Good Friday Agreement: The girl called 'Hope' who was born as the Northern Ireland peace deal was struck

Kerrie Patterson represents a generation which has only known peace - but their future remains uncertain

Kerrie Hope Patterson pictured at Trinity College Dublin (Supplied)

As almost 30 years of brutal sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland were brought to an end with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, Kerrie Hope Patterson became the first child born into the province's newfound peace.

Signed on the afternoon of 10 April 1998, as the British and Irish governments joined the region's main political parties in celebrating the peace deal at Stormont, her overjoyed parents welcomed her arrival across town at the Royal Victoria Hospital.

“It was talked about as something to be proud of,” she told The Independent, looking back on how her parents would explain it to her as a child. “They wanted that to be a part of my character. The fact that the two sides were able to reconcile, and that there was a positive outcome.”

Ms Patterson is effectively the first of a generation who have known nothing but peace, and yet Northern Ireland remains a long way from reconciliation. The school system remains largely segregated, as does social housing, just two obvious barriers to Catholic and Protestant children growing up with understanding and respect for each other.

Speaking from Trinity College in Dublin where she is studying Law and Business, Ms Patterson said she was now experiencing a new environment.

“Growing up in Lisburn, the school I would have gone to would have been one sided, a majority of Protestants, and now living in Dublin, obviously Catholicism is more prominent. We think there’s such a big difference but there’s not such a big difference - it’s more of a barrier in our heads.”

While the Northern Ireland of the previous 20 years has been marked by political rows over parades and flags, cultural differences and the legacy of the Troubles, since voting for the first time two years ago, Ms Patterson’s concerns are more in keeping with those of other people her age across the UK and Ireland.

Kerrie's birth made the front pages of many newspapers on the day after the Good Friday Agreement was signed

“I’m studying now with a view to going into the business side of things - I think about what opportunities for jobs and things there will be, whether it be the north or the south.”

But she also believes that social issues, some of which have contributed to the political deadlock in Northern Ireland, are moving across the traditional orange and green divide - on the ground at least.

“Millennials definitely discuss these things more now. It’s not about your religion, it’s more what your belief is on that certain topic - abortion, same sex marriage - that’s where you should see the two sides tackling issues together.”

But alas, they are not. In January 2017, Sinn Fein collapsed the Northern Ireland Executive, primarily in protest over a political scandal involving Arlene Foster, but also citing wider issues around equality and respect which they felt the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) had refused to compromise on across a decade of power sharing.

Several rounds of talks to restore devolved government have failed since then, with civil servants managing Northern Ireland’s budget just to keep things ticking over.

“They’re not tackling the big issues that affect people, like education and healthcare, that’s what’s going to affect the majority of the population. I think it’s hard for them to set aside their beliefs, but that is having an impact on people.”

While recent elections have shown Sinn Fein and the DUP both increasing their vote shares, Ms Patterson also believes the new generation are less inclined to vote along the old tribal lines their parents and grandparents would have done.

“I’m more open minded to it all, regardless of religion. We’re less concerned with who they are and where they’ve come from, than what they’re going to do for the country. I would say most of my friends would be in the same boat as myself.”

Speaking fondly of life in Dublin, and like any young person just embarking on their university life, she said she enjoys the variety and diversity which thrives there. But just as the world is opening up to her, Brexit looms large. She is concerned about what Britain's exit from the European Union will mean for the Good Friday Agreement, and how it might make life harder for people across the island.

“Personally I wouldn’t want a hard border. Dublin is the city where I am now but home isn’t that far away, and a hard border would make the logistics of travelling up and down much more difficult. Harmonisation and peacefulness is something that’s much more likely to exist without a hard border.”

A poster protesting a hard border in Co Armagh, Northern Ireland (PA)

When The Independent spoke to Ms Patterson in 2013, she described herself as Northern Irish, rather than Irish or British, and maintains she feels the same today.

But she said: “I guess I just assumed I would always go home - but being in Dublin I see so many opportunities here. There are opportunities in Belfast too, but you wouldn’t want to see those put in jeopardy - that would put me off moving back home.”

The impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland remains to be seen, but one thing which has emerged as a sudden possibility is the major constitutional change which the Good Friday Agreement accommodates - a united Ireland. Ms Patterson says she is yet to form an opinion on this, but it’s becoming an unavoidable subject.

“I do think it’s becoming more talked about since Brexit, it’s more of a possibility. People talk about it in terms of what outcome is going to be better for them, in terms of trade, what the government can offer them, what it would be like as a place to live," she said.

There is evidence that younger voters - who have come of age during peacetime and are primarily concerned about their economic security - are more open to the prospect. While polls show a majority of people in Northern Ireland support remaining in the union, a Lucid Talk poll in October 2017 found that 56 per cent of 18-44 year olds would vote to join a united Ireland in a potential referendum in the next decade.

“It was always something pushed far into the future, or in the back of people’s minds,” she said. “But it might now be becoming something people are considering more, and are more open to.”

Like many people her age, Ms Patterson admits she is still forming her political opinions, but she seems to place great importance on understanding and sustaining the new society that has grown with her over the past two decades. And if there’s one thing she is sure of, it is that power sharing - and thus the Good Friday Agreement - must prevail.

“Having our own devolved government, it is such a unique case. It was difficult to achieve. I think what’s certainly most important is that they would be working together, no matter what - not just saying there was an agreement, but actually working together, and accepting each other’s differences, and opinions and beliefs.”