Opinion piece by Paddy Hillyard, Professor of Sociology, Queens’ University, Belfast. Professor Hillyard began his academic career at the then New University of Ulster, moving to the University of Bristol in

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Opinion piece by Paddy Hillyard, Professor of Sociology, Queens’ University, Belfast. Professor Hillyard 
began his academic career at the then New University of Ulster, moving to the University of Bristol in 
1976. He became the Director of the Centre for Research on Social Exclusion and Social Justice at the 
new School of Policy Studies when it was established in 1995. In 1999 Paddy moved back to Ireland 
and took up the Chair in Social Policy at the University of Ulster. In January 2005, he was appinted to 
a Chair in Sociology at Queen’s University Belfast. He retired as an Emeritus Professor of Sociology in