Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees
Thursday, 13 June 2024
Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement
Women and Constitutional Change: Discussion (Resumed)
10:00 am
Ms Eileen Weir:
We are not going to be able to fix things at the youth level if we do not fix it at the adult level. These two aspects go hand in hand. It is not possible to buy your way out of trauma unless you actually work with the communities that suffered most of that trauma through the 30 years of the conflict.
To me, trauma is just swept over. We concentrate on educating our youth and working with them, which is great. I do not have a problem with that. I do have a problem with what is happening with the age group from 43 upwards. I refer to those 43-plus because these were the people who voted for the Good Friday Agreement. These were the people who made the peace process possible and who are now being left behind. The majority of these people are the ones who are transferring the trauma. Sometimes, they do not even realise they are transferring this trauma.
No comments