Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)

As Deputy Higgins has already said, we all welcomed the enormous movement by people in the North - Catholic, Protestant and those of no religion - who in response to some of the most horrendous atrocities in the conflict there demanded an end to the sectarian violence that had blighted the Northern state for so long. It was that pressure of people power uniting against sectarian atrocities that brought about an end to the worst aspects of the conflict in the North. While it was not, sadly, an end to all the conflict, at least it created an atmosphere in which the main participants in that conflict stood down and peace agreements followed. We all welcomed that and we all abhor the attempt by small numbers of people to return to or continue down the cul-de-sac of sectarian violence that blighted the North.

While it is right and justified to condemn and criticise in the strongest terms groups that wish to continue down that failed and disastrous road, it is also worth pointing out - as we did at the time - that the structures that were established as a result of the peace agreement institutionalised politics along sectarian lines, not dissimilar to what has happened in places such as Lebanon and elsewhere and has at least helped to continue to fester sectarian sentiment rather than overcome it by having, for example, quota systems when it comes to voting.

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