Loyalist murals to be painted over

Paramilitary murals glorifying loyalist terror groups are to disappear from west Belfast’s Shankill Road.

Belfast City Council will confirm this week an agreement has been reached with local community groups for 10 of the murals in the Lower Shankill to be painted over.

The initiative is being funded with through the Arts Council’s Re-imaging Communities programme which has been helping to transform local communities across the North by tackling the visible signs of sectarianism and racism by creating a more welcoming environment for everyone.

The 10 murals going in the Shankill will be replaced with new ones charting the social, cultural and industrial heritage of the area.

Over recent months, artists have been consulting with a range of community groups, including the Lower Shankill Community Association, residents, and community workers, to identify possible themes for the new murals.

A public meeting will be held in a community centre in the area on Tuesday evening to outline preparation work and how the scheme will more to the next stage.

The meeting will be followed by a series of workshops to develop concepts for the replacement murals – which will use a combination of traditional mural skills and modern digital production techniques, said the council.

Funding from the Re-Imaging Communities scheme was used successfully in loyalist areas of east Belfast last year to remove a series of paramilitary murals.

They were replaced by paintings including portraits of soccer legend George Best and decorated war hero Blair Mayne, a picture of the building of the Titanic in Harland and Wolff shipyard and local footballer David Healy scoring a goal for Northern Ireland against England.

A UDA mural in the hard-line Tullycarnet area was replaced with one of Catholic war hero James Magennis who was awarded the Victoria Cross.

A Shankill resident said it was time for their area to follow on. “Times have changed, we are trying to move away from the past and this will help the area,” she said.

Tourists may not be of the same opinion - Belfast murals have been a big draw to the ever growing number flocking to the North.

Lisa McMurray, of the Belfast Visitor and Convention Bureau, said: “Visitors coming to Belfast do show a great interest in visiting murals, which are of course an interpretation of Belfast history.”