EARLY EDUCATIONAL INTERVENTION is the key to breaking the cycle of conflict in Northern Ireland, a committee on the Good Friday Agreement heard today.

Rev Dr Gary Mason of the East Belfast Mission and Professor Peter McBride of the Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health outlined the disruptive influence of the conflict which they said has flowed through to younger generations at today’s meeting of the Oireachtas’ Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

Conflict

The members were told that early educational intervention was key to breaking the cycle of conflict that continues to afflict many communities in Northern Ireland.

Committee Member Frank Feighan TD, who chaired this afternoon’s discussions, thanked the participants and said that Dr Mason said the recent flags protests in Belfast were an example of “how the issue of the trauma from the conflict is being transmitted to a younger generation with no experience of the Troubles”.

He also outlined to the Committee what he termed fragmentation between loyalist and republican communities in recent years, noting that more listening was required to bolster reconciliation efforts.

Prof McBride said that, while the Good Friday Agreement brought welcome institutional changes, “the psychological and emotional scars from the conflict endured in communities across Northern Ireland”, added Deputy Feighan.

He said that Prof McBride noted that, compared with other post-conflict situations, “the contested history of Northern Ireland’s conflict made it difficult for either side to move on”.

However, he said that early educational intervention would help to secure a more peaceful and stable society.

The Committee also heard from leading academics on the links being forged between St Angela’s College in Sligo and the School of Education at the University of Ulster.

They were told how a Memorandum of Understanding which formalises the relationship between both institutions had been signed.

Speaking at the committee, Michelle Gildernew MP raised the issue of cross border cooperation in education, saying there needs to be enhanced cooperation between schools on different sides of the border.

Deputy Martin Ferris said that the Good Friday Agreement “has kept a lid on the type of conflict that the six counties experienced for three decades previous”.

However, there are many issues that still need to be addressed. Sinn Féin have continuously called for an Independent International Truth Commission to deal with many of these outstanding issues.

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