Partition: What did it do for us?

As part of the Good Relations Programme, members of the local community were invited to participate in six educational sessions earlier this year which followed on from the Ethical and Shared Remembering Programme.

On the 23rd December 1920, the Government of Ireland Act was signed off by King George V and the Partition of Ireland became a legal reality. Much violence took place. Out of the violence two confessional states emerged from centuries of colonial domination and rule, and from centuries of political and religious sectarianism.

The Act of 1920 not only partitioned Ireland, it partitioned the Province of Ulster, Irish Unionism and Irish Nationalism. All of this had consequences and has left legacies, still experienced and felt to the present.

At the sessions, delivered by the Junction, participants were presented with the historical narratives that raised awareness of the impact on the two minority communities beached on the wrong side of the border. They gained an understanding of how the historical events impacted on the political and religious divide of the two main traditions in a deeply respectful way in order to assist in increasing respect for different cultures and identities.

Some participants comments included:

“this was an informative and well managed course. thank you.”

“Thank you very much for facilitating the programme.”

“Once again thank you for the opportunity to participate in the two programmes I learnt so much and have been given a greater insight into complexities of our shared history.”