UTV's Up Close looks at how Good Friday Agreement changed and saved lives in Northern Ireland

“The troubles? You know, the funny thing was that they were just the backdrop to our lives.”

Former ITN International Editor Bill Neely recalls vividly what life was like growing up in Northern Ireland.

Pre-Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland was a very different place.

And while divisions remain, few would deny that the peace created by the Agreement - imperfect as it is - has changed lives and saved lives.

And a quarter of a century on there’s much reflection on the lead up to the deal.

“You know, there were plenty of failures along the road to the Good Friday Agreement’s success. But I remember just a tremendous sense of relief, of hope,” says Bill.

“We were desperate that these troubles should end. And it was almost disbelief. Can this really be true? Can this really be the moment when all this horror is over? And for the most part, it was you know, the trauma of those years did end.”

When working on this programme, reporter Judith Hill and producer Ali Fleming heard from a range of people here. Young people born a decade after the deal, and their hopes for the future.

Victims of the conflict who’ve lost loved ones, others who’ve suffered life changing injuries after being caught up in terrorist attacks.

Community workers, working tirelessly despite crushing funding cuts to keep cross community initiatives alive.

And some well-known faces who share their own experiences of life before and after the Good Friday Agreement.

Acclaimed artist Colin Davidson, whose haunting Silent Testimony exhibition is being shown in Stormont to mark the anniversary, says his memories of the time are of daring to dream for a different way.

“I think my memories of 25 years ago were you know, incredible hope. That's the first thing.

"And we lived in a reasonably hopeless society for so long. And to suddenly have hope, a bit of light in the darkness."

Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody says although growing up in Bangor meant he was removed in a way from the conflict, he was always aware of it.

“There's never a point where I thought it was going to end.

"There's no there's there's nobody that I know that, you know, that I went to school with or whatever that none of us thought was ever going to end. When it did I honestly could not have been happier.”

But what has the deal delivered over the past 25 years?

The resounding feeling from all the young people interviewed is a desire to be more integrated and work on peace and reconciliation.

Judith speaks to a number of groups who continue to make great strides in this area, be that through art or sport.

At a cross-community art project in Lanark Way, community worker Stephen Hughes says, “Kids are sending a message – ‘we want something better.’”

Whilst there is an acceptance that progress is not what it should be, the programme ends on a hopeful note.

“My immense hope for the future is based on us, once and for all, society and political point of view, dealing with our past," Colin Davidson says.

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