ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the Northern Irish conflict and includes the most comprehensive research study carried out on the subject of social work and ‘the Troubles’ to date. The Northern Ireland conflict was an expression of a struggle based on ascribed identity, Protestant Unionist and Catholic Nationalist, in which the former were advantaged by a history of British colonialism and empire. Just as the peace process emerging in Northern Ireland depends on a capacity for dialogue, so too social work’s necessary reorientation must be based on negotiating the new relationships between the occupation, the state and civil society. Social work in Northern Ireland needs to both accept its clients as citizens and recognise its own citizenship rights and responsibilities. The findings from the survey indicate the many challenges that social workers encountered during the most violent periods of ‘the Troubles’ in Northern Ireland.
