Northern Ireland Quotes

• They want to derail peace because they want to plunge Northern Ireland back into armed conflict.

  Peter Mandelson

  Want, Conflict, Plunge

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• There is not a single injustice in Northern Ireland that is worth the loss of a single British soldier or a single Irish citizen either.

  James Callaghan

  Loss, British Soldiers, Citizens

  16 Copy quote

• My point is there's a hidden Scotland in anyone who speaks the Northern Ireland speech. It's a terrific complicating factor, not just in Northern Ireland, but Ireland generally.

  Seamus Heaney

  Scotland, Speech, Speak

  16 Copy quote

• For far too long, the people of Northern Ireland have been denied an equal voice and equal representation in government. It is time for the Assembly and Executive to be up and running and the people's business to be addressed.

  James T. Walsh

  Running, Business, Government

  16 Copy quote

• On the Northern Ireland question, for instance, the British and Irish governments prohibit media contact with members of the IRA, but we have always gone ahead, believing in the right to information.

  Kate Adie

  Believe, Government, Media

  53 Copy quote

• When the problems in Northern Ireland started, it was not a question of Protestantism or Catholicism, because the Catholic church was the only church at that time-it was a nationalist conflict.

  Harri Holkeri

  Catholic, Church, Problem

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• The big missing part of the jig-saw is to get the assembly back up and running here in Northern Ireland, to get shared government back in business, that is my objective, and we await the IRA statement to see if this will trigger a new dawn.

  Peter Hain

  Running, Government, Missing

  63 Copy quote

• That feeds anger, and I mean when we went and at last thank heavens got towards peace in Northern Ireland we went for justice within Northern Ireland as well as using security well, as well as a political settlement, but surely that is the lesson.

  Clare Short

  Peace, Anger, Mean

  17 Copy quote

• How can I intimidate Tiger Woods? I mean, the guy's got 75 or whatever PGA Tour wins, 14 majors. He's been the biggest thing ever in our sport. How could some little 23-year-old from Northern Ireland with a few wins come up and intimidate him.

  Rory McIlroy

  Sports, Mean, Winning

  "McIlroy dismisses claim that Tiger is 'intimidated'". edition.cnn.com. September 20, 2012.

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• There are two traditions in Northern Ireland. There are two main religious denominations. But there is only one true moral denomination. And it wants peace.

  David Trimble

  Religious, Peace, Two

  10 Copy quote
• 

  Northern Ireland is the world’s best kept secret, both in the character of its people and its scenery.

  Liam Neeson

  Character, Best Kept Secrets, People

  25 Copy quote

• When I told the people of Northern Ireland that I was an atheist, a woman in the audience stood up and said, 'Yes, but is it the God of the Catholics or the God of the Protestants in whom you don't believe?'

  Quentin Crisp

  Peace, Atheist, Believe

  "The Wit and Wisdom of Quentin Crisp". Book by Quentin Crisp, 1984.

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• What were once only hopes for the future have now come to pass.

  Queen Elizabeth II

  Hope, Paving The Way, Favour

  Queen Elizabeth II's Dublin Castle Speech, www.telegraph.co.uk. May 18, 2011.

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• I believe that Northern Ireland has come to a time of peace, a time when hate will no longer rule.

  Ian Paisley

  Hate, Believe, I Believe

  "The Rev Ian Paisley obituary" by Derek Brown and Owen Bowcott, www.theguardian.com. September 12, 2014.

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• What were once only hopes for the future have now come to pass; it is almost exactly 13 years since the overwhelming majority of people in Ireland and Northern Ireland voted in favour of the agreement signed on Good Friday 1998, paving the way for Northern Ireland to become the exciting and inspirational place that it is today.

  Queen Elizabeth II

  Friday, Agreement, Years

  Queen Elizabeth II's Dublin Castle Speech, www.telegraph.co.uk. May 18, 2011.

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• Obviously one of the things that poets from Northern Ireland and beyond - had to try to make sense of was what was happening on a day-to-day political level.

  Paul Muldoon

  Political, Trying, Levels

  Interview with John Redmond, www.poetrymagazines.org.uk. November 2, 1995.

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• It... is the best opportunity we've had in the last 25 years to bring about a settlement in Northern Ireland, and I think we should leave no stone unturned to achieve that.

  Dick Spring

  Opportunity, Thinking, Years

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• Northern Ireland is part of Ireland, not Britain, as can clearly be seen from aerial photographs.

  Jeremy Hardy

  Photograph, Britain, Ireland

  "Jeremy Hardy: Caustic comic". news.bbc.co.uk. April 5, 2002.

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• All the way through, we have been willing to take risks, provided at the end of it we can get a decent lasting settlement in Northern Ireland

  Tony Blair

  Risk, Way, Ends

  4 Copy quote

• In Northern Ireland, people said there would never be a solution. But once people begin to have the political will and force their governments to sit down, it can happen.

  Mairead Corrigan

  Government, Political Will, People

  Source: www.progressive.org

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• I felt when I was elected that the most important task on this island [Ireland] was to extend the hand of friendship right across the board to the people of Northern Ireland, to have the beginnings of a real peace process. In consequence, although I have no role in intergovernmental talks or political discussions, that would be my very top priority.

  Mary Robinson

  Real, Islands, Hands

  Source: www.commonwealmagazine.org

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• I was walking across King's Cross station when a drunken Irishman came stumbling up and flung his arms around me. He wanted to thank me for the peace process in Northern Ireland.

  Ann Widdecombe

  Kings, Arms, Crosses

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• Much is said about English severity, but not a word about Irish provocation.

  Robert Peel

  Said, Provocation, Severity

  7 Copy quote

• For me, diversity is not a value. Diversity is what you find in Northern Ireland. Diversity is Beirut. Diversity is brother killing brother. Where diversity is shared - where I share with you my difference - that can be valuable. But the simple fact that we are unlike each other is a terrifying notion. I have often found myself in foreign settings where I became suddenly aware that I was not like the people around me. That, to me, is not a pleasant discovery.

  Richard Rodriguez

  Brother, Simple, Differences

  Source: www.teachingbooks.net

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• The external reality and inner dynamic of happenings in Northern Ireland between 1968 and 1974 were symptomatic of change, violent change admittedly, but change nevertheless, and for the minority living there, change had been long overdue.

  Seamus Heaney

  Reality, Long, Minorities

  17 Copy quote