The Approach of Government: Community Relations and Equity

Abstract

Over 25 years ago — for the present author almost a lifetime — the present wave of violence broke out in Northern Ireland. Since that time over 3000 people have been killed and ten times that number have been injured. There have been over 34000 recorded shooting incidents and over 14000 bombs planted: over 100 tons of explosives have been seized and a greater weight is estimated to have been exploded. Between 1972 and 1992, 15615 people were charged with terrorist offences. Viewed from the outside the absolute level of deaths in Northern Ireland can look modest, but a more considered examination of the data should highlight the deep sense of pain and bitterness felt by many. Perhaps most starkly of all, survey evidence suggests that almost one in two people in Northern Ireland have had a friend or acquaintance killed in the violence, and almost one in ten have had a member of their family killed (Smith, 1987). Whatever the state of relations between the Protestant and Catholic communities prior to the violence, there should be no doubt that there exists a deep well of bitterness that has poisoned, and has the potential to continue poisoning, community relations. If this chapter begins by painting a pessimistic scenario, it is motivated rather by an attempt to inject a hard sense of realism. Even if the violence were to end over-night, the emotional and psychological consequences would remain with us for many years to come and this is a reality from which we should not flinch. That said, an acknowledgement of the severity of the problem should not lead us to wallow in despair: to paraphrase a famous aphorism of Antonio Gramsci, we should maintain a realistic sense of the difficulties we face while at the same time retaining an optimistic sense that they can, in time, be overcome. This is certainly the spirit in which this chapter is written.