Northern Ireland’s peace-defining identities

What two women now leading the province say about healing the past to build a future for all.

The Monitor's View

With about 180 violent conflicts around the globe – the highest number in more than three decades – the world could use fresh models in peacemaking. Northern Ireland provided such an example 26 years ago with an agreement that ended a sectarian conflict known as “The Troubles.” Last week, the region – which is formally part of the United Kingdom but on the same island as the Republic of Ireland – again showed what it takes to build trust across lingering divides.

A new agreement brokered with Britain not only restored a functioning government after two years of legislative deadlock but also allowed two women – from the main political powers – to be elected as joint executives with equal power and responsibility. And in a highly symbolic step, the “first minister,” Michelle O’Neill, is from Sinn Féin, the party that was once the political arm of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army that fought for unity with Ireland.

But it was really what each woman said that reflects the lessons learned in Northern Ireland since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

In a note of humility, Ms. O’Neill said she was “sorry for all the lives lost during the conflict. Without exception.” She said the restoration of a government is a “moment of equality” and that “wherever we come from, whatever our aspirations, we can and must build our future together.

“As an Irish republican I pledge cooperation and genuine honest effort with those colleagues who are British, of a unionist tradition and who cherish the Union. This is an assembly for all – Catholic, Protestant and dissenter.”

The deputy first minister, Emma Little-Pengelly of the pro-Britain Democratic Unionist Party, said, “We are all born equal – and the people who look on this sitting [of the Northern Ireland Assembly] today demand us to work together.

“The past, with all its horror, can never be forgotten,” she added. “While we are shaped by the past, we are not defined by it.”

Although the question of unification with Ireland remains open, both leaders recognize that, first of all, the people in the region need good government. The two years of nongovernance was triggered by the U.K. exiting the European Union while Ireland stayed in. The Democratic Unionists pulled out of Northern Ireland’s Legislative Assembly until a deal was reached last week on preserving a free trading of goods between Britain and Northern Ireland.

The new government also reflects shifts in attitudes and demographics. In 2022, Catholics outnumbered Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time, according to census figures. Many new people have moved to the region. More residents do not identify with any religion. The largest group, or 38%, do not see themselves as taking sides in whether the region should remain part of the U.K. or join with Ireland.

“This place we call home, this place we love, North of Ireland or Northern Ireland, where you can be British, Irish, both or none is a changing portrait,” said Ms. O’Neill. The wisdom of the 1998 pact still holds: Let the people, through the broadest and best consensus-making, decide their future – a future not decided by violence.