Video: Derry interfaces will only fall with public support, Justice Minister Naomi Long tells Foyle MLA Karen Mullan

That’s according to the Justice Minister Naomi Long who was asked by Foyle MLA Karen Mullan whether she believed it was possible to have all peace walls removed by 2023.

This, pointed out the Derry Sinn Féin MLA, was the aspiration of the Executive’s ‘Together: Building a United Community’ Strategy’ that was first published in 2013.

“You will be well aware of the commitment given in the 2013 T-BUC strategy to create a ten year programme to reduce and remove by 2023 all interface barriers,” said Ms. Mullan.

The new Justice Minister said her department had been “taking forward work on a collaborative basis with other departments around trying to support communities in the removal of interface barriers”.

However, she said it was a process that could not be rushed.

“Some of those communities, as you will appreciate it, face significant challenges in terms of building the confidence that would allow them to feel safe and secure and that has to be our priority: that people feel safe in those communities when barriers are removed.

"There are a number of areas where there have been successful programmes introduced already and I think there are three more due for consideration this spring.

“Our responsibility as the Department of Justice is to move at the pace that is demanded by the residents in the neighbourhood. We can’t move ahead of them because without their support it will not be successful and could actually be counterproductive.

“Equally we should not be behind them when they ask for our support.”

Ms. Mullan asked the minister why areas of Belfast where barriers have come down were still waiting for an ‘aftercare’ support package to help them cope with the changes. ‘Aftercare’ packages were signed off in June 2019 by the Interface Programmes Board (IPB) but have not yet been signed off by DoJ.

“I’m going to guess part of the reason it hasn’t been signed off is because we haven’t had a minister in place to be able to do that. I will certainly talk to the department and see what stage that was at and see whether there’s anything more we can do to advance it.

“I think it’s absolutely crucial for communities not just as they prepare to remove barriers, but that we also make sure that adequate support is in place afterwards because even low level anti-social behaviour in an area where there has previously been an interface structure could cause real fear in a community when they think things are going to escalate and become much more serious.

“It’s important we have early warning systems in place and that we have good support in terms of neighbourhood policing, community contact and a package of measures that will make sure people feel they are safer without the structure there than they are with the structure in place and that is ultimately our objective.”