This footage was filmed and produced 25 October 2023.

An ongoing failure to advance reconciliation across the island of Ireland is the “great miss” of the peace process, Ireland’s deputy premier has said.

Micheal Martin said many communities were as far apart in 2023 as they were in 1998, when the landmark Good Friday Agreement was struck to largely end the violence of the Troubles.

In a keynote address at an Irish government Shared Island event in Dublin, Mr Martin said, while the agreement had secured an enduring peace, opportunities to fulfil the potential of that peace have been “squandered”.

He said there had been insufficient focus on tackling sectarianism, pointing to continuing instances of people engaging in offensive chants or posting abuse on social media about other traditions as manifestation of the ongoing divisions.

In a wide-ranging speech at what was the latest in series of dialogue events organised under the Government’s Shared Island initiative, Mr Martin spoke about the island’s complex history and stressed the need for a better understanding of differing cultures.