Holywell Trust Conversations

FULL EPISODE DESCRIPTION “Epidemiologically, we're all one Ireland”   It is clear that health services in both Northern Ireland and the Republic will need to be reformed as our society recovers from Covid-19. They need to be more resilient and flexible to cope with both underlying existing demand and the capacity to cope with the current and possible future pandemics. Reform was already planned in...

FULL EPISODE DESCRIPTION “Journalists have always had to have integrity”   The media are at a crossroads, with fears over the future of some of Northern Ireland’s best known newspapers. Existing trends favouring social media over print newspapers have been accelerated by the Covid-19 crisis, with additional financial pressures from a collapse in advertising revenues.    This is an appropriate mome...

John FitzGerald Podcast Interview John FitzGerald is one of Ireland’s most respected and influential economists –formerly research professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute and currently chair of the group advising the Irish government on climate policy. He is a strong critic of Northern Ireland’s policies on education and skills training, arguing that these are core factors in the w...

Northern Ireland's mental health crisis Mental health is a global challenge, but poor mental health is at crisis levels in Northern Ireland. That crisis is in part an ongoing impact from the Troubles, Siobhan O’Neill, professor of mental health science at Ulster University, says in the latest Holywell Trust podcast . “We're seeing a rise in mental health problems in the Western world,” says Siobha...

Reforming government in Northern Ireland   Government in Northern Ireland needs reform, but the fact that it works at all is actually impressive given the past, says Jess Sargeant of the Institute for Government, a London-based think-tank. She was speaking in the first of a new series of podcasts produced by the Holywell Trust , which feature opinions from policy experts who consider some of North...

FULL EPISODE NOTES Considering the future of Northern Ireland A panel considered how to engage in a friendly and unthreatening conversation about the future constitutional arrangements for Northern Ireland. This was held as part of a concluding reflection on the Holywell Trust’s series of 35 Forward Together podcast interviews.   The panel comprised author Julieann Campbell, the commentator Denis...

FULL EPISODE NOTES Dealing with the past A discussion on how to deal with the past was held as part of a concluding reflection on the Holywell Trust’s series of Forward Together podcasts.  The panel was author Julieann Campbell, the commentator Denis Bradley (who was co-chair of the Consultative Group on the Past and former deputy chair of the Northern Ireland Policing Board) and Maureen Hethering...

FULL SHOW NOTES Creating a shared and integrated society A discussion on how to create a shared and integrated society was held as part of a concluding reflection on the Holywell Trust’s series of Forward Together podcasts.  The panel was author Julieann Campbell, the commentator Denis Bradley (who was co-chair of the Consultative Group on the Past and former deputy chair of the Northern Ireland P...

FULL SHOW NOTES A discussion on how to strengthen civic society was held as part of a concluding reflection on the Holywell Trust’s series of Forward Together podcasts.  The panel was author Julieann Campbell, the commentator Denis Bradley (who was co-chair of the Consultative Group on the Past and former deputy chair of the Northern Ireland Policing Board) and Maureen Hetherington of the Junction...

FULL SHOW NOTES “You want to do them justice and to do their stories justice.”  Telling the stories of the children who died in the Troubles.   “We've done interviews with just shy of 100 families who lost children during the Troubles,” explains Freya McClements. “And you feel like you know them. The thing above all is that you want to do them justice and to do their stories justice.”     Freya is...

FULL SHOW NOTES Information on our upcoming Forward Together Podcast event taking place at 2.00pm on 18th September at Holywell Trust, 10-12 Bishop Street, Derry. The event is open for all to attend and we'll hear highlights from our series and have a discussion with our panel made up of Paul Gosling, Denis Bradley, Maureen Hetherington (The Junction) and Julieann Campbell (Museum of Free Derry).

FULL EPISODE NOTES ‘Telling Troubles stories can help deal with the past’   Telling stories about the past – about the Troubles – can help families and society move on, says playwright Jo Egan.  She dramatised the events that killed six children during the Troubles in‘The Crack in Everything’, which was produced by Derry’s Playhouse Theatre as part of a European Union Peace project.  She was also...

‘Unless we start listening, we’re not going to move forward’   “Unless we start listening, we're not really going to move forward,” says Julieann Campbell, editor of the Unheard Voices collection of women's stories from the Troubles. She was interviewed in the latest Forward Together podcast.   Julieann reflects in the podcast on the impact on her of the interviews with women about their experienc...

