Life after the Troubles

What happens when people stop fighting? Does life simply return to normal? Listen to Elaine talking about how her life and her home country have changed as a result of the Troubles.

Northern-Ireland_22_Lisa-F-Young_Shutterstock_2835396_square_s.jpg

Lindis: How do you think this has affected you?

Elaine: Er … well, it has affected me because I made a decision er … when I was er … doing my A-levels that er, I wanted to go away to university and get away from Northern Ireland er, to experience something different. So I feel that if th-, there hadn’t been the Troubles, I’d probably would have stayed at home. And that’s, applies to my whole family. I mean, my who-, I have two brothers and a sister and all of us left Northern Ireland.

Lindis: Goodness!

Elaine: So that’s quite typical, I think, of a lot of families. Especially, er, if you have a chance maybe to erm … get a good qualification, that you can go maybe to, go to the UK, go to Australia, America, and get a, a decent job there. And a lot of people have actually left, and have, have not returned.

Lindis: How do you think things have changed over the last 20–30 years?

Elaine: Things have definitely improved. Erm … I might feel-, I feel slightly bitter about the fact that I grew up during the worst part of the Troubles erm, but I’m, at the same time, I f-, feel extremely happy that young people today don’t have to suffer that.
And the situation has improved a lot, erm … it’s very peaceful but er, there are certain kind of waves of discontent beneath the surface. You still have some people who don’t accept the, the Peace Agreement.
But on, on the whole I think most people are just trying to get on with their lives, and, and make the most of it and er … So it, it has improved a lot. There’s much more freedom, freedom of movement, people can go into the city centre, go shopping without security checks. So … Also when it comes to schools er … there’s actually been a, a movement you might say among a lot of parents where they’re trying to push for interdenominational schools.

Lindis: Interdenominational schools?

Elaine: Er … schools that are not segregated according to religion. Kind of mixed schools, Protestant and Catholic. And I think that this has sort of been quite popular and the government are now giving their support to that, financially. So this is a very positive er, development.

Life after the Troubles

Crossroads

Life after the Troubles

Life after the Troubles

Login