Under Dark Shadows

Acknowledgements

I mention individual people in order of their appearance in the book rather than implying their relative importance. Each person has had a much-appreciated role in helping me produce the end product – though none is responsible for my interpretations of fact or conclusions. I am indebted to Professor Peter Shirlow, Director of the Institute of Irish Studies, Liverpool University for writing the Foreword and his continued collegiate and friendly support. Gerry Robinson, who played a key part in finalising the research for my last book, took me on that challenging tour of the Belfast interfaces and continued to challenge, correct and encourage me to the end of this journey. His knowledge, experience and wisdom in this field equals that of any academic or professional.

Dermot O’Kane, Director of Planning and Building Control, Belfast City Council, generously gave his time, answered some very naive questions, read a number of early drafts and patiently guided me through the labyrinth of planning strategy and regulation – communicating complex issues with the ease of a skilled communicator.

Dr Paul Gallagher, Trauma Education Officer at Wave, has been an inspiration for many years as one of the seriously injured who rose above all the challenges in his life and campaigned for the ‘Troubles pension’. He was charming and generous with his time in helping me write about that aspect of the legacy of the conflict.

Brendan Murtagh, Professor of Urban Planning, Queen’s University Belfast, was truly enthusiastic about my book and shared his own work, tactfully made suggestions on some first draft chapters and restored my then-flagging confidence in the project.

Professor Richard English is the Director of the George Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen’s University Belfast, where I have been a visiting scholar for over two years. He gave me advice on a number of key issues in the book – and read it – and reassured me ←vii | viii→that, should I need it, he would support a request for an extension of my time at the Institute.

Pictures

Picture 1. North Queen Street new wall.

Picture 2. Derelict ground adjacent to Mountcollyer Street on Unionist side.

Picture 3. Interface wall in Alexandra Park.

Picture 4. Girdwood facing onto space in front of Unionist housing.

Picture 5. Land adjacent to Mountcollyer Street.

Picture 6. Mill development at Flax Street.

Picture 7. Flax Street gate.

Picture 8. Glenbryn side of interface at Alliance Avenue, with Grace Family Centre on the other side of the wall.

Picture 9. Lanark Way interface from Shankill side.

Picture 10. Cupar Way peace wall.

Foreword

PETER SHIRLOW

Roz Goldie has been and remains one of Northern Ireland’s shrewdest but most modest commentators. Her role in the peace process, social justice developments and the capacity to communicate, especially when speaking truth to power, has been impressive if not inspiring. The theme of Roz’s writing both within this book and elsewhere is replete with the objective analysis of material and other realities. This is the work of examination, analysis and the questioning of a society that can enable significant shifts, such as the near ending of violence, but is less capable in achieving a system to provide the flexibility, litheness and capacity to end conflict in a manner sufficient to deliver an all-encompassing peace dividend. The problematic of a two-speed peace process is indicative of what the author contends – political vision. This we are correctly informed is due to competing nationalisms or ethno-sectarian constructs that deliver a political system that replicates the hybridity of identity and pluralism emergent within society.

Within this book, we encounter the realities of situations in which civic best provides for meaningful social outcomes when Northern Ireland’s political parties cannot locate ‘discernible political gains or losses…’. In essence, when votes do not matter the role of inter-community partnership thrives. It is that level of sharpness that is located throughout this account in which we encounter cold, hard and sober comment. Whether it is the Home Office, the Democratic Unionist Party or Sinn Fein, Roz steers us through their gaffes, ideological confrontation and the immiserations of their actions and policy failures. Yet Goldie reminds us that these various machinations cannot unravel the embedded nature of what has changed post 1998. Sectarian and conflict-related violence have declined dramatically, inter-community partnerships have emerged and the desire to engage in armed conflict has receded.

Introduction

The seeds of this book began when the National Democratic Institute in Washington asked me to revisit my work from the early years of this century. That was in late 2019. At the end of an extensive interview with Lauren Van Metre of the National Democratic Institute, I recall saying The shadow of Brexit is the footprint of the constitutional struggle. As with many off the cuff remarks, it now seems appropriate, although that was just where our conversation led. It was a short contract, but it led me to review the rest of my work, after some years of absence, which began a journey – interrupted by the pandemic – that restarted in April 2021.

The Covid-19 pandemic, the global climate change crisis and now the war in Ukraine may dwarf the seemingly small issues of Northern Ireland. However, the history of Ireland and the relatively recent history of the peace process demonstrate the longevity of hostilities, the tenacity of bitter memories and the fallout of unresolved war crimes. This book is a view from the places where peace in Northern Ireland has not reached. It starts with a tour of the Belfast ‘peace walls’ – the sectarian interfaces that serve as a magnet for violence – in the days after the April 2021 rioting that the world’s press and media saw as the re-ignition of the Northern Ireland conflict.