequently and yet it is still the one I struggle to answer. I continue to contemplate; what is my identity? British? Irish? Northern Irish? Yet, identity is a concept that not only dominates my daily interactions but has prevailed in both the conversations and actions of Northern Ireland throughout its history. Problems of identi

Mar 31, 2018
4 min

Day 11: Thin In The Middle

If you have seen the beautifully nostalgic ‘Derry Girls’ then you have a fair idea of what my life was like in April 1998. I was 16 and although I knew who all the grey haired (mostly) men talking to the TV cameras from Stormont were, they seemed far removed from me and my life which, at that time, revolved around balancing studying for my GCSEs with my part-time job and dancing in Lavery’s on a Saturday night. The atmosphere at school was buzzing but that had more to do with

Mar 30, 2018
5 min

Day 10: An Imperfect Necessity

As we rapidly approach the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA), I think its important to consider what the most optimistic in 1998 must have thought that Northern Irish society would look like 20 years later. Even those who retain a slice of that optimism would likely admit that things have not quite turned out as planned. The anniversary comes as the GFA is faces unprecedented threats; one is an internal issue, namely the failure of Stormont and inability to

Mar 29, 2018
6 min

Day 9: Whither Human Rights in Northern Ireland?

Truly, 2018 is a year crammed with important anniversaries and commemorations for Northern Ireland. These anniversaries are more than just an opportunity to tweet an emoji-infused hashtag, or collect a shiny new badge (and trust me, I am guilty on both charges). They provide a moment to pause, to reflect on the past and understand the present, and speculate on the future. 2018 is a year to consider the standard of human rights in Northern Ireland, twenty years since the histo

Mar 28, 2018
6 min

Day 8: From Peace to Paralysis

Who would have thought that, I, a nineteen-year-old Northern Irish female, could be criminalised for wanting control over my own body? Who would have through that 20 years after the Good Friday Agreement, we would still be having the same conversations over and over again about individuals being able to control their own bodily anatomy. I have campaigned heavily for changes to the law both in Northern Ireland and Ireland over the past couple of years. I am delighted to see th

Mar 27, 2018
4 min

Day 7: Should Northern Ireland Move On?

You’re in Great Britain and you mention Northern Ireland to someone. What do they think of? More optimistically, they might think of Game of Thrones or maybe the Titanic. If they give you a political answer, it’s unlikely to be positive – often cited will be differences in social policy: abortion or gay marriage perhaps. Or in the past year, the infamous billion pound DUP bung keeping Theresa May’s Tory government in power. It’s now coming up to twenty years since the Good Fr

Mar 26, 2018
6 min

Day 6: Compassion Over Competition

Firstly, I cannot write about marriage equality. I can only write about why we need it. Really you don’t need to read any further: we don’t have equality and we need it. Since the Good Friday Agreement the LGBT community have seen the age of consent for LGBT couples equalised in 2000, and Civil-Partnership legislation in 2005. Bills passed by the UK Parliament in Westminster. One of the first civil partnerships following the UK-wide legislation was held in Belfast. 2017 Belfa

Mar 25, 2018
5 min

Day 5: Time for a Constitutional Convention?

We’ve had so many agreements over the last two decades that an outsider could be forgiven for thinking Northern Ireland politics are actually rather amicable. After the 1998 Good Friday Agreement came St Andrews (2006), Hillsborough Castle (2010), Stormont House (2014) and, of course, the Fresh Start (2015). That’s not even including the almost-agreements of Leeds Castle (2004), the Haass-O’Sullivan talks (2013) and the Draft/Non-Draft Agreement (2018). It’s a dizzying story

Mar 24, 2018
4 min

Day 4: 20 Years of Peace

When I was a child, my parents wouldn’t let me play outside with toy guns for the fear that I might be shot. I didn’t understand their concerns back then. Neither did I understand why British soldiers stopped our car at checkpoints on the way into Newry, searched our home in the middle of the night or ran repetitive drills in the fields that surround our house. The ubiquitous sound of helicopter blades slicing the air was the music of my childhood. I know that these experienc

Mar 23, 2018
4 min

Day 3: Still Waving Away The Dinosaurs

In anticipation of the 20th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, the individuals and groups who were imperative to its development are sure to be eulogised by writers, academics, and others. Among those parties involved, it is the lasting legacies of the women- whose roles were vital to the Agreement- that this piece will focus on, celebrating their participation in bringing such a monumental political development into fruition. From Secretary of State Mo

Mar 22, 2018
5 min

Day 2: In Defence of the Shared Future

We’re living through years of highly significant anniversaries in Northern Ireland at the moment. The 50th anniversary of foundation of the Civil Rights movement, the 20th Anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and soon the 100th Anniversary of the creation of Northern Ireland itself as a state and the coming anniversaries of those who’ve lost their lives as a result of living in Northern Ireland. Naturally at times like these we will often look to the past to judge where w

Mar 21, 2018
3 min

Day 1: The Foundation of Home

I first learned about the Good Friday Agreement when I was nine years old, during morning assembly at my school. In April 1998, I was attending one of the few integrated primary schools in Northern Ireland. We were told by our headmaster that the then-Secretary of State Mo Mowlam would be coming to visit our school, and we all had to write her a letter about the importance of going to an integrated school. The best four writers would get to meet her and read out their letters