This week in The Scene International Arts & Sciences senior Ronan Conlon reflects on the culture of Northern Ireland. Conlon is spending his last semester of college studying at in Limerick, Ireland.

3/27/08

Just got back this week from the North. I was in Maghera, which is quite close to Belfast. It was great to see my Granny and other members of the family that I haven’t seen in more than a decade.

I was also in Westport, which is in the west of Ireland and where there is a massive Google investment. I was there for the St. Paddy’s Day parade and many of the floats were Google-related, such as one that said, “I would have come to Westport earlier if I had seen it on Google Maps -St. Patrick.” Apparently if you log on to Google Earth/Maps and type in Westport, it is one of those cities that you can scan through on the street view.

But in the North there are a few things that struck me: making a call between the North and South is extremely expensive. In the South, it costs about 10 cents to make a call and free to receive whereas in the North if you have a phone from the South (like I did) if I wanted to make a call it was 35 pence (British, so about 60 cents US) and 10 pence to even RECEIVE A CALL (per minute)!

While in the North, I talked to one of my uncles about segregation between Catholics and Protestants, which still occurs. The new Education Minister is making the push to integrate schools early, with both Catholics and Protestants. Many experts believe this would end the bias between the two groups of people if children are given a chance to grow up together. It reminded me a lot about racial integration in the United States in the 1960s. One can only hope the result of integration in Northern Ireland will be less chaotic.