Divided Belfast Laments 15 Years of Peace Bringing No Prosperity
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Robert Ireland and John Bryars are from opposite sides of the 40-foot concrete walls that still embody the sectarian divide in Belfast. Fifteen years after a peace agreement was supposed to replace violence with prosperity, they are united only by unemployment.
“This is the toughest time I can remember for work,” said Ireland, 30, browsing job postings at a center in Whiterock, a predominantly Catholic district of west Belfast where one in five men of working age has no employment. “Things haven’t changed. It’s still hard for people, maybe harder.”