Public Policy and Peace Walls in Belfast
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Ulster
Department Name: Faculty of Social Sciences
Abstract
A 'peace wall' is the name now commonly used to describe the massive physical structures used to divide the two main communities in Northern Ireland, primarily in the Belfast area. The first 'peace wall' was constructed almost fifty years ago in 1969 to separate the Catholic Falls Road and the Protestant Shankill Road in Belfast. At the time, it was considered a short-term policy intervention. An Army Major, overseeing the construction of the wall said: 'This is a temporary measure... we do not want to see another Berlin wall situation in Western Europe... it will be gone by Christmas'. Despite the successes of the peace process, such segregation and division are still part of the daily reality for many in Northern Ireland. In 2014, that wall still remains and has been accompanied by one hundred additional walls and barriers, stretching to more than 26 miles in length across the city. Indeed, the peace walls have come to symbolize the ongoing gulf between the aspirations of the peace process and the implementation of peace in practice. It is against this backdrop that our knowledge exchange partnership project exists.
The rationale for our project has been driven by the Northern Ireland government's recently published community relations strategy document, Together: Building a United Community (May 2013) which set itself the ambitious target of removing ALL interface barriers (peace walls) by 2023. However, our previous research has shown that 69% of local residents living in closest proximity to the peace walls believe that the peace walls are still necessary because of the potential for violence. Clearly much works will need to be undertaken with these communities in order for the government to achieve its policy objectives.
The project will generate extra value in terms of both scholarship and impact by using social science insights to maximise the chances of efficient and effective policy delivery. We will achieve this through direct and sustained engagement with senior policy-makers and practitioners connected to the Northern Ireland Executive's peace walls implementation strategy. By embedding the academic team within the Department of Justice for 12 months, working with their newly established Interface Action Team (IAT) which has lead responsibility for delivery of this strategy, opportunities for efficient and effective policy delivery will be enhanced. A series of research objectives have been identified in partnership with the IAT. These include the design, delivery and analysis of a further public attitudes survey, preliminary research on designing the next steps in practical interventions in interface areas building on existing investments from external funders such as the International Fund for Ireland, conducting a review of existing mechanisms for managing peace walls, and establishing baseline indicators to assist in mapping progress in the implementation of the peace walls initiative over the next 10 years. This will also lead to a series of roundtable workshops with academics and senior civil servants, the establishment of a database which brings together relevant statistical and qualitative information on interface areas and a number of evidence-based policy briefs designed to encourage wider participation and consultation in policy development.
The rationale for our project has been driven by the Northern Ireland government's recently published community relations strategy document, Together: Building a United Community (May 2013) which set itself the ambitious target of removing ALL interface barriers (peace walls) by 2023. However, our previous research has shown that 69% of local residents living in closest proximity to the peace walls believe that the peace walls are still necessary because of the potential for violence. Clearly much works will need to be undertaken with these communities in order for the government to achieve its policy objectives.
The project will generate extra value in terms of both scholarship and impact by using social science insights to maximise the chances of efficient and effective policy delivery. We will achieve this through direct and sustained engagement with senior policy-makers and practitioners connected to the Northern Ireland Executive's peace walls implementation strategy. By embedding the academic team within the Department of Justice for 12 months, working with their newly established Interface Action Team (IAT) which has lead responsibility for delivery of this strategy, opportunities for efficient and effective policy delivery will be enhanced. A series of research objectives have been identified in partnership with the IAT. These include the design, delivery and analysis of a further public attitudes survey, preliminary research on designing the next steps in practical interventions in interface areas building on existing investments from external funders such as the International Fund for Ireland, conducting a review of existing mechanisms for managing peace walls, and establishing baseline indicators to assist in mapping progress in the implementation of the peace walls initiative over the next 10 years. This will also lead to a series of roundtable workshops with academics and senior civil servants, the establishment of a database which brings together relevant statistical and qualitative information on interface areas and a number of evidence-based policy briefs designed to encourage wider participation and consultation in policy development.
