This book has examined two related dimensions of political memoir-writing concerning the Troubles in Northern Ireland. First, it has attempted to discuss aspects of memoir-writing as a specific genre for studying political conflict. Second, it has also investigated in some depth the particular function and impact of political memoir in the context of Northern Ireland's past, and the efforts to better understand that past. A careful reading and interpretation of these memoirs can provide genuine insights into the lived experience and retrospective judgments of some of the key protagonists of the conflict. It may also permit analysis of the rhetorical strategies employed by these authors, designed to shape and influence the ways in which the conflict is remembered and presented. As the violent conflict moves further into the past, it is probable that the political narratives that have been produced to explain and interpret the Troubles will play an even more significant role for future generations. As those individuals with personal memories and a sense of the lived experience of conflict grow old and die, then arguably it is in the cultural production of collective or social memory that future interpretations will be grounded. Memoir-writing is but one dimension of the current ad hoc approach to ‘dealing with the past’ in Northern Ireland, but in the absence of any consensus regarding an overarching ‘truth recovery’ process, this is likely to be the pattern for the foreseeable future.

For many (ex-)protagonists of the conflict, whether in conventional political parties or associated with paramilitary groups, attitudes and opinions with regard to the meta-conflict (i.e. what the Northern Ireland conflict was about, what were its key origins and, by extension, which groups in society bear primary responsibility for it) remain polarised. As Cillian McGrattan has argued, the period of peace that has endured for approximately two decades has been based upon an ‘uneasy calm’ in Northern Ireland. Of course, it is also true that this has been a relative peace, and ongoing political violence has directly caused more than a hundred deaths since 1997 and the restoration of the Provisional IRA's ceasefire. Both directly and indirectly, the legacy of the conflict continues to blight many lives in Northern Ireland, and beyond.