Professor Peter McBride:

I agree that the real question in all of this is how the difficult stuff is handled. There is a case to be made that one of the outcomes of the peace process was the end of the careers of both John Hume and David Trimble. One analysis has it that these individuals pushed their own constituencies too far, which resulted in the end of the Official Unionist Party and the SDLP. An important point to make is that the skills and attributes which assist in bringing an end to war are not necessarily the skills and attributes which help to create peace. We are talking about different things. There is something to be said for creating a safe and secure environment which might encourage people who will not be seen publicly to be doing something to take some risks below the radar. There is conflict and it has been institutionalised.

Finding a mechanism to get out of that conflict and manage it in a way that is not violent or destructive and does not involve the degeneration of society again is the real challenge. We live in a very tense and anxiety-ridden society. Therefore, we need to create somewhere safe where people can begin to get beyond the political rhetoric into some of the conflict behind it but in a way that is facilitative and constructive. That is a huge challenge.