IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1041 
Honoring the 25th anniversary of Northern Ireland’s first integrated school 
and further encouraging desegregation of schools and teacher training 
colleges in Northern Ireland. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 26, 2006 
Mrs. MCCARTHY (for herself, Mr. WALSH, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. NEAL of Mas-
sachusetts, Mr. KING of New York, Mr. HIGGINS, and Mr. MURPHY) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
International Relations 
RESOLUTION 
Honoring the 25th anniversary of Northern Ireland’s first 
integrated school and further encouraging desegregation 
of schools and teacher training colleges in Northern Ire-
land. 
Whereas, since its foundation in 1921, Northern Ireland has 
had two separate, religiously-based, educational systems; 
Whereas Ireland still has segregated teacher training colleges; 
Whereas 2006 marks the 25th anniversary of the opening of 
Ireland’s first integrated school, Lagan College in south 
Belfast; 
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•HRES 1041 IH 
Whereas currently, there are 58 integrated schools in North-
ern Ireland: 39 are primaries and 19 are colleges for 11 
to 18 year olds; 
Whereas 94 percent of Protestant students attend Protestant 
schools, while 92 percent of Catholic students attend 
Catholic schools; 
Whereas currently 4.6 percent of all pupils—approximately 
18,000 students—attend an integrated school in North-
ern Ireland; 
Whereas the cost of running a segregated society amounts to 
as much as 1 billion pounds a year; 
Whereas recently the Government of Northern Ireland re-
fused state funding for four integrated schools, despite 
an explicit promise in the Good Friday Agreement that 
such Government would ‘‘encourage and facilitate’’ the 
development of integrated schools; 
Whereas at the same time the Government of Northern Ire-
land announced the availability of 300 million pounds in 
building grants for segregated schools; 
Whereas in the landmark United States Supreme Court case, 
Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court looked 
at the effect of segregation on public education and held 
that ‘‘[I]n the field of public education the doctrine of 
‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational 
facilities are inherently unequal.’’; 
Whereas the Taoiseach noted in a March 30, 1999, speech 
at Hazelwood College in Belfast, ‘‘There is a need ac-
tively to combat the segregation and exclusion which are 
a breeding ground for ignorance, intolerance and sec-
tarianism. Integrated education has an important part to 
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•HRES 1041 IH 
play in promoting partnership and mutual under-
standing.’’; 
Whereas, in a speech in Donegal in 2006, Secretary of State 
of Northern Ireland Peter Hain said, ‘‘Two segregated 
primary schools in a village are doomed to closure where 
a merger might be viable and produce a higher standard, 
where separately they cannot. Secondary schools with in-
adequate facilities where a rational school estate with in-
tegrated or shared facilities could produce high quality. 
. . . The educational future of Northern Ireland must be 
shared and focused on what unites, or divided it will be 
bleak.’’; 
Whereas, moreover, on September 19, 2006, Secretary Hain 
expressed concerns on the effect of maintaining seg-
regated schools and stated, ‘‘. . . these factors have had 
a dramatic impact on our schools, with 50,000 empty 
desks across Northern Ireland. We must embrace collabo-
ration and sharing across and between school sectors, al-
lowing children and young people to share experiences 
and ensuring education spending is going to children in 
classrooms, not on maintaining empty desks.’’; 
Whereas the Good Friday Agreement states that ‘‘an essen-
tial aspect of the reconciliation process is the promotion 
of a culture of tolerance at every level of society, includ-
ing initiatives to facilitate and encourage integrated edu-
cation’’; 
Whereas by contrast, the goal of integration is to encourage 
children to understand differences so they begin to un-
derstand different cultures and overcome negative stereo-
types; 
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•HRES 1041 IH 
Whereas in a recent study from Queen’s University in Bel-
fast, research indicates that educating Catholics and 
Protestants together in school does have an effect on 
their attitudes later in life; 
Whereas people who have attended integrated schools in 
Northern Ireland have the potential to create a new polit-
ical common ground; and 
Whereas integrated schools dilute sectarianism: Now, there-
fore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) honors the 25th anniversary of Northern 
Ireland’s first integrated school; and 
(2) further encourages desegregation of schools 
and teacher training colleges in Northern Ireland. 
Æ 
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