The latest series of Holywell Conversations podcasts began with reflections on the Good Friday Agreement, amidst fears that Northern Irelands devolution was over, and that series has now completed at a time when government has actually resumed.Over the s

Derry has been campaigning for a full sized university campus for the last 60 years. The city still holds a grievance over the Lockwood report from 1965, which chose Coleraine for the location of the new university, rather than Derry’s existing Magee Coll

The Legacy Act is HereThe widely opposed Legacy Bill is now enacted as the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act, 2023. But it remains widely hated and the Irish government has launched inter-state proceedings against the UK administr

Women in Northern Ireland are twice as likely to be murdered as a result of domestic violence than in the other UK nations. In some years, almost half of Northern Ireland murders are connected to domestic violence. In the 2022/23 year, of 17 homicides the

There is immense frustration across Northern Irelands community sector that the Civic Forum collapsed in 2002 and was not replaced. Demands are increasing for citizens assemblies, or similar, to provide an alternative voice to that of politicians, espec

Agriculture is worth around 1.7bn to the Northern Ireland economy, 4% of total economic activity, according to figures published by the Department for the Economy. This compares to farming comprising just 1% of the UK economy so farming is worth four t

When waiting lists are discussed and shouted about in Northern Ireland, we are usually talking about our disintegrating healthcare system. But there is a second waiting list crisis that of households seeking social housing.As at March of last year, ther

Derry is a frustrated city. Too often promises of improvement either come to nothing, or happen too slowly.Anyone who doubts this can consider the regeneration of two major development sites Ebrington and Fort George. One is now partially occupied, the

Last week was Good Relations Week, the annual Community Relations Council event that aims to build relationships between people of different backgrounds in Northern Ireland, including across the traditional Catholic and Protestant divisions and also peopl

Why do we still have peace walls?Why, a quarter of a century after the Good Friday Agreement, do we still have peace walls? The truth, of course, is that the peace deal ended the conflict, but failed to end division and embed reconciliation.Murdered j