Catholics are now a majority, so why do we still have partition? – by Carl Duffy

‘Northern Ireland’ was designed with the specific aim of advantaging the Protestant population at the expense of their Catholic counterparts. This political entity did not result from a democratic decision, instead the threat of Loyalist violence is what drove us towards partition. The anti-democratic carving up of Ireland that rejected the outcome of an election in 1918 achieved its goal of systemic Protestant supremacy in the North. These facts are not disputed by anyone with an iota of historical literacy. Despite this, the discriminated group (Catholics) are not entirely united in their revulsion towards this injustice.

The recently published census confirmed what many of us anticipated I.e., Catholics are now a majority in the Northern statelet. While this is a welcome development for United Irelanders, it is slightly disheartening that it does not automatically signal a majority in support for Irish reunification. With the census including, ‘Northern Irish’ as an option and omitting a question on support for United Ireland means that we cannot conclusively say a majority now supports an end to British rule in the 6 counties.

Identifying as a member of the Catholic community is not as synonymous with support for United Ireland as it once was. The reasons for this are something I struggle with on a daily basis. Contrary to the vile dehumanising(a tactic used by many despotic regimes) sentiment about ‘Catholics breeding like rabbits’ being behind the growth in people identifying as Catholic it would appear the increased habitability of ‘NI’ is the actual reason. In fact, the Catholic population was at its lowest around 1981 before it subsequently went through a period of rapid growth. Reforms to education and employment are the probable explanations behind this growth.

Perhaps, the increased habitability of ‘NI’ – which can only really be considered habitable relative to the historical oppression of Catholics – has led many in this community to become overly comfortable with the statelet. I can only imagine the internal reasoning of partitionist Catholics being something along the lines of, ‘This kind Government no longer interns us without trial or has state forces murdering innocent people so let us cede our fiscal autonomy- and other powers- to Britain’.

Catholics with this mentality may not explicitly say they support this ungovernable, discriminatory, and economic basket case of a ‘country.’ Instead, they will sit on the fence and effectively support this continued injustice without directly saying so. Opposition from the Catholic community towards the statelet that was set up to disadvantage them should be straightforward. But similar to other colonial situations, the oppressed develops some sort of ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ and almost accepts their status as somewhat normal. The coloniser cannot rule by force alone. They must also poison the minds of the colonised.

I am optimistic that we will eventually see an end to British rule on this island, and the increase in Northerners identifying as being part of the Catholic community should correlate with increased support for Irish reunification. I also gain great encouragement from the increasing number of admirable Protestants warming to the idea of a reunified Ireland. However, I cannot help but feel that there are far too many Catholic lickspittles. The census shows that the artificially designed Protestant majority no longer exists. However, it may also indicate that imperialism continues to exert its psychological control.