Background to the Research

• Northern Ireland is in the process of transitioning from thirty years of conflict, in which 3,500 people were killed and 30,000 were injured.
• One of the consequences of the violence was a shift within both the Protestant and Catholic communities towards residential segregation as both sides sought comfort and security by living amongst others who shared their religious traditions.
• The highest levels are found within working class communities, with 72% of families who live in public housing estates, living within an all Catholic or all Protestant area.
• In such segregated areas, violence and intimidation are also rife.
• This level of segregation is also reflected in the education system, in which 95% of children attend a school which reflects their families' religious background.
• Since the 1970s, researchers have examined the impact of the conflict upon the lives of children and young people. However, the majority of the early studies were psychologically based and employed a more experimental approach which may have underestimated the significance of the impact upon this population.
• Recently, researchers have attempted to engage directly with the children and young people themselves, providing them with the opportunity to be a more active participant and allow them the space to raise issues of their own volition which have been important to their life experiences.
• The author also provides an overview of the existing literature on gender, ethnicity and residential segregation.
  

Research Approach

• The aim of this research was to build upon the analysis of an existing dataset which was collected as part of a large government funded study of children's experiences of "The Troubles".
• It focuses upon a case study of eight 7-8 year old girls and fourteen 10-11 year old Protestant girls living within a loyalist working class community in Belfast.
• Unstructured interviews were conducted with groups of three female friends, with the author acting as a 'facilitator' rather than an 'interviewer'. Each lasted approximately 30 minutes and was viewed as positive experiences by the participants.
• The interviews took place in a quiet, private space away from the classroom and were conducted throughout the school day.
• The data were collected between January and May 2001, and the author was based within the schools on average, three days per week.
• Eight weeks were spent attached to a Primary three class a further and eight weeks with a composite group drawn from a Primary 6 and 7 classes.
• Sixteen discussions took place with the younger girls while the older pupils participated in 18 discussions.
• The discussions were recorded and transcribed in full. Personal details were kept anonymous in order to protect the participants' identities.
  

Main Findings

Locality

• The girls all lived within a small, very close knit community. It is physically separated from the nearest Catholic area by what is commonly known as 'the peaceline', which is a five metre high wall.
• The area is located within the top twenty most socially deprived wards within Northern Ireland.
• The community has experienced high mortality and injury rates throughout the conflict.
• It has a history of paramilitary activity, rioting and sectarian violence. " The area's close affiliations with competing Loyalist paramilitary groups is clearly demonstrated by the prominent murals, flags and graffiti.
• During the data collection phase, a loyalist feud was ongoing and this community suffered considerably as a result of it.
• The strong influence that their local community played in the young girls' socialisation was evident in their close relationships with each other and the strong family ties to the local area.
  

Experiences of Ethnicity and Locality

• Although traditionally, the local community enabled its residents to express their ethnic identity, within some areas, this has been fractured as a result of the divisions which have emerged within Loyalism and its paramilitary groups.
• The girls expressed their attachment to their traditional Protestant culture by discussing their participation at 'Orange' events such as attending marches, going to the bonfires or attending events organised by the Orange Lodge.
• Some of the quotes indicated this affiliation also extended to a Loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Freedom Fighters.
• They frequently recalled examples of sectarian incidents involving themselves and their Catholic neighbours, or those experienced by other family members.
• In addition to sharing the contested spaces with Catholic neighbours, the Loyalist feud has created further divisions within their own communities which had effectively created invisible boundaries and no-go areas.
• All of the girls had close ties with family members who lived nearby and spent considerable amounts of time in their company. However, they were very aware of the potential risks of violence that existed both within and near to their own communities.
• Two girls revealed that family members had taken them out of their own areas to places of safety during periods of intense violence.
• Opportunities to develop inter-ethnic relationships are severely limited as a result of living within a segregated area and attending a segregated school. These structural barriers are exacerbated by the prevailing attitudes within their local communities.
• The personal costs of the violence emerged as a recurring theme during the discussions. Many of the girls spoke about relatives who had been killed or injured, arrested and/or imprisoned. They also spoke very openly about family ties to Loyalist paramilitaries, but the discussions occurred within a context of positive family ties to the area and other members of the community.
• The majority of the girls stated that they wanted to have a family of their own and continue to live within their own local areas. Ambitions to move away or work outside their locality were clearly the minority viewpoint.

Conclusions

• There is a raft of government initiatives and policies which are aimed as addressing the inequalities which children and young people in Northern Ireland experience.
• The author argues that the views of children and young people must be central to future discussions and used to inform the development of policies and services.
• Parenting children in a divided, post-conflict society continues to be a very challenging issue.
• Greater understanding of the impact of inter-generational trauma is needed from all viewpoints.
• Further attention to the experiences of the working class population will help to challenge the more dominant middle class perspective and will enable society to move the traditional stereotypes and promote social inclusion.