Harris’s point on Derry and Belfast rings true for many

Dismissing Simon Harris’s comments that a younger generation is “more familiar” with other European cities than with Belfast or Derry means ignoring an uncomfortable truth: he has a point. The Taoiseach made the assertion as a millennial, telling politicians from the UK and Ireland that his generation is “more familiar” with London, Berlin and Paris than cities on the same island, just north of the Border.

His remarks have been criticised as “nonsense” and perhaps, coming from someone in the generation above mine, they are. But for a generation born after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement – Gen Z – it would be remiss to say they don’t hold some truth.

Even if speaking only in practical terms, it takes almost six hours by bus or train to get to Belfast from where I grew up in Co Cork.

It involves first travelling to Dublin and then crossing the city centre to catch the second leg of the journey. A trip from Cork to Derry using public transport would take closer to seven hours.

Booking a flight for this journey would be out of the question, especially when it would be cheaper to fly the hour to London or farther afield.

Yesterday, Harris made his point about relations between the Republic and the North and asked: “How do we get people knowing each other?”

It’s just not feasible to lament why people on this island don’t “know each other better” without first having a serious conversation on how they are actually supposed to get from one side to the other.

Meeting any friends from the North involves us both travelling half way to meet in Dublin or Belfast before making a lengthy, tiring and a sometimes pricey trip back home.

We keep up to date with each other by text or on social media – which can come with its own issues when it comes to fostering a better understanding of lives north and south of the Border.

Knowledge of what happened during the Troubles in terms of dates and details can be foggy for a younger generation in the Republic at best, and is heavily reliant on tuned-in family members willing to share the facts and fill in the blanks.

A genuine sense of its effects and shockwaves can be even more difficult to grasp when it is not sufficiently embedded in school curriculums.

Hit show Derry Girls did much of the heavy lifting in recent years when it came to showing the reality and complexities of life in the North just before we were born.

The decisions for a shared future cannot be made by a generation that has dropped the ball when it comes to teaching young people about their shared past.

However uncomfortable a truth it is, dismissing the Taoiseach’s comments does nothing to open up the conversation to those willing to hold up their hands and say “I want to learn”.

It only widens gaps that many are already falling between.

‘Derry Girls did much of the heavy lifting when it came to the reality of life in the North just before we were born’