Localism — call it the Y factor: The Gaeltacht Quarter and the East End have got talent, so Y not use it?

Abstract

Every moment in a life contains a multitude of small localised choices which themselves lead to a multitude of other possible choices. The Burning of Bombay Street in 1969 offered a split in the road: in one direction, there was hostility, hurt, harm; in another, something more constructive, positive and empowering. Bricks were lifted not to be thrown, but to be placed next to another and another. In this way, homes were built, a street emerged, a community was re-created, and the ambition of Belfast’s Irish-language community began to take root. Their ‘can do’ movement established the Gaeltacht Quarter, with its nursery, primary and secondary schools, social clubs, small and large businesses, book stores, shops, cafés and a radio station. The pulse of today’s changing Belfast is taken from here. But this is no look back: the mirror tells us what is behind, but what lies ahead is the goal of this paper: the continuing potential for connections between what people dared to achieve in the past and what they can achieve today.