Planned Impact
Who will benefit?
This project will use social science insights to maximise the chances of efficient and effective policy delivery in relation to Northern Ireland's current peace walls implementation strategy. Through doing so the project will be of direct benefit to:
a. Individuals responsible for the strategic and operational delivery of policies within the DOJ (primarily those within the Interface Action Team);
b. Devolved government, particularly the NI Ministers responsible for issues directly and indirectly associated with peace walls;
c. Local government - particularly Belfast City Council;
d. Public sector bodies that engage on issues aligned to the challenges associated with the removal of peace walls including the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and the Police Service of Northern Ireland;
e. Local community and voluntary organisations dealing with these challenges around removing peace walls including Belfast Interface Project, North Belfast interface network, Community Relations Council, Tides Training, Forthspring, and Lower Shankill Community Association.
f. Broader society in Northern Ireland including churches and business.
How will they benefit?
In the short term this project will increase levels of collaboration between actors and stakeholders across the various sectors identified above (a-f). The three primary tasks within the knowledge exchange project (attitudinal survey; research and reviews of internal policy processes; development of indicators) will provide a focal point of engagement for all interested parties and encourage their collaboration. More specifically, the Ulster team will host a number of seminars with stakeholders as identified above (a-f) to discuss the research design and allow for suggestions relating to the proposed survey, to present the results and initial analysis of the various research tasks, and collect comments on findings from the stakeholders which can be used to help develop the evidence based policy briefs. Policy briefing reports will then be used to disseminate further the academic thinking and evidence related to the challenges of formulating and implementing appropriate peace wall related policies. As a result, we expect a key benefit for those with whom we have engaged to be a greater awareness of the challenging issues and the development of stronger stakeholder relationships built up through their participation in our seminars, workshops and roundtable events. In the medium and longer term, the impact of the project will be seen in terms of the quality and depth of discussion surrounding the policy debate and subsequent implementation of policies aimed at removing peace walls.
What are the potential impacts likely to be, and what is their importance?
The main potential impact of this knowledge exchange project is that it will facilitate local communities in working together to produce a phased plan of how to reduce and eventually remove peace walls and barriers in their areas. Our overall research programme and knowledge exchange activity will take 10 years and we are committed to following the policy area throughout that timeframe. There are key milestones and important moments within the next 10 year, which will have an impact on peace walls and public policy:
2014 - the rollout of the initial devolved government strategy
2015 - all external funding for peace walls best practice projects finish
2016 - Northern Ireland assembly election (and impact on policy direction)
2019 - 50th anniversary of the building of the first peace wall in Belfast
2023 - deadline for implementation strategy to remove peace walls.
Given that the maximum amount of time that we can bid for through this scheme is 12 months, we view this project as focusing exclusively on engagement around the rolling out of the initial government strategy while building the foundations for a sustained programme of activity over the longer term.
This project will use social science insights to maximise the chances of efficient and effective policy delivery in relation to Northern Ireland's current peace walls implementation strategy. Through doing so the project will be of direct benefit to:
a. Individuals responsible for the strategic and operational delivery of policies within the DOJ (primarily those within the Interface Action Team);
b. Devolved government, particularly the NI Ministers responsible for issues directly and indirectly associated with peace walls;
c. Local government - particularly Belfast City Council;
d. Public sector bodies that engage on issues aligned to the challenges associated with the removal of peace walls including the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and the Police Service of Northern Ireland;
e. Local community and voluntary organisations dealing with these challenges around removing peace walls including Belfast Interface Project, North Belfast interface network, Community Relations Council, Tides Training, Forthspring, and Lower Shankill Community Association.
f. Broader society in Northern Ireland including churches and business.
How will they benefit?
