Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge that the Taoiseach said that at his last meeting with Mr. Cameron it was not discussed, but I think he will agree that there is no question that integrated education is a vital step in Northern Ireland's peace process, followed by housing integration and the integration of the entire society. That is where we are missing the message. This was highlighted superbly last week during the visit of President Obama and his wife to Northern Ireland by a young lady, Hannah Nelson. She is a Methodist College student who completely upstaged our distinguished visitors with the candid simplicity of her speech. She said: "We should not let the past pull us apart and stop us from moving forward ... We need to work together, not apart. We need to listen to each other and we need to compromise." The issue of segregation in childhood needs to be addressed. She attends Methodist College where Protestant and Catholic children sit side by side, play, learn and grow up together, but the majority of children in Northern Ireland do not have that facility and remain segregated. If Catholics continue to have their schools and Protestants have theirs, if we cannot see one another in ourselves, if fear, resentment and growing hatred are allowed to harden, that will encourage division and non-co-operation. I ask the Taoiseach, the next time he meets the British Prime Minister, Mr. Cameron, to make it a priority to sit down with him, not just to discuss this issue but to make sure clear and achievable objectives are defined within a timeframe in order that we can see some real change in the integration of education and all of the integration that needs to follow.

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