For many, the idea that a public park could have more than one set of swings and roundabouts is somewhat inconceivable, but that is just one working out of the divided society in which we here in Northern Ireland get used to.

For the last 17 years there has been a so-called Peace Wall up the middle of Alexandra Park. This past week has seen a gate installed in it for the first time. And yes, for once, that gate is actually going to be opened – from 0900 to 1500 on weekdays, and currently only for a three month trial period.

As a former resident of the local area, I found it annoying that I couldn’t just walk up through the park to the Antrim Road. Of course, it would be said that this is the reason it was there: to prevent people walking from one side of the fence to another – from one section of our community to another.

Don’t misunderstand this, this is to attempt to prevent sectarian clashes in our city and the local North Belfast area particularly. There have been many, many incidents in the Troubles in the area. In fact, North Belfast has probably had the most incidents per square foot than any other in the Province. So it was probably justified to put some measure in place.

But this is not the vision of the new Northern Ireland. As the Justice Minister for Northern Ireland, David Ford, says:

The opening of the gate at Alexandra Park is an important day for the people of Northern Ireland – it challenges the belief that these structures must be a permanent feature.

So the gate is being trialled. I, for one, hope that the bully boys on each side will not use it for badness. I hope that local people will go and explore their local park. As the BBC’s Mark Simpson says in his article,

It is likely that many will want to go to the other side of the park, simply out of curiosity.

In particular, they may be keen to find out which side has the better set of swings and roundabouts.

Perhaps the dubious distinction

of having the only public park in western Europe divided by a huge security fence

will in future not apply here. I am sure that many people will agree with me.

originally published here

Related articles

• You: Belfast park opens door to peace (guardian.co.uk)
• New gate in Belfast ‘peace wall’ (bbc.co.uk)