Background to the Research

• It is doubtful whether anyone living in Northern Ireland can have been unaware of the occurrences around the Orange Order parade form Drumcree Parish Church down Garvaghy Road, Portadown during July 1996. It has been estimated that a direct revenue loss as a result of the drop in tourism amounted to $28 m.
• This paper reports on research commissioned by the Community Relations Council with the aim of considering the effects on staff and delivery of services in agencies charged with addressing the results of the summer's unrest. In commissioning the research, the CRC noted that the events surrounding Drumcree crossed class and religious barriers and produced communal disturbances which had not been seen in Northern Ireland since the 1980's.

Research Approach

• Initial discussion prior to the research, suggested that the NIHE, the HSS Trusts and the Social Security Agency were the public organisations most likely to be directly involved in providing services to those affected by intimidation. It was felt necessary to consider the effects, both in urban and rural areas especially where the highest level of violence and tension had been experienced. For this reason, Belfast and the Armagh/Craigavon area were targeted.
• Relevant personnel were contacted for the research via the organisation's Chief Executive; in some cases the latter chose to be involved directly and in all cases contact with other members of staff was indicated.

Main Findings

The Belfast Experience

• The research indicates that the Agencies most affected during the period, in Belfast, were the NIHE and the North and West Belfast HSS Trust.
• During the summer, 113 households "presented as homeless" to the Executive in Belfast, claiming intimidation directly related to civil disturbance. The vast majority of these occurred during the week leading up to the 12th July and immediately afterwards and the problems were primarily concentrated within the NIHE Districts 4 and 6, which cover most of North Belfast.
• Over 50% of those who were made homeless were actually private sector tenants or homeowners. The normal procedures for homelessness were followed, although the sheer scale of the problem meant that the "bed bureau" normally used was unable to cope with the demand. As a result hotel rooms had to be used, with significant resource implications.
• Further problems arose for NIHE in undertaking their statutory responsibilities. The Executive is also responsible for removing furniture from houses which have been vacated and for ensuring houses are secured. Contractors who are normally used for this work were in many cases reluctant to go into areas under construction, due to the high level of threat to personal safety or vehicles.
• The staffing implications for NIHE were considerable although heavy reliance on staff goodwill resulted in few major difficulties. It was felt that staff experienced a high level of fear during the period and increased tension, resulting from personal loyalties, was evident in offices. The evidence suggests that staff behaved in a highly professional manner and that the service to the public did not deteriorate as a result of personal feelings.
• The North and West Belfast HSS Trust appear to have worked very closely with the NIHE during this period. Homelessness is the responsibility of the Trust outside NIHE office hours and in general the relationships between the NIHE and the Trust, while largely informal, appeared to work effectively. Contact with the RUC also appeared to involve excellent relationships.
• The Trust's responsibilities in relation to homelessness should have stopped at out of hours Duty Social Worker services, in practice their involvement was much greater. Due to the failure of the NIHE furniture removal contractors, North and West Trust volunteered to step in. Further, NIHE's temporary placement of homeless people in hotels also impacted on the Trust's operation, as this produced a need for emergency payments to be made to ensure purchase of food and in some cases, taxi fares. As no other mechanism existed, MBW and the NIO produced a fund of £30,000 which was used to meet these needs and it was eventually agreed that Social Workers would operate these payments.
• In spite of the apparent needs for their services, Social Workers were not inundated with calls and most of the demand for emergency accommodation appeared to come during normal working hours.
• The period caused major resource problems as there were many attacks on Trust property and it was also noted that many of their properties suffered "systematic rifling" from the start of July through the "marching season". Many of the Trust's West Belfast properties were badly affected.
• Trust management felt that the vast majority of staff behaved highly professionally during the period.
• The Social Security Agency within Belfast saw no substantial increase in the need for their services during the Drumcree period. Problems faced were more to do with staff actually getting to the office and the unease felt by staff at news reports. In some cases decisions were made to close offices early but this does not appear to have had a significant impact on users due to the system for paying benefits during the July holiday period.
• The Agency reported no substantial staffing difficulties due to the period and believes that its systems and procedures, for both staffing and delivery, worked effectively.

The Rural Experience

• The NIHE's experience of the period before Drumcree differed considerably in the Portadown/Lurgan/Craigavon area to that shown in Belfast. In the Brownlow/Craigavon area there was only one case of homelessness resulting from intimidation. The Lurgan office experienced no "homeless presenters" due to the occurrences in the period.
• The Portadown office was probably the most affected, within the area, twenty people presenting as homeless during this period. While normal procedures proved adequate, this was thought to be the maximum number who could be dealt and it was considered that resources had been stretched to the limit.
• Unlike Belfast, the Southern area has no Homeless Centre and therefore each office deals individually with those who become homeless. The region uses a common "bed bureau" which was adequate to cover the demand during the period. All those who presented as homeless did so within normal working hours, therefore the services of the Duty Social Worker were not required.
• One significant difference between the rural and urban situation was that those presenting as homeless in the rural areas primarily went to stay with relatives and did not require emergency housing. The Executive did not have to rehouse them in the long term.
• The Parkmore estate in Craigavon was barricaded during the period and became a "no go" area for NIHE staff but this did not result in any significant homelessness. Other areas badly affected included Woodside, Craigwell Avenue and Corcrane Estates in Portadown.
• In all three offices consulted, the general feeling was that existing policies and procedures were adequate to cope with any occurrences which arose during the Drumcree period and emergency procedures evident within the area appeared to be fairly effective.
• Staff within the area appeared to have been relatively unaffected in carrying out their normal work, with the exception of substantial difficulty in travelling to and from work. While staff do not appear to have been directly intimidated, there was a high level of fear at the potential for the situation to become worse and particular concerns were expressed for the safety of staff who were formerly members of the security forces.
• The level of support provided from Regional Office appears to have been very high and local management felt that they were kept well informed and received all the guidance and support necessary.
• Because of the need to provide little emergency housing, the area did not have problems with furniture removal or securing empty premises. However, contractors working on refurbishment or new build housing were badly affected. There were a number of incidents of contractors being intimidated off site for overtly sectarian reasons and a number of situations where contractors had difficulty accessing places of work.
• The Southern regional Office planned the set up of a Homeless Centre which would have been run over the July holiday period if required. Staff were put "on call" but the level of occurrence did not require this procedure to be implemented.
• The experience of the HSS Trusts within the Armagh and Craigavon area appears to have been rather different to that in Belfast, wherein the level of demand for services during the period does not appear to have significantly increased. Both of the Trust consulted did express some difficulty in delivering routine services due to problems with staff travel.
• While emergency services appear to have been relatively unaffected, it was noted that an escalation in the travel restrictions imposed during the period could have a major impact on HSS provision. Senior management pointed out that this was the first time that such disturbances had stopped essential staff getting to work.
• Both Trusts experienced examples of direct intimidation of staff. There were also many incidents of indirect intimidation caused by the presence of demonstrators outside premises.
• The Social Security Agency in Portadown appeared to have no significant problems in terms of delivering services to their clients, although those who were working there experienced significant travel problems. There was a high level of tension within offices and this was reflected in staff's reluctance to "speak their minds".
• While the Agency was unaware of any direct problems in relation to their service to clients, there were many complaints form clients who had been unable to cash giros due to the local Post Office branches running out of money.

Conclusion

• It is clear that the summer of 1996, and the demonstrations during the week of Drumcree, had a major impact on community relations throughout the province. In the two areas considered, there is evidence of substantially increased polarisation of housing estates and greater sectarian tensions in the community in general.