Written by Professor Ann Marie Gray, Ulster University, co-author of the Peace Monitoring Report 6.
The Sixth Northern Ireland Peace Monitoring Report published in December 2023, as with previous reports, provides an independent assessment of progress towards sustainable peace in Northern Ireland.
This report covers the period from October 2018 to May 2023, a turbulent period globally and locally. As has been the case with previous reports, progress is examined across four dimensions - political progress, a sense of safety, poverty and inequality, and cohesion and sharing, with a contextual discussion of demography and economic progress.
The focus on cohesion and sharing and broader social policy issues in the report reflects the importance of economic and social progress to building a lasting peace.
Undoubtedly in many of these areas progress has been limited. The findings indicate that the fragility of the political institutions, marked by long periods of collapse, has had a negative impact on progress across a range of areas. This has been exacerbated by the inability of the Executive and Assembly to tackle long standing challenges such as legacy issues and persistent social and economic inequalities.
However, there were also examples of what could achieved – including the passing of Northern Ireland’s first climate change legislation. The report identifies many of the challenges confronting the recently re-established Executive and Assembly, including achieving tangible improvements in community relations.
Read the full Northern Ireland Peace Monitoring Report 6.