Connections Peace Barrier Project’s ‘Did ye hear about?' at Derry's Gasyard

The latest in the series of the Connections Peace Barrier Project’s "Did Ye Hear About?" on Monday last at the Gasyard saw host and former Derry Journal editor Pat McArt joined by Brian Dougherty of the North West Cultural Partnership to examine ‘The Exodus, the modern day movement of the large percentage of the Protestant Unionist Loyalist community from Derry’s West Bank to the Waterside at the outbreak of ‘The Troubles’ in the late ‘60s.

An assembled audience with both sections of the community represented, heard Mr. Dougherty explain that between 1971-1991 the Protestant/Unionist population on Derry’s west bank declined by more than 80%.. This was, he explained, down to Republican violence.

Mr Dougherty said that the view was to some extent this was a replication of what has been happening in north Belfast where large numbers of Catholics had been forced to move out at that time although it was, according to a British official, ‘difficult to see how the claim could be made that the Protestants were being driven out, rather than just moving away.’

But he said tensions were high, and intimidation was real.

One story he quoted was that of Jeanette Warke, the well-known community worker in the Fountain area of Derry: “I went  out to the grocery store and I remember I was walking along and then I was set upon; raced across the Abercorn Road, grabbing me by the hair, pushing me out onto the street  shouting, ‘You Orange bastard; orange scum’.

When asked by the host Pat McArt about the fact that was there not some false equivalence in his narrative, that he was trying to compare what was happening in Derry with a mass exodus in Belfast where Catholics were burned out of their homes, Mr Dougherty denied this. 

He  explained how one Protestant who had left the city side saw it: "From speaking to nationalists, who lived in Creggan, they went to bed one night with their neighbours, woke up the next morning and  they [Protestant neighbours] were gone, just moved out.

"So, it was real evacuation type stuff, and it was bred through fear and fear was a big part of that, in my opinion. You see, people didn’t differentiate; if you and I lived in the same street, and went to the same church, and kids went to the same school, and went to the same clubs, and you happen to be a policeman and I don’t, and someone comes to shoot you, well then, I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to be next’."

IN PICTURES: ‘Did ye hear about?' ... ‘The Exodus’ with Brian Dougherty at Derry's Gasyard

Speaking of his own personal experience, Mr Dougherty said he had been attacked twice in his school days because he was wearing a Foyle College blazer. He was not alone in this. But, he added, things had definitely improved in this regard as it was clear there were lots of young people running around today with Foyle College uniforms who were not worried about that anymore.

He added that for many in the Protestant/unionist community the exodus from the city side was ‘their Bloody Sunday’ – that they had lost homes, friends, work, places of worship, education. etc. It was deeply traumatic for many.

A member of the audience took exception to this comment, suggesting that there was ‘no comparison’ between an exodus and the shooting dead of people on the streets of the city.

Mr, Dougherty said it was not his intention to make a direct comparison between the two events, but to highlight events which deeply hurt his community and which many felt were neither acknowledged nor accepted as legitimate by many nationalists.

The Mythbuster Lectures are part of the Connections – A Peace Barrier Project, organised by the Neighbourhood Management Team and funded by the International Fund For Ireland.

The ‘Did Ye Hear About..?’ series is to continue over the coming months with a number of events taking place. See local Press for further details.