Public Attitudes to Peace Walls (2015)

Public Attitudes to Peace Walls (2015)
Survey Results
Ulster University
Table 22: In principle, if the Peace Wall in your area WAS removed what is likely to happen?
Nothing, everything would stay
the same as present
Minor incidents of anti-social
behaviour
Some significant incidents of
sectarian violence
Some significant incidents of antisocial
behaviour and sectarian
violence but only during particular
dates/anniversaries or marches
Constant problems with anti-social
behaviour and sectarian violence
Total (%) Protestant (%) Catholic (%)
10 9 9
20 13 24
17 21 17
21 17 23
20 33 13
Don’t know 12 8 13
Building on the theme of safety and security, the survey asked participants to consider how
confident they were in the police’s ability to preserve peace and maintain order in the absence of
a physical structure (Table 23). The findings suggest that just under one third of residents (29%)
were very worried about how the PSNI would manage the environment if the peace wall was
removed. Furthermore, Protestant respondents (61%) were more worried about the policing of
their communities, than those from a Catholic background (43%). Only 29% of all participants
were very or fairly confident of the police’s ability to manage the transition of space.
Table 23: In principle if the Peace Wall in your area was removed how confident or worried
would you be about the ability of the police to preserve peace and maintain order?
Total (%) Protestant (%) Catholic (%)
Very confident 6 4 8
Fairly confident 23 17 25
Neither confident or worried 13 11 15
Fairly worried 19 21 19
Very worried 29 40 24
Don’t know 9 7 9
Although participants indicated concern at the police’s ability to provide safety and security in the
absence of peace walls, this did not seem to affect their views on leaving their home if the peace
wall was removed (Table 24). The result showed that 11% would move home, while the majority
(55%) would do nothing at all.
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