A muted response in west Belfast

There was a muted response in west Belfast to the Stormont deal, described by the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams, as "peace…

There was a muted response in west Belfast to the Stormont deal, described by the Sinn Fein leader, Mr Gerry Adams, as "peace between orange and green".

"There'll be no flag-waving or celebrating this time," said a man on the Andersonstown Road. "Nationalists in west Belfast have never had anything to celebrate."

Another man said: "I don't think people should underestimate the depth of republicanism in republicans."

Mr James Crampsie, a building worker in his 60s, said he was "happy as heck and I wouldn't care if we get into an all-Ireland or anything else". Mr Crampsie who has lived in Koran Ring, off Andersonstown Road, for 40 years, said he hoped the peace deal would hold because he wanted to see his granddaughter grow up in a peaceful environment.

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He recalled Belfast in the 1970s when the shooting outside his house between the IRA and the British army was so bad that he and his family had to lie on the floor. He also remembered leaving his house one day to see two British soldiers stripped naked and dropped over the wall of the nearby Casement Park. "All I'm concerned about is that there is an end to the violence and the shooting."

Two youth workers accompanying boys from St Patrick's Training School on a recreational trip to Andersonstown Leisure Centre also welcomed the agreement.

Mr Michael McGeown said he would consider emigrating if the political situation worsened again. He had planned his last child after the 1994 IRA ceasefire and would consider having another child only if he knew it would be born into a peaceful environment.

"I think Gerry Adams is fantastic. He's bending and he's trying to accommodate everybody," said Ms Sue McCann, from the New Lodge.

Jim and Una, from Clonard, were less enthusiastic. "As long as the North-South bodies are free-standing and it ends up with a united Ireland at some stage, then it's OK," said Jim.