This article maps the key findings from research on public sector response in policy and practice as seen in service delivery to survivors of conflict in Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina. It examines whether the experience of the seriously injured in the Northern Ireland conflict and female victims of sexual violence during the Bosnian war has been recognised by successive governments in post-conflict times, and if the public sector response has been appropriate and effective in meeting their needs; or simply subverted by political expediency and ‘reconciliation’. It poses the question whether in post-conflict times some will necessarily be marginalised to ensure the success of the greater peace-building project and, if this is the case, are more constructive answers not both imaginable and a viable alternative?