Peace walls: To be or not to be - 19th April 2023

Twenty-five years on from the signing of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland's capital, Belfast, is still dominated by the 'peace walls'.

Erected by the British army between the neighbourhoods of pro-Ireland republicans, primarily Catholic, and pro-UK loyalists, primarily Protestant, the collection of 75 walls, spanning 13 kilometres, are yet to be dismantled.

Though the sectarian conflict dubbed 'The Troubles' culminated with the peace accord in 1998, the graffiti filled walls remain a prominent feature, dividing the city.

A former republican paramilitary member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), Michael Culbert now leads tours of the peace walls and believes the walls are a relic of the past and can no longer be justified.

Michael Culbert: "The walls here are a, are a remnant of our, our past conflict, when you think of wall. The walls were built, one, by the British government. And to a degree they were built to stop bullets. That's what the wall - the bullets can't go through the wall. There are no bullets flying now, so the walls have to come down."

Many compare the peace walls to the Berlin Wall, which was demolished at the fall of the Soviet Union. However, criminal justice professor Jonny Byrne hypothesises why this hasn't and might never be the case in Belfast.

Jonny Byrne: "That's never happened and never will happen because we don't have a Berlin wall structure here. The peace walls, they actually have become part of the built environment and communities. You, you can drive through areas and not even know they're there because they've become part of the, the, the, the buildings and the, and the, and the architecture of these communities."

Currently serving as a tourist attraction, the peace walls are a hotspot for what Byrne coins 'recreational rioting', which included protests in 2021, as tensions rose over Brexit trade agreements.

Whilst people mix and mingle in other parts of the city, questions over the relevance of the walls remain. Michael Culbert is convinced they'll come down in due course.

Michael Culbert: "The problem is the walls have been here that long. They're, they're covering at least two, possibly three generations. It'll take time but people will come, come to it."