In the short term this project will increase levels of collaboration between actors and stakeholders across the various sectors identified above (a-f). The three primary tasks within the knowledge exchange project (attitudinal survey; research and reviews of internal policy processes; development of indicators) will provide a focal point of engagement for all interested parties and encourage their collaboration. More specifically, the Ulster team will host a number of seminars with stakeholders as identified above (a-f) to discuss the research design and allow for suggestions relating to the proposed survey, to present the results and initial analysis of the various research tasks, and collect comments on findings from the stakeholders which can be used to help develop the evidence based policy briefs. Policy briefing reports will then be used to disseminate further the academic thinking and evidence related to the challenges of formulating and implementing appropriate peace wall related policies. As a result, we expect a key benefit for those with whom we have engaged to be a greater awareness of the challenging issues and the development of stronger stakeholder relationships built up through their participation in our seminars, workshops and roundtable events. In the medium and longer term, the impact of the project will be seen in terms of the quality and depth of discussion surrounding the policy debate and subsequent implementation of policies aimed at removing peace walls.
What are the potential impacts likely to be, and what is their importance?
The main potential impact of this knowledge exchange project is that it will facilitate local communities in working together to produce a phased plan of how to reduce and eventually remove peace walls and barriers in their areas. Our overall research programme and knowledge exchange activity will take 10 years and we are committed to following the policy area throughout that timeframe. There are key milestones and important moments within the next 10 year, which will have an impact on peace walls and public policy:
2014 - the rollout of the initial devolved government strategy
2015 - all external funding for peace walls best practice projects finish
2016 - Northern Ireland assembly election (and impact on policy direction)
2019 - 50th anniversary of the building of the first peace wall in Belfast
2023 - deadline for implementation strategy to remove peace walls.
Given that the maximum amount of time that we can bid for through this scheme is 12 months, we view this project as focusing exclusively on engagement around the rolling out of the initial government strategy while building the foundations for a sustained programme of activity over the longer term.
Publications
Byrne, J.
(2015)
The IFI Peace Walls Programme 2012-2015: an evaluation.
Byrne, J.
(2015)
Public Attitudes to Peace Walls (2015) Survey Report
Gormley-Heenan, C.
(2015)
Removing Peace Walls and Public Policy (1): the challenge of definition and design.
Morrow, D.
(2015)
Removing Peace Walls and Public Policy (2): the challenge of delivery.
| Title | Dismantling the Peace Walls by 2023: "rational" or "irrational" policy thinking? |
| Description | In May 2013, the Northern Ireland Executive published a new community relations strategy document, 'Together: Building a United Community', which set itself the ambitious target of removing ALL interface barriers (peace walls) by 2023. Peace walls and interface barriers designed to secure communities through physical separation have been a feature of the physical, political and psychological landscape of Northern Ireland since 1969. They have long been seen as symbols of division and polarisation with enormous social and economic impact at local, city and regional level. This video presentation draws on the findings from a recently completed (September, 2015) ESRC funded research award, which involved a partnership between Ulster University and the Department of Justice that looked at the policy challenges around meeting such a target. The independently funded research, titled 'Public Policy and Peace Walls' enabled the researchers to act as a 'critical friend', as formative evaluators of a current policy implementation process, and as a provider of evidence-based research. Drawing on this work, this presentation will consider the numerous policy approaches to framing the issue of peace walls, and present new and innovative methods of interpreting the political and community narratives around what the walls represent in a post-conflict society. |
| Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
| Year Produced | 2015 |
| Impact | Not known at this time - update on downloads to follow.... |
| URL | http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/assembly-business/research-and-information-service-raise/knowledge-exch... |
