Trevor Ringland said the Carran Crescent development in Enniskillen, which will see Protestant and Catholic families live side-by-side, could be a catalyst for very significant change.
"We cannot have a truly modern, dynamic and successful society and economy if our community continues to be divided along sectarian lines," he said.
"No society can be vibrant and prosperous if the resources of the entire community are not pooled and if two sets of services such as schools, libraries and health centres are required due to division where one would otherwise be necessary.
"Carran Crescent has to be the shape of things to come and must only be the tip of the iceberg. Division in Northern Ireland serves no one."
Carran Crescent, which will become home to 20 Protestant and Catholic families, is the first mixed housing estate to be built in Ulster in the last few decades.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive spent £2m on the pilot scheme and there are plans for another mixed development in Loughbrickland, Co Down.
31 October 2006
Heading towards a 'dual monarchy'?
I've no idea whether he has used this phrase before, but Barry White's reference to the necessary Sinn Fein/DUP agreement to work in office together as a Dual Monarchy reflects some privately held fears amongst liberals, on both sides, that their supposedly mutually exclusive agendas will lead to a de facto repartition of Northern Ireland (cue: Green Flag). A long way from that Shared Future some people keep talking about. Emily Moulton reports:
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2 comments:
Carran Crescent is an excellent idea, with a Charter that will enable them to happily live alongisde each other.
It would be a good idea if residents of other areas were asked to adopt this charter, even though the 50/50 breakdown would not always be possible. The charter, afaik, gets people to sign up to not having flags or painting flagstones. Sounds minor enough, but small steps ...
Painting flagstones is crass and a violation of public property, but if someone wants to stick a flag outside their house they should be allowed as a matter of individual choice.
The successful position is an area that features all flags or none depending on the wishes of the occupier. It spectacularly isn't a ban on a flags.
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