|
Ten years ago the people of Ireland, North and South, approved the Good Friday Agreement in a referendum. Nobody was under any illusion that it offered a perfect solution to the problem of Northern Ireland but it did prove to be a way forward for the province.
The agreement was a chance to put aside sectarian hatred for the politics of consensus and provide a template for conflict resolution that has lessons for any society torn apart by ethnic mistrust. Northern Ireland today is a different world from a decade ago and while there are still pockets of mistrust, Ireland's people on both sides of the divide want to get on with their lives in a society free from bombs and violence. The establishment of a type of peace was seen to be more important than allowing a dominant political agenda to emerge. That could be the greatest lesson from a province that was for too long condemned by its history.
|
