Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney said yesterday the sectarian clashes in north Belfast could be resolved if the opposing groups there understood more about each other's cultures.
Speaking after he had officially opened the University of Ulster's Academy for Irish Cultural Heritages in Derry, Mr Heaney said the work of the £3 million academy, the first of its kind in the world, could help to solve sectarian issues.
"The work of this academy is immediately relevant to Northern Ireland. It is born out of what is here, but it is an institute of learning, it is not a social engineering place.
"I always think that educational work and cultural work generally in a society is like the immune system in the human body. It works for good. It doesn't necessarily mean it always wins, but it is one of the good actions.
"It is true that cultural diversities are clashing every night in north Belfast, but there the cultures are exclusive in the sense that it's us and not them and the very point of this academy is to see yourself in relation to the other person, not to exclude, not to draw back, not to drop the portcullis, but to say let's have a look at this.
"This academy will promote a sense of respect and dignity in each tradition and of each heritage and that way promote better civic life. It will take a while. Culture is self-administered. It cannot be put in like an inoculation. You cannot take people along and give them an injection or a shot of a new mental attitude. It is a gradual process of education and of self-education."
Prof Brian Graham, director of cultural heritages at the university, said it was part of the academy's brief to understand the underlying reasons behind sectarian conflicts.