| Description | Interview with Rev. Brian Hannon. He talks about the history of segregation in housing and the extent to which this has been a natural development because people want to live near others who think in the same way, and the extent to which it has been politically influenced. He talks about the difficulty of integration in this situation and explains that new housing estates are being filled on religious lines. He talks about the work of the Commission appointed on a non-sectarian basis to assess the working of local government, the disbanding of the Derry council following the disturbances and the establishment of policies to reform local election procedures. He discusses the levels of integration between Catholics and Protestants, the positive reaction of church leaders who have visited traditionally Catholic and Protestant areas of the city, and the ability of people of different religions to get on with each other as individuals despite their dislike and fear of people with different religious beliefs on general terms. He explains the historial background of the Church of Ireland and Presbyterianism, and talks about the proportion of people who are Catholic, and those who belong to the Church of Ireland and the Presbyterian church in the city and the underlying fear in the Protestant churches of the state becoming Catholic (tracks 1-6).
He goes on to talk about the difficulty in bringing new industry to Derry, the feelings of frustration amongst people who are unemployed, describes the poor housing conditions that many people are living in on both sides of the sectarian divide and discusses the ignorance that people have about the conditions that other people are living in. He thinks that when pressures are put on people who are frustrated or fearful the tension that is produced is immense, but thinks that a lot of the feelings have been generated from outside. He gives his opinion about the behaviour of the police and the actions of extreme elements within the police force, the manipulation of incidents by the civil rights movement, his views about the civil rights movement in the city and his anxiety that militant elements have taken over. He discusses the level of involvement of Protestants in the civil rights movement, areas of Belfast where people do not tend to vote along religious lines and the desire of many people in Northern Ireland for integrated communities. He goes on to talk about recent Unionist policies and the setback to community relations caused by recent tensions (tracks 7-14).
Track 15: Interview with an unidentified woman who talks about offensive slogans that police were shouting in the street against Catholic demonstrators and the violence that she experienced 1.07 mins
Total: 32.52 mins
Dubber's reference number: PLA KF565D0081480 |