Available onlineSowing seeds of peace
(page 4 of 4)Online exhibition theme created by Gabi Kent, a member of the OU Time to Think Project Team
| Sean Lynch clip: | Long Kesh was just full of ideas and discussion |
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| Duration: | 00:01:15 |
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| Tom Roberts: | Discrimination against ex-prisoners despite educational achievements |
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| Duration: | 00:01:21 |
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As part of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, a newly devolved legislature, the Northern Ireland Assembly, was established - located at Stormont.
A number of OU graduates went on to take up positions as Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). One of these was Seán Lynch. In the first audio clip on this page Seán describes how he was first challenged to study in the H Blocks in the 1980s, when a fellow Republican asked him "Do you ever consider we might have to go into Government?"
OU staff member Alan Carr describes a surprise encounter with ex-prisoners, also OU graduates, when meeting with the higher education spokespeople and political advisers for Sinn Féin:
...each of them in turn recited The Open University experiences they had had and how many degrees they had - all of them had at least one - and I responded to that, probably undiplomatically, by saying something like, "No prizes for guessing where you guys spent a large chunk of your lives." And fortunately they all had a sense of humour.
Alan Carr
Despite the promises of reintegration made in the Good Friday Agreement, many former prisoners still face ongoing discrimination in employment, fostering and other areas of family, social and political life. More than twenty years on from the Good Friday Agreement, Loyalist Tom Roberts describes some of the continuing obstacles he faces, despite a first class honours degree in Mathematics from The Open University. Listen to Tom's clip on this page.
The Time to Think collection offers a unique insight into these and other longer-term impacts of higher education in the context of the conflict within and about Northern Ireland.
