Support grows for keeping North’s ‘peace walls’

More people living near Northern Ireland's so-called peace walls want them to stay than did three years ago, a new study has found.

In 2012, some 22 per cent of people living close to them who were questioned wanted them to stay. Today, 30 per cent do. Three years ago 44 per cent wanted them to come down. Now that figure has fallen to 35 per cent.

The Department of Justice-sponsored study, carried out by Ulster University led by Dr Jonny Byrne, questioned 1,021 people living in Belfast, Portadown, Lurgan and Derry.

The opinions of the public would seem to challenge ambitions by First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness to see all walls come down by 2023. Six out of 10 people surveyed said that target was not realistic. "Clearly, there is a degree of anxiety and trepidation about the impact of removing peace walls," said Dr Byrne.

‘Eventual removal’

Minister for Justice

David Ford

said the survey showed a “hardening of attitudes among residents living in the shadow of peace walls towards their eventual removal”.

“Tensions around flags, emblems and parading have undoubtedly contributed to current attitudes around the removal of peace walls,” the Alliance Party executive member declared. Many people feared that their communities would become less safe if the walls were removed. Just a tenth believed there would be no effect.

A fifth expected there would be a significant rise in antisocial behaviour and sectarian violence, concentrated in the marching season.

A third of all Protestants questioned believed there would be “constant” problems with antisocial behaviour and sectarian violence. Just 13 per cent of Catholics felt the same.

Politicians must address the public's fears that the removal of walls will reduce quality of life, said Dr Byrne and co-authors Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Duncan Morrow and Brendan Sturgeon.

The detailed figures highlighted greater nervousness among Protestants about the future. Some 61 per cent of Protestants are worried about the policing of their communities as opposed to just 43 per cent of Catholics.

Few, if any, on either side believe the peace process has brought economic benefit. Among Catholics, only 3 per cent reported an improvement in economic conditions. Just 1 per cent of Protestants did so.

Keep communities apart

The walls keep communities apart. Over a fifth of both Catholics and Protestants living close to the walls reported they never meet people from outside their own community.

Some 45 per cent of Protestants believed the walls were necessary to allow the community to freely celebrate its own culture.Only a fifth of Catholics believed they needed a wall to protect their culture.