Public Attitudes to Peace Walls (2015)

Public Attitudes to Peace Walls (2015)
Survey Results
Ulster University
4. Key Findings
This is the second independent survey looking at public awareness and attitudes towards peace
walls in Northern Ireland. Aside from adding to existing quantitative research and increasing the
body of knowledge, we are now in a better position to explore whether there have been changes
in the views and attitudes of those living closest to the peace walls.
The following section draws together the key findings from the 2015 edition of the survey under
three headings: the most relevant views and attitudes of all residents towards the peace walls; the
views and attitudes of residents disaggregated to show differences by religion; and variations in
the views and attitudes between the 2012 and 2015 editions of this survey.
4.1 Views and attitudes of residents
41% could envisage a time when there would be no peace walls and 41% could not.
Catholics were more optimistic about this than Protestants [table 27]
76% feel ‘very safe’ or ‘fairly safe’ in their community, while less that 10% feel unsafe
[table 7]
48% would be ‘very worried’ or ‘fairly worried’ about the ability of the police to
maintain order if their nearest peace wall was removed, rising to 61% among
Protestants [table 23]
50% interact with people outside of their own community background ‘very often’ or
‘often’ [table 8]
79% report that their interaction with other communities is positive and only 3%
described it as negative [table 9]
22% interact with people from the immediate community on the other side of the
wall. 42% have no contact with the community across the wall [table10a]
41% would go to their local community representative if they had a ‘question’ or
‘issue’ about their nearest peace wall, compared to 14% to the local council and 11%
to the police [table 15]
43% would expect to be kept informed about developments relating to the peace
wall by local community representatives, compared to 20% expecting information
from Councils and 16% from elected representatives [table 18]
38% of residents believe that community consent means everybody in the
community [table 20]
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