Northern Ireland’s peace generation frozen out by politics of war
BELFAST/ BESSBROOK, Northern Ireland: The sudden collapse of a power- sharing agreement that ended decades of violence in Northern Ireland has angered a younger generation who feel robbed of their future by the failure of politicians to get over the sectarian prejudices of the past.
After bitter compromises over paramilitaries and policing, the province’s cross- community government finally imploded over farmers abusing a green- energy scheme, forcing an election on March 2.
The confrontation has exposed the frustrations of younger people over what they say is a breakdown in trust between Catholic Irish nationalists and pro- British Protestant unionists that has stifled job creation and economic prosperity.
While there is no sign of a return to the violence that killed 3,600 people, the political crisis looks set to paralyse government in the province for months at the same time as Britain’s exit from the European Union threatens shockwaves to its economy, constitutional status and border with Ireland.
“People are frustrated because
People are frustrated because they can’t agree on anything. They can’t compromise... If one side says something the other side has to object.
they can’t agree on anything. They can’t compromise,” said Carlos Barr, a 16-year- old student, referring to the older generation of politicians. “If one side says something the other side has to object.”
While it is impossible to quantify the impact of sectarian disputes on economic growth, many young people complain they have scared off foreign investment, delayed reforms and deepened a culture of dependency on the state in the two communities.
“People don’t come together enough to make it work,” said HenryJoseph-Grant,33,aNorthern Ireland-born entrepreneur.
While jobs are disappearing in older industries like farming and manufacturing, Northern Ireland and its politicians lack the entrepreneurial culture to create new ones, he said.
“A lot of the big corporates look at Northern Ireland and are put off.”
For swathes of the under-30s, the dominant feeling is the violence of the 1970s and ‘80s still casts a long shadow over political decisions.
“The frustration that young people speak to us about (is that) whilst they are working hard to ... overcome barriers and deal with legacy issues, they feel that this doesn’t always happen in mainstream politics,” said Chris Quinn, 39, director of the Northern Ireland Youth Forum.
The political crisis came to a head when Democratic Unionist Party First Minister Arlene Foster refused to step aside temporarily to allow an investigation into the green energy scandal and Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said he had no option but to resign.
McGuinness, a 66-year- old former Irish Republican Army leader, was replaced by Michelle O’Neill, 40, whose father was jailed during ‘ The Troubles’.
McGuinness had a frosty relationship with DUP First Minister Arlene Foster, whose
Carlos Barr, a 16-year-old student
police reservist father narrowly avoided being killed in an IRA shooting when she was a child.
The incident, along with a later IRA attack on her school bus, ‘is part of who I am’, Foster recently told an interviewer.
Few people see the election in March as delivering a breakthrough.
“It’s that frustration of the inevitability of the election being this big thing to promote change but it definitely won’t,” Matthews said. — AFP