Can integrated education finally bring peace to Northern Ireland?

A Nobel peace prize nomination for the schools breaking Northern Ireland’s barriers could accelerate the reconciliation the nation sorely needs, writes Adam McGibbon

A 2016 celebratory walk by Lagan College pupils, staff and founding parents to mark 35 years of integrated education in Northern Ireland (Declan Roughan)

On a rainy evening last month, a crowd of invited guests in north London’s Big Sky Studios celebrated a milestone in the struggle for lasting peace in Northern Ireland.

It is a story of hope when hope is in short supply. Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government collapsed in January 2017 over alleged corruption in a government-run energy scheme. October 2019 marks 1,000 days without an administration. Progress on peace and reconciliation – glacial as it was when the Northern Ireland Executive was running – is in danger of going into reverse. Architects of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement peace deal describe the situation as leaving Northern Ireland in a “dangerous moment”. The murder of a young journalist by the self-styled “new IRA” this year and the real prospect of a Brexit-imposed hard border between the North and the Republic of Ireland, leaves many feeling hopeless.

But there is a movement – one that has campaigned through Northern Ireland’s darkest days – that shows how only people power can change the situation, and points to a better future.