Northern
Ireland - The Past |
• 3,637
killed – average of 10 killings a month for 30
years
• 45,000 wounded
• 15,300 bombs
• 36,000 shootings
• 30,000 terrorism convictions
• 300,000 troops deployed since 1969
• $100 billion+ estimated financial cost |
| Northern
Ireland - The Present |
| • 94% of
young people are educated in schools with students
of the same religion as their own.
• Many go through
school never knowing a member of the other community.
• Sport is segregated.
• 92.5% of public housing
is segregated.
• Photos
>
• In the first 72 hours of rioting in September 2005:
- 146 blast bombs were thrown
- 116 vehicles were hijacked
- 115 shots were fired at police
- 354 plastic bullets and 11 live rounds were fired
by the security forces
- 81 police officers were injured
• More than 25% of young people
experienced sectarian verbal abuse in 2005
• Police Service of Northern Ireland
data
- There has been an average
of five attacks a month on churches, chapels,
Orange Halls, GAA and AOH clubs every year since
1994.
- 376
cases of rioting and 1,014 disturbances
in interface areas of North Belfast (1996- 2004)
- 3,864
cases of criminal damage and 1,327 assaults in
the areas (1996- 2004)
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Northern
Ireland - The Good News |
• Since
1998, the number of integrated schools has
grown from 43 to 58, and the provision of places
in integrated schools has grown from 3% to over 5%
of the school population.
• Today there are 58 integrated
schools spread throughout N. Ireland
educating 18,000 children.
Help The American
Ireland Fund
carry out its program for change
in Northern Ireland
|
• The
quality of education at
an integrated school is excellent. Integrated
schools are performing 14% better that
other non-grammar schools
• 2004 had
the biggest annual increase in
integrated schools ever,
with seven more schools
opening (2 of which were
existing segregated schools).
• In 2005,
600 children
were denied a place at integrated
schools due to over-subscription
• 52% of
parents stated that they did
not send their child to an
integrated school because there
was none in the area.
• 80% of
the most over-subscribed schools
in Northern Ireland are integrated.
• 93% of
students felt that attending
an integrated school had a
significant impact on their
lives
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Integrated
Education for a Future of Peace |
We foresee a Northern Ireland
where violent conflict and peace walls will be a thing
of the past, a society where tolerance
and respect for difference are the norm, where the
collective energy, talents and enthusiasm of the people
will flourish in a dynamic, knowledge based economy
and where the primacy of Education will be accepted
by all and accessible to all.
“An
essential aspect of the reconciliation process
is the promotion of a culture of tolerance
at every level of society and included initiatives
to facilitate and encourage integrated education….”
Article 13,
Good Friday Agreement
"The philosophy of the school
room in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the
next."
Abraham Lincoln |
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This is a vision of a society which is integrated, not segregated, and
where all communities interact for the common good bound together by a
passion never to return to the dark days of the Troubles but to constantly
look to a peaceful, prosperous future in tandem with the rest of the Island
and the broader, worldwide Irish Diaspora.
If you are interested in learning more about Integrated Education in Northern
Ireland
please contact The American Ireland Fund
P - 617-574-0720
E - info@irlfunds.org
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NOW
