Politics: the next generation

I remember my mum being
very scared about my dad
when
he worked in Belfast
when
there were bombs. I don't want that to happen again.
I know that both sides involved
in the 'troubles' are to blame,
along with the rest of us, but we have a short time in
this life
and there's no time to waste.
Killing and fighting
- it must stop soon.
They were sad and cost
many needless lives and
lets pray we never go back to that
state of living again.
Too many bigits and not enough
information
being passed from politicians to voters - mandate.
People should just wise up and live together
It has shown that we can't live
In Ireland as long as
the British and the RUC are here
and the ruthlessness of the Brits and RUC in
the past will never be forgotten or forgiven.
It had/has to be done to achieve
the rights of the Irish people
I hope that it will never happen again as
my father and grandfather were both killed
in the troubles and I would not want
my child to grow up in a world of violence.
People died for their country, now they have went
the peaceful way. But we shall return
to the gun if Ireland is not
made free. Those who forget or
ignore the mistakes
of the past are doomed to repeat them in the future.
Let us learn from the disasters of the past

There can be no going back to the days of a
sectarian 6 county state
To look back
to remember
what happened
but to get on with what is happening now
and not to get sidetracked with the past.
it is ridiculous that terrorism had been allowed
to carry on for so long. Too many innocent
people have been killed and
forgotten both roman catholic and protestant.
Horrifying.

Catholics were treated unfairly.
Leave it where it belongs and look
to the future
Violence should not be tolerated.
People out of touch
making decisions
concerning those in touch.
Thoughts and decisions of large groups students being
one of them
have been ignored due to self interest of politicians
and their parties - time for change.

It must be taken into account,
but it must not be allowed to dictate our future
we need to find the truth about the past,
before we can proceed to make any kind of future.
Heartbreak

Everyone has their one sided view depending
on what side they are on. Everyone
Can drag up 'their'
massacres and betrayals.
Don't go back to it.
Has been a terrible tradegy.
Unfortunately the british government turned a blind
eye to it and tried
to cover it up as it didn't affect them directly. They
must own
up to their mistakes and realise the nationalist
people of Northern Ireland especially have been
treated unfairly.
Both sides fighting for what they believed in, in
the only manner they saw as being effective in hold
on to their observed identity. A sad state
of affairs but had the nationalist community not
fought
the way they had they would be nobody, nowhere now
We must remember - teaching in schools is very
important.
Southerners should be taught more
about the troubles
in secondary schools
Irrelevant, need to look to the future.
Thank god thats gone (hopefully).
Over my head.
A pity that so many have died and
suffered at the hands of the
paramilitaries.
Past is in the past and should be
of minimal importance.
A sad past which should never be
repeated again - too many people have
lost relatives and suffered because
of the violence.
It was necessary for the nationalists
to take up arms
although the time has
come for change.
I've never known anything but the Troubles. It's been
there all my life.
Violence isn't a great idea.
I hope it never happens again.
People in our country tend to dwell on
It and marr the future rather than dwell on the future
and learn
from the past.
Ought to learn from past. Good cross
community relations can be
established, need to keep trying.
It is full of mistakes and misunderstanding which we
must
learn from or be doomed to repeat cliched but true.
Awfully sad
It has been very complicated, bitter.

