'A city in denial': Report will reveal testimony about 'exodus' of Protestants from west Londonderry during the Troubles
Londonderry remains “in denial” about the de facto expulsion of Protestants from the west of the city.
That is the view of Brian Dougherty, the CEO of the North West Cultural Partnership, ahead of the publication tomorrow of a piece of research into the massive demographic upheaval during the worst years of violence.
Called The Exodus Programme, it has involved interviewing 116 people.
The interviewees are largely from families which fled the west bank of the Foyle, although others include former Catholic neighbours who remained.
It describes itself as “the most comprehensive and honest piece of research ever conducted on the topic”.
“There is a huge element of denial in this city that this even happened,” Mr Doughtery told the News Letter.
Claims persist that the Protestant flight was due to them not wanting to live near Catholics or having got jobs outside the city.
“A lot of rubbish” is how Mr Doughtery describes these rationales.
“It’s quite clear the vast majority of people left through direct intimidation, direct attack, or fear of attack,” he said.
“We saw a huge increase in movement after Bloody Sunday.
“There’s no doubt at all that the vast majority left through fear.”
Mr Doughtery said the academic consensus is that about 12,000 to 18,000 Protestants left the west bank during the Troubles.
Now the remaining rump of Protestants is concentrated in the Fountain Estate, which is home to about 350 people.
The majority of west bank Protestants settled on the east bank of the Foyle in places like the Waterside, the village of Newbuildings to the south-west, and Tullyally Estate on the south-eastern edge of the city.
According to the 2021 census, in the three district electoral areas that make up west Londonderry city (The Moor, Foyleside and Ballyarnett), the population is 92% Catholic and 5% Protestant.
In the sole district electoral area that makes up the east of the city (Waterside), the figure is 50% Catholic and 42% Protestant.
Mr Dougherty said that the exodus is “every bit as important to the Protestant community and every bit as impactful as Bloody Sunday has been”.
There were “many victims of Bloody Sunday, and I think the exodus shows the whole city was devastated by those events”, he said.
Mr Doughtery went on to say that today a number of migrant families have moved into The Fountain.
While there is a sense of a “need to accept and to welcome and support minority communities,” Londonderry’s Protestants have themselves “always felt themselves to be a minority community – and one that’s never been welcomed in the city”.
The estate has been subject to over 60 sectarian attacks like stone-throwing over the last 12 months, and residents still feel “under siege”, he said.
Mr Dougherty was in overall charge of The Exodus Programme, and interviews were conducted by consultant Terry Wright of Wright Thinking NI.
Also involved was sociology lecturer Dr Niall Gilmartin of Ulster University York Street.
It was funded by the EU’s PeacePlus fund, coming via Derry City and Strabane District Council.
Mr Dougherty said the amount of funding is confidential.
In all, 90 people were interviewed individually and 26 as part of focus groups.
Tomorrow morning there is a conference in Londonderry’s Guildhall from 10am to 2pm to launch the research findings.
From 8pm to 10pm at Newgate Arts and Culture Centre there will be a “theatre and external light production and discussion that remembers the human stories of those affected”, say organisers.