SERVICES

Tuesday February 6, 2008

Belfast Residents Asked If Peace Lines Should Come Down

81% Say Yes - The Question Is When?

Key Findings Of The Poll

81% want walls to come down:
21% said now
60% said yes, when it's safe enough, but not at present
17% said they didn't care if the walls never come down

In April, the US-Ireland Alliance is hosting a gathering in Belfast with Senator George Mitchell and negotiators to mark the 10th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement. The US Government and Alburn are sponsors of the event, which will include alumni of the George J. Mitchell Scholarship program as well as young leaders on the island.

With that date in mind, they have been asking whether or not those who live at interface areas in Belfast are interested in using the anniversary as an occasion to bring down a part of the peace line. As part of our research, the Alliance engaged Millward Brown Ulster to ask residents their views on this matter.

In the first poll to specifically ask people about their views on the peace walls, 1,037 people were asked 18 questions. Three specific interface areas were polled last month - the Falls/Shankill area, East Belfast (referred to in the poll as Short Strand and Templemore Avenue), and North Belfast (referred to in the poll as Antrim Rd/Tigers Bay). The Falls, Short Strand and Antrim Road are predominantly Catholic neighborhoods with the Shankill, Templemore Avenue and Tigers Bay being predominately Protestant.

There was strong agreement that the walls serve to help residents feel safer by keeping the communities separated. They also feel the walls serve to stop young gang-related activity.

61% agree that local politicians should be doing more to create conditions for the walls to come down, with only 10% disagreeing.
52% feel the two communities are growing in their confidence in each other.
58% lack confidence in the ability of the police to preserve peace and maintain order if the walls came down.

Encouragingly, those polled seem reluctant to simply place blame on 'the other side,' and accept that both sides of each interface area share culpability. There was a net disagreement with the proposition that 'the other side could not be trusted."

Only small minorities intimated that they would consider moving out if the walls come down.

Complete results of the poll may be found at us-irelandalliance.org