Should be forgotten and the
politicians who are pulled up with historical rhetoric
should be replaced
by young
more representative
politicians.
It should be forgotten about as quickly as
possible because irish men have memories like
elephants and are too
busy looking at the past to see the future
Studying Irish history in the period of 1920
It is evident that meeting everyones demands (nats,
ulster union, brit gov)
was difficult due to fear of
losing out,
the situation is no different today.
Too much emphasis placed
on the past but it has been
restricting to the lives
of young people.
I think the past should be kept in the past.
I would strongly like the ceasefire back in NI.
Too much british involvment.
Past 25 years have proved
nothing and
only brought bloodshed and pain.
It should continue to be history.
Too much blood spilt too much
cheap talk,
not enough positive action
not enough positive action and
compromise
too much blood spilt, not enough positive action.
Past is past and should be left alone.
Religion is not politics.
Pointless.
We should learn from the past. Acknowledge that
mistakes were made and try to
make sure they
don't happen again.
Not enough
concessions
on either side by
politicians. Past proves
that it will be difficult to find a
permanent solution
to the northern ireland problem.
I feel the politicians have in a way
failed
because they did not take any gambles. The conflict
has proved to be worthless
many people have been killled
unnecessarily, the problems should have been
solved peacefully before
they became out of hand.

I think children used to be
more influenced by their parents
views but now things
are changing, and there are more
politics lessons so that the youth can make up their
own minds.
I think that the years of fighting could be used to a
positive effect.
The troubles have bred a generation
of people with a great degree of inner
strength and also the ability to rise against things
that they do not agree with or
believe in.
The past is over. It is gone
and should remain there. People in Ireland dwell
too much on the past and until a conscious
decision is made to put it behind us then
peace can never be achieved.
We should hope that
the future bears no
resemblence to the past.

Not enough talk
ignorance
of both.
Divisions and bad
management on the governments behalf
of the political situation allowed gerrymandering
to pass by unnoted.
It was a disaster that, in the 1960's could so easily
have been avoided if not for the
stubborness and sheer
ignorance
of several unionists.

Many innocent people were killed over
what is essentially
a piece of land -
this shouldn't be allowed to continue.
Sad that so much violence and so
many individuals lives have been seriously
affected due to
a futile conflict.
There has been a lot of prejudice from parents and
other elders and they have been influencing the
young to think and talk like them, even though they
didn't
fully understand what they were saying.
Because of lack of education, peace
process hasn't been going as well; deep rooted
prejudices prevent
compromise; concessions seen
as a victory for 'other side', lack
of trust, fear, anger
etc directed
at other community.
That it's time to move
into the future
and to try and
forget all
the horror of the past.
If people are prepared to do
this then the future will hold more
hope for everyone.
The past can never be
repeated, with luck
the future will provide us with skilled
politicians and leaders
The union to remain safe.
Government made a lot of mistakes as
did political parties. Government seemed
only slightly
interested in our situation.
There never was a ceasefire for
young people who
were petty criminals/offenders.
Its gone and we have
the future to look forward to even now
the cisfire
has been broke
None of your business alright, what???
Bad past because of ira
Everyone should put it behind them
terrible things have
hapened. None can
be justified; now that its all said
and done, let's get to work.
The people of Northern Ireland do not get enough
media about general concerns and
in the past have been given a bad reputation because
of violence.
That the troubles for the last 25
years have led nowhere.
I think our violent history is horrific and I would like
to see a permanent end to it before any
more lives are lost. Paramilitary
groups should hand
over their arms and let
the politicians get on with their jobs.
Robbie shouldn't have left Take That.
Troubled and complex.
Shite.
Bad times for both
catholics and protestants in northern ireland.
To hope that it will never be repeated.
The past is the past, future is more important.
I don't want Northern Ireland to go back to the way it
was.
It's been tough. I want it to end, but can't
see how an agreeable settlement can be reached.
Too much attention paid to murderers.
Lodsa time and lives wasted.
A lot of unecessary killings and not
enough decisions made
about it.
Terrorists, both loyalist and republican have/had no
right to
force their views on people and politicians
trying to work democratically.
We have been brought up in
a time of war
and i don't wish it for
anymore generations to go through the same heartache.
Lots of loss, pain and anguish which I
see
as unnecessary.
The fighting hasn't got anyone
anywhere, but if the politicians don't learn the
meaning of
compromise or
negotiation the peace isn't going
to get us too far either.
The past is that exactly, what about the future.
Too much talk about the past. Lets look to the future.
Sad!
The IRA are not considerable at all.
I think that fighting between the British
and Irish was totally stupid. If there were
no politicians there would be no fighting at all.
History is something to remember, let us not forget.
The last 18 months have been great but after
the bomb in london (9/2/96) it leaves things
up in the air
My mother used to be involved in women's
groups campaigning for equal
rights and facilities - she would be an influence.
25 years of violence too many!!
Learn from our mistakes.
Its been quiet up until last Friday.
There is no use dwelling on the past - it is time to look
forward.
Forget about the past. Bury it. In order to
make a progressive step forward we must
hide the hurt, anger and
bitterness and take
each day as it comes.
What is done is done and what's said is said we
are all able to forgive and forget.
The past is in the past, both
communities have suffered enough, its time
to look to the future.
Perhaps if politicians had took more
initiative in the past perhaps
the troubles would have been
resolved a long time ago.
The past is in the past, probably no-one in Northern Ireland wants
to go back to the ways of the past so
just look to the future not to make the same
mistakes.
Do politicians forget they were young once? Do
they not remember being
frustrated because they couln't have
a say about the future? If they had of stopped and
listened
to the youth we could have told them years ago
what
they are only
finding out now.