| Description | Through a series of knowledge exchange activities during the year, a safe space for academic, policy makers and practitioners was established to discuss the difficulties of policy implementation in a divided society and to identify, monitor and evaluate practical solutions. A number of achievements resulted from this: Firstly, a number of new research questions have been opened up as a result of the partnership, particularly as they relate to the delivery and implementation of the government policy. We have explored these questions in detail with the department and key stakeholder and have raised them in our Knowledge Exchange Seminar in October 2015, at Parliament Building, Stormont in order to begin to stimulate conversation on possible ways to approach these research questions so that they have value for policy-makers and practitioners. These include questions on the challenges of definition and design of the policy; the challenges of delivery; and the challenges of engaging communities. Going forward we will want to know: What are the responsibilities of residents, community leaders and interface projects in delivering the TBUC target and how are they to be engaged? What do we mean by community confidence? How is community consent understood by the community and by policy-makers? We have also achieved recognition that there is a need for greater linguistic precision in relation to this policy priority using the TBUC phrase 'the removal of all peace walls' as an example of this - What does 'removal' mean? Is an environmental redesign of a wall the same as removal? What does 'all' mean - how many are all? Who will determine the list/numbers? What does 'peace wall' mean - does it include contested space and vacant/derelict land or does it not? Secondly, we have established a significant new research collaboration with a team of interdisciplinary scholars from across Ulster as a result of an identified a gap in the current evidence base used by the Northern Ireland Executive and government departments which we had uncovered during the course of our knowledge exchange activities with them. As a result, we were able to use our ESRC Award to help build a bigger research team of qualitative and quantitative research specialists to take forward a further project beginning in December 2015 through the ESRC Administrative Data Research Centre - Northern Ireland (ADRC-NI). What is absent at present, is a series of baseline indicators which can help policy makers from the various government departments understand the context and situation for those living closest to the peace walls. The ADRC-NI project will help us develop this series of baseline indicators which can then be used to assist in mapping progress on the implementation of the peace walls strategy 2013-2023. We will do this by producing reports (and subsequent academic papers and presentations) that will highlight the socio-demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the areas designated as proximate to the peace walls. This will inevitably entail comparison with less deprived areas, thus adding to the more general debate on social inequalities. Thirdly, we have successfully facilitated a series of closed roundtable workshops and engagements with key stakeholders (in excess of 60 such activities) resulting in the development and production of a number of confidential strategic and operational planning documents for them. Given the sensitivities around much of this work, these remain confidential. As a result, the research team has achieved a much greater degree of embedddness within this policy arena and are confident that the research and knowledge exchange relationship will continue beyond the lifecycle of the funding. Finally, we have has successfully produced a new public attitudinal survey which considers the views of those people living in closest proximity to the peace walls. This will be used by the Department of Justice and other stakeholders as they shape their policy implementation strategies going forward. |
| Exploitation Route | The outcomes of this research could be taken forward by the Department for Justice as part of their planning for the next Programme for Government. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Security and Diplomacy |
| Description | Our findings from our ESRC research, from the attitudinal survey, the reviews of internal policy processes, and from the development of indicators through the use of ADRC-NI data gathering have provided a focal point of engagement for all interested parties and encourage their collaboration. We were asked to present the findings at the Annual Joint Inter Agency Group (IAG) and Inter Community Partnership (ICP) Conference in December 2016, a significant policy network dedicated to the broad issue of interfaces within the Northern Ireland devolved institutions. We were asked to present the findings to the Northern Ireland Executive's Together: Building a United Community (TBUC) Programme Board, the government appointed Board responsible for the implementation of the TBUC strategy. Our published policy briefs have been disseminated extensively across the full spectrum of stakeholders and produced in video format to allow for use by others, through the Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series, at the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Department of Justice have indicated that they already using these policy briefs in their own deliberations on enhancing implementation strategies. In the medium and longer term, the impact of the project's findings will be seen in terms of the quality and depth of discussion surrounding the policy debate and subsequent implementation of policies aimed at removing peace walls. The findings were also used in the development of a commissioned BBC World Service Radio documentary titled "Walls and Peace", a 50 minute documentary which was presented by the PI Cathy Gormley-Heenan and first broadcast in April 2017. It is also available online at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p04yzrw1 |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Security and Diplomacy |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal,Policy & public services |
| Description | Committee of OFMDFM Report on Inquiry into TBUC: United Community (2014-15) |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
