The Assembly Podcast Northern Ireland Assembly

“The Role of Information Recovery and Accountability in Advancing Reconciliation – Professor Louise Mallinder, Queen’s University Belfast
This is the last of the seminars reflecting on the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. The theme is reconciliation.
The parties to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement 1998 expressly recognised the need to acknowledge and address the harms experienced by victims; stating it “…was a necessary element of reconciliation…”. While the Agreement itself only sparsely addressed how that should be done, the then Northern Ireland Victims Commissioner was tasked to develop more detailed reconciliation proposals in parallel to the ongoing political negotiations; ultimately resulting in the publication of his 1999 report. Since then, numerous official and civil society initiatives have explored how to advance reconciliation within Northern Ireland through information recovery and accountability; and have provided recommendations. This presentation draws on the Agreement and the work of official and civil society initiatives, together with academic literature and international best practice, to consider what they all may offer to advance reconciliation relating to information recovery and accountability in Northern Ireland.
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Dr Anna Bryson, Queen’s University Belfast
Since the 1998 Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, a number of significant initiatives have sought to facilitate “uncomfortable conversations” about the past and address the rights and needs of victims. This presentation examines those efforts in light of the relevant academic literature and international best practice. In particular, it critically examines the role of oral history and memorialisation in advancing reconciliation and peace.

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Presentation from Professor Ann Marie Gray, Ulster University - The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement provided some optimism for the prospect of greater gender equality in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition had ensured that the Agreement included a list of rights, including a right to equal opportunity and “the right of women to full and equal political participation” in particular. Potential for transforming gender relations also was enshrined in Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, a progressive and far-reaching equality duty; codified to help deliver equality for women and other protected sectoral groups. This presentation examines social and public policy priorities and outcomes, to reflect on the state of gender equality in Northern Ireland 25 years after the signing of the Agreement. It considers: how is the concept of equality understood and operationalised in policy making?; where has there been progress and what factors have inhibited progress towards gender equality?; and, what needs to happen to secure a more gender equal society in future? 
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The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement ended a three decades-long conflict in Northern Ireland. Dr Graham Brownlow of Queen’s University Belfast examines how peace has brought some economic improvements, including lower unemployment, higher wages for low earners and new industries arriving. But it also highlights how progress in other areas – particularly productivity – has been limited. 
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Senior Economist Esmond Birnie from Ulster University's presentation provides a retrospective assessment of an article published in 1998, which outlined a potential economic agenda for the then new Northern Ireland Assembly (Esmond Birnie and David Hitchens, “An economic agenda for the Northern Ireland Assembly”, Regional Studies, vol. 32, no. 8, pp. 769-87). From a present day perspective, it examines key issues, including: was peace a sufficient condition for economic upsurge? And, how far was there a toxic trade-off with respect to environmental policy? As well as considering planning policy and competitiveness policy? And looking ahead, it concludes with some “forecasting” for the next 25 years.
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This presentation considers key reasons for the current lack of consensus on how best to protect human rights in Northern Ireland. It draws on academic study of Northern Ireland’s experience over the last 25 years since the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, as well as lessons learned from other jurisdictions. Examining a way forward, it considers whether the lack of consensus arises from a failure of imagination and flexibility?; whether a programme of constructive engagement, with less suspicion and division, could better enable all and improve the lives of a lot of people living in Northern Ireland?; and, whether such a programme could help to fulfil human rights obligations enshrined in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement?
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