The Northern Ireland public wants greater integration but achieving it has not proved to be easy. There has been some progress towards the ambitious vision in the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, but significant barriers remain. 

Not only do integration in education and in housing face serious obstacles on their own, but ongoing segregation in schools and in neighbourhoods mutually reinforce each other. A new report from think tank Pivotal indicates that there is no single path forward – but that political leadership and vision across a range of fronts are essential to making progress.

Despite the broad peace since the Good Friday Agreement, large parts of Northern Ireland remain heavily segregated. In education and in housing, many communities live parallel lives.

There has been some progress but, while greater integration would bring significant social, economic and cultural benefits, there is no easy fix. The lines of division in where people of different backgrounds live and send their children to school mutually reinforce one another. Without more mixing and sharing in housing, big changes in education are unlikely, and vice versa.

A new report from Pivotal, the independent think tank focused on Northern Ireland, says that to unlock the benefits of better social cohesion, we also need to define what “integrated” actually means – and then set clear goals that lay out what we collectively want to achieve.