FULL EPISODE DESCRIPTION ‘Transformative decisions on Northern Ireland have not been taken’, laments Peter Osborne   Northern Ireland is more than 20 years into a 50 year peace process, which is being held back because government here has failed to take the radical transformative steps that are required.  This is the view of Peter Osborne, the former chair of the Community Relations Council, in th...

FULL EPISODE NOTES Class division in Northern Ireland even greater than between orange and green, argues CFNI chief.   Class is a bigger and more significant division in Northern Ireland than is the religious divide, argues the chief executive of the Community Foundation Northern Ireland Andrew McCracken.   “Whilst there's the really visible gap between orange and green, the more fundamental and m...

FULL EPISODE NOTES Deal with disadvantage before unity, argues Senator Mark Daly    To achieve a united Ireland without a return to conflict requires northern society to resolve the problems of its communities that contain deep-seated deprivation and alienation, argues Senator Mark Daly.  Mark is the former chair of the Oireachtas Good Friday Agreement Implementation Committee and was interviewed...

FULL EPISODE DESCRIPTION Community planning provides a model that builds on the tradition of the “very strong community spirit that prevailed in Northern Ireland” during the Troubles, argues Aideen McGinley in the latest Forward Trust podcast.  McGinley is a trustee of Carnegie UK, co-chair of its embedding wellbeing project in Northern Ireland and a former senior civil servant. Aideen stresses th...

FULL EPISODE NOTES Politicians in Northern Ireland feel threatened by the concept of a strong civic society, but we should pursue the ambition of creating a ‘People’s Assembly’, argues Lord Robin Eames, the former Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland.  Robin was interviewed in the latest Forward Together podcast. “We’re at a very delicate stage where our society is beg...

FULL EPISODE NOTES  ‘Brexit means that Northern Ireland’s constitutional future has become an issue for Europe’, says Denis Bradley   Denis Bradley was keen to move on in the latest Forward Together podcast interview to discuss the constitutional position of Northern Ireland.  “Well that's the one that intrigues me because I don't know the answer!,” he says.     “First of all I think something ver...

FULL EPISODE NOTES Eames-Bradley process ‘should have done more to take the Irish government with it’ – says Denis Bradley   The Eames-Bradley process should have engaged more closely with the Irish government and ensured it was on board with the recommendations, says co-chair Denis Bradley in the latest Forward Together podcast.  Eames-Bradley – properly called the Consultative Group on the Past...

FULL EPISODE NOTES ‘Looking at how we got here can help us deal with the present and the future’, argues historical geographer   A better understanding of our history is important as a means of bringing our society together, believes Anthony Russell of the Thomas D'Arcy McGee Foundation .  “One of the things that we have been trying to do in the Thomas D'Arcy McGee Foundation is to use history as...

FULL EPISODE DESCRIPTION  Making progress on parading – can Northern Ireland learn from Derry-Londonderry?   As Northern Ireland moves towards what will hopefully be a peaceful 12th July, the manager of ‘the Derry Model’, Maeve McLoughlin – a former Sinn Fein MLA – reflects on how peaceful parading was negotiated, after years of conflict and tension in Derry-Londonderry.  “It was spurred on by a c...

FULL EPISODE NOTES ‘We need an agency to promote social integration’, says Father Martin Magill   Northern Ireland needs a body lobbying for social integration, learning from the success of the Integrated Education Fund in its work promoting integrated schools, says Father Martin Magill.  Without an agency pushing the integrated housing agenda, it will be difficult to make sufficient progress, he...

FULL EPISODE NOTES New way of consulting with civic society is part of the talks negotiations, discloses Naomi Long   Creating a new mechanism for consulting with civic society is part of the talks negotiations aimed at getting Stormont back, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long has disclosed.  Naomi is a newly elected MEP, former MP and has just resigned her role as an MLA.  She was interviewed in th...

FULL EPISODE NOTES  ‘Social integration begins with integrated education and integrated housing’   For Northern Ireland to become more integrated, there has to be a greater focus on integrated schools and integrated housing, argues the chief executive of the Integrated Education Fund, Tina Merron.  She was interviewed for the latest Forward Together podcast.   “I think the majority of people in No...