| URL | http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/globalassets/committee-blocks/ofmdfm/20151009-ofmdfm---buc-response.pdf |
| Description | Administrative Data Research Network (Northern Ireland) Launch Event - December 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | In December 2014, ADRC-NI held a showcase event at the Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast. The Centre was introduced not only to politicians, senior policy developers and academics, but also to the community, voluntary and social enterprise sector. Our work on peace walls was presented at this event along with a key finding of our scoping exercises with DOJ that we needed to find stronger baseline evidence to map the socio-economic circumstances of those living closest to walls. There were a number of questions asked by invited guests in the Q&A afterwards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Attitudes to Peace Walls 2015 Survey Report Launch Event (December 2015) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | A publicity campaign was mounted to coincide with the release of our Attitudes to Peace walls (2015) Survey report, in December 2015. This included a social and print media campaign. The purpose was to highlight the changing trends in attitudes towards the removal of peace walls in some areas. The summary of coverage achieved included: Broadcast Media (15/12/15) • BBC TV Newsline show • BBC Radio Ulster news bulletins • BBC Radio Foyle news bulletins • BBC Radio Foyle Mark Patterson show • Highland Radio Print Media (15/12/15) • Irish Times pg 7 • Belfast Telegraph pg 14 • North West Telegraph pg 14 • Irish News pgs 18 and 5 • News Letter pg 49 Online • BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-35102164 • Irish Times - http://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/support-grows-for-keeping-north-s-peace-walls-1.2467761 • Belfast Telegraph - http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/support-grows-for-northern-ireland-peace-walls-to-stay-34291021.html • Irish News - http://www.irishnews.com/news/2015/12/16/news/more-householders-now-want-peace-walls-kept-up-than-three-years-ago-355269/ Social Media -Twitter initial launch of survey report with link to PDF of survey resulted in 6383 impressions (Times people saw this tweet on twitter) and 196 total engagements (times people interacted with this tweet) -Extensive coverage tweet had 3,759 impressions and 67 total engagements. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.socsci.ulster.ac.uk/pws.pdf |
| Description | Belfast City Council 'Remove All Barriers' Event ( March 2015) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Presentation at Belfast City Council for elected representatives and community workers on peace walls and issues of segregation across the city. A Q&A session followed with invited audience. BCC reported requests for further information following the event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Belfast City Council Good Relations Partnership (October 2014) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | Briefing on the work of the ESRC funded Knowledge Exchange Project on Peace Walls and Public Policy to a range of local Councillors on Belfast City Council as well as other invited stakeholders. The intended purpose was to introduce Councillors to the research with a view to making sure that there was synergy with an interface work ongoing within Belfast City Council at the time. Outcome was a reflection on the part of the partnership particularly around the need for engagement with communities living in interface areas. This was noted in subsequent minutes of the meeting. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014,2015 |
| URL | https://minutes3.belfastcity.gov.uk/documents/s35923/gr131014m.pdf |
| Description | Inter Community Partnership (ICP) Dunsilly Meeting (October 2014) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The research team presented their knowledge exchange plans to the members of the Inter Community Partners group at one of their meetings and arranged follow up activity and engagement with a number of delegates at the event. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Interagency Workshop with IFI, DOJ, OFMDFM, NIHE, CRC, PSNI, SIB (August 2015) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A range of stakeholders relating to peacewalls/interfaces work came together for a one day workshop, facilitated by the research team at Ulster, which considered some of core issues which were common to all of the invited stakeholders and to address the following question: 'What is your contribution and what do you expect from others'? The outcome was the delivery of a range of recommendations relating to (1) the narrative (2) the scale (3) the ownership (4) the terminology (5) the outcomes (6) the roles and responsibilities and (7) the accountability processes for the stakeholders. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Interface Community Partners and Interagency Group Annual Conference (December 2015) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | At the conference, the project team presented key findings from the prepared policy papers in relation to: the challenge of agreeing a common understanding of the removal of the peace walls; the challenge of delivery; and the challenge of engaging communities The intended purpose was to give delegates the opportunity to inform the future design proposals for addressing interface challenges. A robust Q&A session followed with all delegates attending. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.communityni.org/event/invitation-interface-community-partners-and-inter-agency-group-annu... |
