Policy

Obama Addresses Students in Belfast Ahead of G8 Summit

Says peace in Northern Ireland gave the world hope

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US president Barack Obama has said that when peace was achieved in Northern Ireland, it gave the world hope.

He told 2,000 students in Belfast ahead of the G8 summit: "You're the first generation in this land to inherit more than just the hardened attitudes and bitter prejudices of the past.

"You now live in a thoroughly modern Northern Ireland."

His young audience has been described as "the generation of peace"—people born after the ceasefires.