In 2001, the census for NEI showed that 53% of the population were Protestant in background, and that 44% identified as Catholic. Ten years later, In 2011, the census returns showed that 48% identified as Protestant, 45% as Catholic. Another ten years later, the census figures for 2021, just released, show that 43% identify as Protestant and 46% as Catholic.
So anyone still suffering from twentieth-century thinking about NEI being a Protestant state for a Protestant people might want to dump that idea in the nearest bin and nail down the lid.
Beneath the headline figures above, there’s further detail. It seems 32% of the population see themselves as British only, while 29% see themselves as Irish only. That’s a 3% gap. However 8% saw themselves as British and Northern Irish only. Which may or may not matter.
And if you’d like a quiet giggle, 90% of people reported themselves as having no ability in Ulster Scots, while 10% said they had some ability. Cupla focal, you might say.
The fact that there are now more Catholics than Protestants in our stateen is regularly poo-poohed by those who don’t like the way the voting population is going. They say that being of Catholic background doesn’t mean you’d vote for a united Ireland in a border poll, for example. Or that you’d vote for Sinn Féin or the SDLP in a general election. True. But it does sort of hint at it, doesn’t it? Otherwise there’d less fuss made over religious background.
Those who are nervous also like to point to the ‘middle ground’ (aka the Alliance Party) which has made considerable ground in recent elections and is ‘agnostic’ on the constitutional question. In other words, Alliance voters will be happy to remain in the UK or to become part of a reunited Ireland, depending on other factors.
What people need to remember is that, were there a border poll in favour of a reunited Ireland, this new Ireland would automatically become part of the EU. These days, everyone – the EU , the UK, the US – is worried about inflation, the cost of living, the cost of eating, the cost of heating. The South of Ireland is suffering as well.
However, in a table produced by the IMF this year showing GDP figure for various states, the South of Ireland came in – guess what? – third. And the UK? Twenty-eighth. For any constitutional agnostic, there’s a month of food for thought in those figures.
Sad reading. Less than 30% claim full Irish identity. So much for the GAA influence. On a recent visit home I heard for myself the sentiment from my ex mates. Catholicism is a thing of the past, the south don’t want us, and apart from the loons in the DUP, they are happy enough in the 6, and they couldnt care less about about a United Ireland.
Don’t be sad, Roy. Smile, though your heart is breaking, smile…etc.
I am merely an occasional visitor here; I do note that the enthusiasm for an Independent Scotland, where I live, does not seem to have an equivalent here. I suspect that a succession of right wing, capitalist administrations in the South is not an inspiration towards a United country.
The children are already born that are going to live in a united Ireland