A UNIQUE event funded by the government will this week try to establish why Protestants feel alienated in Londonderry.

The Londonderry Community Convention will bring together organisations and individuals to try to address sectarian tensions within Northern Ireland’s second city.

The divisions have again been brought into focus as a result of a nationalist-led legal application to have the city’s official name changed from Londonderry to Derry. Protestants cite this as the latest example of attempts by the city’s Catholic majority to make them feel unwelcome.

The one-day convention in the city’s Guildhall on Tuesday will incorporate a series of debates and workshops involving representatives from local communities and statutory bodies.

Politicians, including members of Sinn Fein and the SDLP, will speak at the event which has been organised by the Community Convention & Development Company. The organisation has received £500,000 from the government to hold a series of events throughout Northern Ireland to look at problems affecting the Protestant community.

“The theme of the convention is building relationships, getting support and tackling alienation,” Lee Reynolds, a company spokesman, said. “It is important that we hear as many views as possible so that we can begin to address the problems which exist.”

The last census in Northern Ireland in 2001 recorded the religious breakdown of Derry’s population as 77% Catholic and 21% Protestant. The city is divided along sectarian lines by the River Foyle. One side, the west bank, is almost entirely Catholic, apart from the Protestant Fountain estate which has about 200 households, while the Waterside area is predominantly Protestant.

The Fountain estate is divided from neighbouring Catholic areas by a large security wall and fencing, but has been attacked regularly by nationalist youths in recent years. Residents of surrounding Catholic areas have also had their homes attacked from within the Fountain.

Donna Best, a resident of the Fountain, whose family have been victims of sectarian attacks on several occasions, says life is difficult for Protestants in Derry. She hopes that this week’s convention will provide an opportunity for those within her community to have their say.

“It is important that people understand how we feel and that something is done to try to tackle these problems,” Best said. “I plan to go along to this event and I would encourage other people from the Protestant community to do so and make their voices heard.”

Martina Anderson, a former IRA prisoner who lives in Derry, has been appointed by Sinn Fein as director of unionist engagement. She welcomed the chance to hear the views of Protestant people living in the city.

“It is important that we develop an understanding of the Protestant population’s feelings of alienation in the city and look at ways of addressing this,” she said.

“The hope would be that this would also have a positive impact on other areas where there is institutionalised alienation of nationalists.”

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