View, January 2012


Page 12 FROM BElFAST Brian Pelan talks to criminoligist Jonny Byrne about


n 1969, the then senior British Army com- mander, Lieutenant General Ian Freeland, pre- dicted that: “The peace line will be a very, very temporary affair. We will not have a Berlin Wall or anything like that in Belfast” In 2011, estimates vary about the exact number


I


of ‘peace walls’ now present in the city – but num- bers are around 42 and more than 90 in the whole of Northern Ireland. Over a coffee in Nero's cafe in Belfast, Ulster


University criminologist Jonny Byrne, who was born in Newcastle, Co Down, told me about his recent doctorate on the 'peace walls' of Northern Ireland.


Policies and Politics of the Troubles’ Architecture’. It was more than 100,000 words and took me three years to complete.' “There are no ‘peace walls’ near me where I live but sometimes I dream about them. “I was a research officer for six years at the Neil Jarman Institute of Conflict Research in north Belfast. There are 42 ‘peace walls’ in Belfast or as they are sometimes referred to – ‘separation or in-


‘There are no peace walls near me but sometimes I dream about them’


terface barriers’.” During a lengthy discussion about a divided city,


Jonny spoke about the irony of the ‘peace walls’. “Recently, Baghdad in Iraq witnessed an expan-


sive construction of walls throughout the different ethnic neighbourhoods. “The US army responded to the increased vio- lence at the time by adopting a similar approach to that advocated by the British Army in Northern Ireland by constructing several miles of concrete walls throughout the city in an attempt to reduce the paramilitary violence and provide opportuni- ties for political discussions. “Interestingly, the Iraqi Prime Minister, upon tak- ing full control of the city in 2009, ordered the re- moval of all US-built barricades which lined shopfronts and ringed neighbourhoods. However, it should be noted that although a number of walls and barricades were dismantled, an upsurge in paramilitary bombings resulted in those same bar- riers being erected again.” “The Army first erected the peace walls in 1969,


“It was titled 'Belfast's Peace Walls – Problems,


Landmark: Jonny Byrne at one of the ‘peace walls’ in Northumberland Street, west Belfast


in response to sectarian violence and disorder. Since then, there have been approximately 42 walls constructed within urban working class loyalist and republican areas. He added: “For the first time our politicians have


responsibility for ‘peace walls’ following the recent devolution of policing and justice. They have the opportunity to provide leadership and support for


communities who want to transform the peace walls and interface barriers that have dominated their neighbourhoods for up to 40 years.” Although Mr Byrne, who is based at the univer-


with this difficult and highly sensitive issue. “The research revealed that peace walls were


sity’s Jordanstown campus, recognises the impor- tance of Stormont in any process that involves the transformation of peace walls, he argues that Belfast City Council is better equipped to deal


viewed as a local issue that essentially required local solutions, and for that reason Belfast City Council has plenty of knowledge and experience dealing with sensitive issues such as bonfires, mu- rals, flags and parades at the neighbourhood level. “It was interesting to see earlier this month that


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