| Description | International Fund for Ireland (IFI) Peace Walls Programme Facilitated Workshop (October 2014) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | The research team wanted to reflect upon the work of the IFI Peace Walls Project (PWP) and so brought together representatives of the eight funded projects to share their own experiences and practice around the delivery of the programme. Following initial contributions from each of the groups, the purpose of the event was to facilitate discussion on the emerging common themes which could help shape and inform any future iterations of the funded programme. The groups reported enthusiasm for the planning of future proposed events to complement this initial activity. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Ministerial Briefing (Minister for Employment and Learning - DEL) April 2015 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The purpose was to brief the Minister and his department officials about Ulster University work and the impact of interface activity on this work. Q&A followed the initial briefing and further engagement will continue. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Ministerial Briefing (Minister of Justice David Ford) (September 2014) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The project team met with Minister David Ford (Minister of Justice, Northern Ireland), special adviser and senior civil servants from the department to advise them on the work of the ESRC Knowledge Exchange project as funded and to discuss priorities for the year ahead. Our work was then subsequently referenced in a Ministerial responses to a written question by Barry McElduff (SF) AQO 8908/11-16, (answered 21 October 2015). See here for AQO and answer: http://aims.niassembly.gov.uk/questions/printquestionsummary.aspx?docid=247127 |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://aims.niassembly.gov.uk/questions/printquestionsummary.aspx?docid=247127 |
| Description | North Belfast Interface Network (January 2015) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
| Results and Impact | A meeting was held with North Belfast Interface Network in January 2015 on the current challenges to removing peace walls with Ulster University research team acting as critical friends around specific policy implementation challenges. A robust discussion followed. Afterwards the group reported a desire for further follow-up engagement. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| Description | Northern Ireland Assembly Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series (KESS) (October 2015) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | A 20 minute presentation was given in Parliament Building, Stormont in October 2015 as part of the Knowledge Exchange Seminar Series (KESS). KESS is the first of its kind in the United Kingdom, formally partnering a legislative arm of government - the Assembly - with academia. Aiming to encourage debate and improve understanding, KESS provides a forum to present and disseminate academic research findings in a straightforward format, on issues that are relevant to the Programme for Government. It seeks to bring the findings to the attention of key participants and decision-makers in the policy and law-making processes in Northern Ireland, such as MLAs and Assembly committees, as well as the wider public sector. Our presentation was titled 'Dismantling the peace walls by 2023: rational or irrational policy thinking?' and considered the numerous policy approaches to framing the issue of peace walls, and presented new and innovative methods of interpreting the political and community narratives around what the walls represent in a post-conflict society. Finally, drawing from up-to-date survey data, the research team provided a current assessment of the Executive's attempts to meet the 2023 target to around 50 audience members. There was a robust Q&A session afterwards for around 30 minutes as well as many one to one conversations over coffee afterwards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/assembly-business/research-and-information-service-raise/knowledge-exch... |
| Description | Why Northern Ireland's 'Peace Walls' Show No Signs Of Following Berlin's Example (Huffington Post) November 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The Huffington Post were preparing an article for publication on the issue of peace walls and interfaces in Belfast and sought engagement with Dr. Jonny Byrne from the project team, for both insight into our work and for quotations for the piece. 27 readers left comments about the piece before the discussion board was closed and repeatedly shared on Facebook, Google and Twitter. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/11/03/peace-walls-northern-ireland_n_6093634.html |
| Description | Will Belfast ever have a Berlin Wall moment and tear down its 'peace walls'? (October 2014) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Jonny Byrne was asked to comment for a Guardian article on the removal of peace walls in Belfast. It said: "The city's gates and walls have become "part of the built environment", according to Jonny Byrne, a lecturer in politics at the University of Ulster. "The Berlin Wall had to come down for Berlin to be normalised. We have normalised Belfast without taking down the walls." The article was shared 2545 times and received 566 comments online before the discussion board was closed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/sep/29/belfast-berlin-wall-moment-permanent-peace-walls |