Public Attitudes to Peace Walls (2015)

Public Attitudes to Peace Walls (2015)
Survey Results
Ulster University
Table 26: If the Peace Wall in your community remains, what effect will it have on the following?
Total (%) Protestant (%) Catholic (%)
Jobs in this area 76 78 76
Relations between the two communities 68 68 70
Business investment in this area 65 67 66
Community safety 68 69 68
Government investment in this area 62 65 61
Tourism to this area 66 69 66
Access to services like health, education and leisure 77 78 78
The image of Northern Ireland abroad 63 70 62
People’s health and wellbeing 68 72 67
Finally, the participants were asked to consider whether they thought there would be a time in
the future when there would be no peace walls within their area (Table 27). The largest number
of people (41%) thought that there would be an occasion in the future when all the peace walls
would be dismantled. However, a further 41% were of the view that the peace walls would always
be a part of the built environment. Interestingly, more Catholics (48%) than Protestants (27%)
were more likely to believe that the peace walls would be taken down in the future.
Table 27: Can you envisage a time when there will be no Peace Walls in
this area?
Total (%) Protestant (%) Catholic (%)
Yes 41 27 48
No 41 56 34
Don’t know 17 17 18
Since the announcement of TBUC, the Northern Ireland Executive has appeared to be divided on
many issues and this may be reflected in survey responses. Disputes over the route of a parade
in North Belfast led to widespread rioting and the establishment of a protest encampment. Interparty
talks to address contentious issues chaired by Richard Haass and Megan O’Sullivan broke up
in acrimony and without agreement in late 2013. Additional disagreements over budgets led to
further talks in 2014. Apparent success proved insufficient to prevent further polarisation during
2015. Parading disputes and allegations of renewed paramilitary activity led to further talks in
Autumn 2015. Uncertainty in politics has been matched by greater tension in inter-community
relations at local level. Engaging communities in a shared vision of safety has proved challenging
with suggestions that TBUC has lacked urgency and priority and can be detected in survey
responses.
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