Confronting the Irish Past : The 1912-1923 Decade in Light of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement

The 1998 Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement established power-sharing arrangements between the two divided communities in Northern Ireland. The Agreement is not set in stone but is rather a hopeful yet uncertain project. Making it put down deep cultural roots requires some confrontation with and transformation of the history, and the socially constructed memories, of Ireland’s decisive decade 1912–1923, which was violent and divisive.