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Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack On Thursday July 20th Sam travelled down to Dublin to take part in the tortoise shack live at the sugar club. It was a special night with amazing people, a very lively audience some great contributors.

In this part you'll hear from Sam, writer, campaigner and host of the Lost in Implementation podcast, Emma DeSouza and cohost of the Echo Chamber Podcast, Tony Groves. We talk Loyalism, nationalism, the middle ground, health, housing, education, the Good Friday Agreement, a border poll, political cowardice and lots more. I hope you enjoy it as much as the audience did.

Part 2 featuring the journalists behind the Ditch website, Roman Shortall and Eoghan McNeill is out now here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/86683661

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Within the text of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement there is provision for engagement with civic society, intended to foster better understanding between communities and to act as a much-needed mechanism for broadening political engagement through a Civic Forum to promote participative democracy. The Civic Forum was a consultative mechanism on social, economic, and cultural issues first proposed amid the multi-party talks.

The Forum was constituted and met over a two year period before being dismantled as a result of the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive in 2002. It was never re-established. Subsequent Agreements have referred to potential mechanisms for civic engagement, albeit in a more limited format.

To date this has not been implemented in practice. Bronagh Hinds, founding member of the Northern Ireland Women's Forum and David Holloway, Director, Community Dialogue join Emma to discuss the doomed Civic Forum and various attempts to fill the void left by its absence since.

For the latest from Gaza and on Israel's Operation Shield and Arrows click here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-82860617

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Women made up just 10 per cent of the negotiation team in the all-party talks leading up to the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, yet they wielded far greater influence than such a position would suggest. In this episode of Lost in Implementation Emma speaks with SDLP MLA Cara Hunter, Aoife Clements, Director at 50:50NI, and founding member of Northern Ireland's Women's Coalition Kate Fearon to discuss the Agreement's commitment to the right for women to avail of full and equal political participation; the progress, the barriers, and what needs to change to give meaning to this commitment.

The Echo Chamber Podcast on the shocking killing of Fatmata is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-82392164

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Human rights run like a thread through the Good Friday Agreement, including a right to Equality of Opportunity, but what does this aspiration mean in practice? And do the people of Northern Ireland really have equality of opportunity? Emma is joined by Women's Sector Lobbyist Elaine Crory, and Shrapnel Podcast Host Sam McElwaine to discuss the challenges and barriers to equality of opportunity and how this aspiration has not been felt by some of the most marginalized in society.

The Ditch reaction to Micheal Martin podcast is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/patron-exclusive-82174893

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The Good Friday Agreement pledged "to facilitate and encourage integrated education" as an essential part of creating "a culture of tolerance at every level of society".

But most of the north’s schools remain split into two categories - Maintained which have links to the Catholic Church and mainly cater to Catholic pupils, and Controlled which are state-run and mainly cater to Protestant pupils.

In the 25 years since the Good Friday Agreement integrated schools have only increased by 4%.

In this episode Emma Desouza is joined by Alliance MLA Kellie Armstrong and Paul Caskey, Campaign Director, at the Integrated Education Fund to discuss how progress can be made to advance integrated education in Northern Ireland.

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Join Emma in conversation with Daniel Holder, Director at the Committee on the Administration of Justice, to explore post-conflict and post-reform policing and justice in Northern Ireland. This episode examines the Agreement, asking whether it delivered transitional justice or a stopgap on legacy and the impact of the UK government's Legacy Bill.

The podcast on Joe Biden's visit and the NI Local Elections is out now here:https://www.patreon.com/posts/81454043

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The Good Friday Agreement sought to make real the concept of a rights-based society in Northern Ireland. Human rights commitments to be protected in legislation included the incorporation of the European Convention of Human Rights, a Bill of Rights, a Single Equality Act, an Irish Language Act, and equality duties to be placed on public authorities. Of the aforementioned commitments, the ECHR is the only one to be properly implemented while the remaining human rights protections continue to be poorly effected or ignored entirely.

In this episode Emma is joined by Professor Colin Harvey, Director of the Human Rights Centre, Queen's University and Rights Activist Alexa Moore to explore the undelivered promise of a Northern Ireland Bill of Rights.

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Lost in implementation is a limited six-part series exploring the unfinished work of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement. While focus for the 25th anniversary is on celebrating the glory days this podcast will be taking a harder look at the unimplemented aspirations of 1998.

Hosted by writer and activist, Emma DeSouza and produced by the tortoise shack's Tony Groves. Episode one will be with you shortly.

Music and artwork by Jake DeSouza

Please join us at patreon.com/tortoiseshack