This policy brief draws on research conducted through an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) grant that looked at peace walls and public policy with the Department of Justice (2015), findings from a recent project which was developed through the Administrative Data Research Network (ADRN) that explored 2001 and 2011 Census data specific to population areas which contained peace walks, and wider academic research. Broadly speaking, the work to date on peace walls in Northern Ireland has focused upon four key thematic areas: mapping and quantifying the type, number, location and ownership of the structures; the impact of the violence of the ‘Troubles’ and on-going residential segregation on the lives of residents including young people that live closest to the peace walls; analysis of the policy context on ‘peace-walls’, and the views of residents on the impact (and future) of the walls in terms of dismantling and transformation.
Jonny Byrne, Cathy Gormley-Heenan, Duncan Morrow, Michael Rosato and Sally Cook
Institure for Research in Social Sciences, University of Ulster, November 2017