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Just quarter of peace wall residents have regular contact with community on other side

The Peace Wall Attitudinal Survey launch at the Girdwood Hub in north Belfast. Dr Adrian Johnston, chairman of the International Fund for Ireland (centre), is pictured with (L-R) Sarah Lorimer (Imagine Project), Brian Dunne (Greater Whitewell Community Surgery), Ciaran Shannon, Kate Clarke (Duncairn Community Partnership), Rab McCallum (Twaddell Ardoyne Shankill Communities in Transition), Seamus Corr (Black Mountain Shared Spaces Project) and Donna McCloskey (BBI Peace Walls Project). Picture by Mal McCann
The Peace Wall Attitudinal Survey launch at the Girdwood Hub in north Belfast. Dr Adrian Johnston, chairman of the International Fund for Ireland (centre), is pictured with (L-R) Sarah Lorimer (Imagine Project), Brian Dunne (Greater Whitewell Community Su The Peace Wall Attitudinal Survey launch at the Girdwood Hub in north Belfast. Dr Adrian Johnston, chairman of the International Fund for Ireland (centre), is pictured with (L-R) Sarah Lorimer (Imagine Project), Brian Dunne (Greater Whitewell Community Surgery), Ciaran Shannon, Kate Clarke (Duncairn Community Partnership), Rab McCallum (Twaddell Ardoyne Shankill Communities in Transition), Seamus Corr (Black Mountain Shared Spaces Project) and Donna McCloskey (BBI Peace Walls Project). Picture by Mal McCann

WITH just six years until the Executive had hoped to have removed all of Northern Ireland's peace walls, just 13 per cent of people at interfaces want the barriers to come down today.

Twice as many do not want to see any change to the status quo.

A peace wall study, which focused on those "living in very close proximity", found that just over a quarter have regular contact with the community on the other side.

Two out of three respondents said security and safety were their key concerns about the walls coming down.

However, most people (72 per cent) said they want change to the barriers - reimaging, reduction or removal - "sometime in the future", with most people's aspiration for "within the next generation".

The International Fund for Ireland's Peace Walls Programme launched the attitudinal study yesterday at Girdwood Community Hub in north Belfast - once the north's largest British army base.

The fund has invested more than £5 million in six community groups working to bring together people on either side of peace lines.

Chairman Adrian Johnston said the walls are "a constant daily reminder of the divisions that exist in society, yet attitudes towards changing them are fluid and vulnerable to political and social volatility".

"The areas surveyed continue to experience high levels of social and economic deprivation (and) were hugely impacted by the conflict and continue to experience seasonal interface violence, sectarianism, tensions and divisions, and lack much-needed regeneration and investment opportunities."

Dr Johnston stressed that "opportunities... exist for these communities to make progress on barrier removal or reduction".

However, he said any discussions "can only move forward with residents' support and involvement at a pace dictated by those most affected".

This needed the support of and "tangible action" by relevant statutory authorities "backed by strong political leadership".

"Without this, we may ultimately be taking communities to a place where they cannot advance any further, causing frustration and anger and effectively negating progress made," he said.

"At this stage in our peace process, and four years since the Together Building a United Community pledge on the removal of barriers by 2023, local communities deserve to know what is planned in terms of delivery, how they will be involved in the decision-making and what protections will be offered to them."

No 'one size fits all' to breaking down barriers

There is no 'one size fits all' answer to bringing down Northern Ireland's 108 peace walls.

In fact, removal - at some undefined time in the future - is only on the table for around 67 that are part of the Peace Walls Programme administered by the International Fund for Ireland.

Donna McCloskey of Derry's Bogside and Brandywell Initiative has been holding a successful cross-community event along the barrier between the Fountain estate and Bishop Street in the city.

On December 9, their annual winter market will sell products made by 20-30 neighbours from either side in joint workshops.

"Each year we have built on it, year on year, and we are able to engage families and bring families together," she said.

On the future of the wall, she said there has been some positive reaction to an opening to make it easier for Fountain residents to "get fish and chips" on Bishop Street.

But despite sectarian attacks in Derry now being "few and far between, dropping way down in the last few years", the wall still gives a sense of "security".

Also, "things happen, people become disillusioned," she said.

"The current climate in Stormont (has made) people disillusioned. It makes them question everything."

Rab McCallum's Twaddell Ardoyne Shankill Communities in Transition (Tascit) is the success story of the initiative.

It is behind the only dismantling of a peace barrier - an 8ft brick wall, which stood at Ardoyne for 30 years, removed last February.

"It's taken a while to happen, it took a lot of convincing of residents,'" he said.

"We began the conversation eight or nine years ago. Eighty per cent of people wanted the wall to come down `when the time is right'.

"Our job was, how do we make the time right?"

He said there followed lots of conversations about the benefits of natural light and a sense of space and how residents could feel safe - such as reinforced window glass.

"The houses were getting attacked anyway at times. We were saying, `Look this isn't actually protecting you'," he said.

"It's been brilliant, a different environment, more open."