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Poverty and deprivation lie behind Easter riots in Derry [1]
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Date: 2023-04
The figures speak for themselves. Derry City and Strabane District Council, which contains 150,000 people, 8% of the population of Northern Ireland, falls into the top 20% of most deprived areas in the region. More than half (54.7%) of young people live in deprivation – more than double the Northern Ireland average, according to figures in the Derry & Strabane Labour Market Partnership report 2022-2023. More than a third (36%) of residents experience the highest levels of income deprivation in Northern Ireland, while 21% grapple with the highest levels of health deprivation.
This data paints a harrowing portrait in which those born within the area are more likely to grow up in a disadvantaged community with poorer health outcomes, substandard educational attainments and fewer employment opportunities. And there is a direct correlation between socioeconomic disadvantage and the outbursts we see on our streets.
The incidents on Easter Monday – 10 April, exactly 25 years after the signing of the Good Friday Agreement – in which youths hurled petrol bombs at police officers during a march to commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising, were almost identical to riots in the same area during Easter 2022.
Riots also broke out at Easter in 2021, in Derry and other regions including Belfast; more than 90 police officers were injured. Both loyalist and nationalist communities were involved in the 2021 riots, and again the majority of those on the streets were young men and boys.
Poverty, deprivation and paramilitary groups
The common thread between these communities is poverty and deprivation. There is a woeful lack of community investment or development – just last month, Derry Women’s Centre, which provides essential services to local women, was forced to let go of six staff due to funding cuts.
A lack of afterschool activities and community hubs are also contributing factors. Northern Ireland Education Authority’s Regional Assessment of Need 2020 states that “children and young people growing up in poverty have worse outcomes and life chances than those who do not.”
Poverty and disadvantage also provide fertile ground for paramilitary organisations – which have not disappeared despite the Good Friday Agreement’s commitment to their disbandment. Their continued existence is a rotting blight on the peace process. The fact that they’ve been permitted to maintain their grip on the most marginalised communities, and even to proliferate, is both a disgrace and an utter failure.
According to police statistics, 60% of all bombings and 41% of shootings in Northern Ireland in 2022 took place within the Derry and Strabane council area. Being a member of a proscribed terrorist organisation should be a criminal offence; instead, the police simply monitor illegal parades and activities with the intention of having the footage “reviewed” later. This is not good enough.
Young people in the city have few opportunities, university provision is woeful, employment opportunities continue to dwindle, incidents of crime and violence continue to escalate – and a palpable sense of abandonment is shared by many who call Derry home. Meanwhile, investment continues to pour into Belfast (including Ulster University’s new £350m campus), which just hosted US president Joe Biden’s sole Northern Ireland engagement.
The way to tackle the cycle of violence is through investment and opportunity – why is that so difficult to deliver for the people who need it most? With a focus on community development, apprenticeships, educational outcomes, health inequality and appropriate crime responses, the city of Derry and its people could thrive.
The solutions are so patently obvious, if only political leaders would action them.
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[1] Url:
https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/derry-strabane-riots-deprivation-northern-ireland-good-friday-agreement/
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