Dr. Conor Patterson:

My mother is from Dundalk and my father is from Newry. That was very common when I was young, but it is less common now. Social separatism has developed over the past 40 years. People follow institutional change, and given that policy and systems are back-to-back, with regard to currency and so on, it is not surprising that people in the North look north and people in the South look south. It is inevitable. The only way we will achieve change is through more locally led intervention supported by central government. It is the local people most affected by partition who know where change can be made in the most cost-effective manner.