Things shouldn't have got so bad. Peace talks
should
have been so more in depth sooner.
Forgive and forget look to bright
future.
The past 26
years of violence has
'been very unacceptable. The past has
a lot of significance due to the long
running civil war and past political
approaches which have failed.
Should never have resulted in the troubles.
We should remember our mistakes and
forget and forgive those problems with
which we are afflicted. Hopefully eliminating
the bigotry.
Not enough talking

I have not had a good past
with police, drugs
but i plan to change
that (all of my past i would like to forget, think about the
future)

It has already happened, can't he changed.
25 years of war is long enough.

Never again.
The past is the past and it is the
future that is important. It should be forgotten
'don't look back unless you want to go back! - look to
the future, more peaceful and prosperous than the last 25 years.

We should learn from
the mistakes of the past.
That the past will
never be repeated

If there hadn't been a
ceasefire i wouln't have known
peace, I had no fear when I was younger because I was
used to it.
but after the ceasefire was heard to be over, I had so
much
fear
for my friends and family, including myself
Cannot be allowed to return to it.
Forget it, it's mostly irrelevant.
Over and done with.
Whats gone is gone.
I live in the present, not the past.
Its hard to
comment, i think everyone who has been brought
up in the troubles has been
hardened and grown accustomed to it. It seems normal
with the peace process falling through.
Basically that the era of the 70's and early 90's doesn't
return.
Holy mess.
We always have to be aware
of how we got to this situation to
understand how to go forward
we have to learn
from the past and draw
on it to create a
better future.

It is up to the politician not to allow such a tragic and
bloody
25 years ever to happen again

Sometimes people, including youth are to
apathetic.
It was a bloody mess, I don't wish to
go back, elections in my view the only
way forward, bar Sinn Fein, unless they renounce
violence
and accept
democracy 100%.
Mistakes, mistakes, mistakes.
John Major is to be blamed directly
for the future of the peace process. If it takes 1 bomb
or 10 bombs
for Mr Major to get off his finger then they are all
justified.
The old dogmas of unionism have been
allowed to hold the veto
in ireland too long. Time to build
a real peace with justice. British
slan abaile.
Forget it.
Sinn Fein/IRA's refusal to discriminate
between the legality of IRA and British
forces and IRA weapons and British
forces weapons is
unreasonable and unhelpful too
many extremists in politics, not enough ordinary
people/moderates.
peace process doesn't
work and politician in the north have been
allowed to be dictated to by
their counterparts in the south on
an issue which does not concern them.
America shouldn't get involved in our (no money to SF)
problems. A stronger
and tougher line should be taken against the men
of violence, such as the deployment of the SAS to root
out this evil from our society.