Plans to remove peace walls in Northern Ireland by 2023

Stormont junior minister says reconciliation has been ‘hampered by physical divisions’

Walls dividing Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland should be down within the next seven years, according to a Stormont junior minister.

Sinn Féin MLA Megan Fearon said the Stormont Executive remained committed to removing all interface barriers by 2023.

Addressing a community festival in north Belfast, which has 16 so-called peace walls, Ms Fearon said: "By removing a peace wall we open a door to a new shared space and I believe we should be ambitious in our efforts . . . Reconciliation has been hampered by physical divisions so to help build a truly shared, united and reconciled community, we need to put in place the conditions and circumstances to remove these structures."

Peace lines include a mixture of traditional walls, fences and gates and are the most visual reminder of the city’s troubled past.

READ MORE

They were intended as a temporary protection from violence during the 30-year conflict but remain almost two decades after the 1998 Belfast Agreement which ended the Troubles.

According to figures from the North’s Department of Justice, 50 barriers – 39 walls and 11 gates – are still in place.

Some structures stretch for kilometres and stand up to 18ft high.

–(PA)