A look at what everyday life has become for the people of Belfast during conflict in Northern Ireland.

The ‘Report’ team visit Belfast in Northern Ireland to document the mood in the city and to discover what The Troubles mean to the men, women and children involved.

Producer Joe Mulholland decided to let the people and the pictures speak for themselves so the film has no commentary. Rather than interviewing public figures, members of the public and people from all political opinions and religious beliefs give their views on the situation.

One woman thinks it is the working class people who are really involved in the confrontation as unemployment is rife and they have nothing to do. People live in fear of bombs being thrown into buildings or being bombed while they are out driving, with one woman saying she feels

Terrified, you always feel as if a bomb is going to go off.

Shopkeepers and business owners are bearing the brunt of the bombing. As well as shops being destroyed, trade has also dropped off. One woman says she is afraid to go into big stores such as Woolworths or Littlewoods in case a bomb goes off.

Antiques dealer Leonard Kaitcer’s shop on the Dublin Road was decimated by a 20lb gelignite bomb planted by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Six employees escaped with their lives, but the threestorey building collapsed, causing severe damage to adjacent buildings. Leonard Kaitcer is shocked how a business that took him a lifetime to build can be taken away in an instant.

Words can’t express how I feel. I’m thankful that I wasn’t in the shop at the time and that all my staff have not been hurt.

Other people refuse to live in fear as life has to go on.

If they’re going to blow you up, they’re just going to blow you up, and if you stopped your life because of it, you know, you just couldn’t live.

‘Report: Belfast 1972’ was broadcast on 13 April 1972. The reporter is Patrick Gallagher.