ALMOST 30 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, people from other conflict zones around the world still beat a path to our door in search of lessons they can lift from us and apply to their own situation.

I have spoken to many of the visiting delegations and reminded them of the thumping irony at the heart of our peace process: it never actually resolved the key cause of our conflict.

And, in failing to resolve it, ensured that divisions remain as alive and well fed today as they were in April 1998.

Unionists still want a United Kingdom. Nationalists still want a united Ireland.

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Yes, Northern Ireland is a demonstrably safer place than it used to be, and we don’t gather around the radio or television for the latest grim headlines, or worry about family and friends when we used to hear the regular thud of a bomb or crack of a rifle. We inhabit a safer space.

There is more to-and-fro between people of different political and constitutional backgrounds, and relationships between couples from different religious backgrounds are no longer greeted with a silent, pursed-lip ‘Hmm’.

For all of that change, we should be grateful. But we mustn’t delude ourselves that safe spaces and mixed marriages and........

© The Irish News