Peace Works: The Dutch Peace Factory will travel to Ireland Cooperation between Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation en Peace Education Projects
A few miles south of the Irish capitol Dublin in the Wicklow Mountains, the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation lies at the end of a long valley. Each year the Centre welcomes thousands of visitors, mainly school groups and adults from different background in various activities on peace education and reconciliation. Most of the participant come from the Irish Republic, Northern Ireland and Great Britain, but a permanent group of volunteers and staff members give the Centre a strong international character. The old military barracks in which the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation is housed Combattants and victims The educational programmes for pupils and the activities in which former combattants and victims meet each other are well known. Both groups are given the opportunity to get to know each other and find ways to a peaceful coexistence. Most visitors stay for a few days in the old military barracks which are built in the 19th Century by the British army to fight the Irish rebels hidden in the mountains. The former military buildings were used to host refugee children from Germany direct after the Second World War. Also in the sixties and seventies refugees found there a save place. Earlier this year the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation celebrated her thirtieth anniversary. Peace Works At the end of September 2006 Peace Education Projects from Utrecht, The Netherlands and the Glencree Centre came to an agreement about a future cooperation to bring the Peace Factory to Ireland and transform it to a permanent exhibition in the ground floor area of the old barracks. The title of the new exhibition will be: “Peace Works”. It is close related to the Peace Factory and points out that peace can be made by everyone, every day. “Peace is there where people care for each other and the earth”. This definition makes peace, how difficult to reach sometimes, possible for all people. Besides that, there is a positive suggestion in the title: Peace Works!. The cooperation partner, f.l.t.r. Mairin Coleary managing director  Glencree Centre, Geu Visser Peace Education Projects, Tony Carey member of the council, Jan Durk Tuinier Peace Education Projects Social needs During the preparation meeting with the staff of the Dutch Peace Education Projects, the social necessity of an educational project about living together in a multicultural society was a high topic in the discussions. It seems already history that Ireland was known as a poor country at the edge of Europe.
In the last year Ireland changed in a Celtic tiger and has the fastest growing economy of Europe, with all challenges and problems that belongs to this position. Thousands of migrants, mainly from Eastern Europe, came to Ireland to do the work. Society gets harder and the prices for houses are rising sky high and unreachable for young people in the Irish society. This seems to result in a identity crisis by a large group in the Irish society and prejudices, discrimination and racism are the result. An intense social debate is going on about the challenges of social integration, citizenship and the multicultural society. The reactions of the schools The Irish schools react alert to the new situation of the country and the future programmes of the Glencree Reconciliation Centre are one of the results. Pupils of 9-12 and 13-15 years old are the main target groups of the interactive exhibition Peace Works. Also adults are welcome in the exhibition and for them special programmes are developed. The preparation activities in the field of networking and fundraising have been started. Also the themes of the exhibition are set up.	The Wicklow Mountains in the surrounding of Glencree Centre
Peace Education Projects and exhibition producer Hayo van Gemerden will, in close cooperation with the Glencree team, be responsible for the complete development and production of the exhibition, which will be opened in November 2008. Website Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation: http://www.glencree.ie/