From Reuters:
“Northern Ireland has more
Catholics than Protestants for first time”
Northern Ireland has more
Catholics than Protestants for the first time, census results showed on
Thursday, a historic shift that some see as likely to help drive support for
the region to split from Britain and join a united Ireland. The shift comes a
century after the Northern Ireland state was established with the aim of
maintaining a pro-British, Protestant "unionist" majority as a
counterweight to the newly independent, predominantly Catholic, Irish state to
the south. At that time, the population
split was roughly two-thirds Protestant to one-third Catholic.
Data from the 2021 census showed
45.7% of respondents identified as Catholic or were brought up Catholic,
compared with 43.5% identifying as Protestants. The previous census in 2011
showed Protestants outnumbered Catholics 48% to 45%. "Today's results are
another clear indication that historic change is happening across this
island," said Michelle O'Neill, regional leader of Irish nationalists Sinn
Fein, which became the largest party in Northern Ireland's devolved parliament
for the first time this year, shocking many unionists.
Sinn Fein said the shift was a
further reason why planning should begin for a referendum on a united Ireland.
The party has increased calls for a poll since Britain's decision to leave the
EU in 2016, which 56% of Northern Irish voters opposed. "There could be a
referendum quicker than we think," said Mark Kelly, 50, a taxi driver from
a nationalist part of Belfast whose WhatsApp group chats were buzzing with
friends talking about the results. A vote on Irish unification is at the
discretion of the British government, and opinion polls have consistently shown
a clear majority favour remaining part of the United Kingdom.
UNIONISM IS 'UP AGAINST IT' Northern
Ireland's sectarian divisions can be traced back to the 17th century, when
Protestant settlers from Scotland and England were "planted" in the
northeastern part of the island to bolster the authority of the English Crown. Before
a 1998 peace deal, more than 3,000 died during three decades of fighting
between mainly Catholic Irish nationalist militants seeking a united Ireland
they believed would guarantee their rights, mainly Protestant pro-British
loyalists and the British Army. Demographers have long predicted that
Catholics, who tend to be younger and have higher birth rates, could become a
majority of voters within a generation. But while Catholics tend to vote for
Irish nationalist parties and support a united Ireland, an increase in Catholic
population does not automatically increase support for either. A significant
minority of Catholic and Protestant voters support the cross-community Alliance
Party, which doubled its number of seats in the May election. Stripping out
religious upbringing, the proportion of people with no religion jumped to 17%
from 10%. "I don't really take heed in it," said Jason Yeo, walking
on Belfast's Protestant Shankill Road. The 45-year-old, who plays in a
pro-British marching band, said he does not think a United Ireland will happen
in his lifetime.
Another census question found
that 32% of respondents identified solely as British, down from 40% in 2011,
with 29% seeing themselves as Irish, up from 25%. A further 20% said they were
Northern Irish. "On all the demographic indicators and indeed political
indicators, unionism is up against it and longer term things do not look good
for Northern Ireland's place within the UK," said Jon Tonge, Professor of
Politics at the University of Liverpool.
^ You may ask: Why this matters?
It matters because when the English occupied all of Ireland (1542-1922) they
used the Protestant Ascendancy (the Legal Belief of Protestant Political, Economic,
and Social domination of Catholic Ireland) to legally and openly discriminate
against Catholics - similar to the way the Jim Crow Laws in the American South
legally and openly discriminated against Blacks from 1870-1965.
When Ireland was divided in 1922
by the British into the Free Irish State (now the Republic of Ireland) – a Catholic
majority area – and Northern Ireland - a
Protestant majority area – the Protestant Ascendancy remained in place in
Northern Ireland and was done away with in the Republic.
From 1922-1998 there was a strict
hierarchy inside Northern Ireland: at the top and the most powerful were the
British (English, Scots and Welsh), in the middle were the Northern Irish
Protestants and at the very bottom were the Northern Irish Catholics. Note: In the rest of the United Kingdom
(England, Scotland and Wales) Catholics were given the same Equal Rights under
the various Reform Acts in 1928.
In 1966 the Northern Irish
Catholics formed the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Movement (using the
teachings and tactics of America’s Martin Luther King Jr.) sought to gain the
same Equal Civil Rights as the Northern Irish Protestants and all the other British.
It called for equal Education
(Catholics went to Schools run and funded by the Catholic Church and
Protestants went to Public Schools run and funded by the British Government thus
receiving more money and opportunities), equal Pay (Catholics made 60% less doing
the same job as Protestants), equal Health Care Access (Protestant-run, and
funded by the British Government, Clinics and Hospitals received all the latest
treatments, training and equipment), equal Policing (the Royal Ulster Constabulary
was 99% Protestant run and tended to only protect the Protestant areas) and equal
Housing Access (the Public Housing Councils were all run by Protestants, even
in Catholic areas and towns, and so Protestants were given the best and most
modern Housing.)
Example: In 1966 a Northern Irish
Catholic Family of 5 (2 Parents, 2 Children and a Grandmother) asked their
local Public Housing Council for permission to move from their Pre-War World 2 one
bedroom apartment with no running water and that was damaged (it had been
bombed by the Germans during the Belfast Blitz in 1941) to a modern 3 bedroom
townhouse with in-door plumbing. Their request was denied by the Council and
instead given to a Single Protestant Woman with no Children and no other Relatives
living with her – solely because she was a Protestant.
From 1966-1969 the Northern Irish
Protestants used violent tactics to literally burn their Catholic neighbors
from their homes and to remind them of “their place.” After deadly Riots in
August 1969 the British Government in London sent in the British Military to
Northern Ireland – officially to keep the peace between the two sides.”
In the beginning the Northern
Irish Catholics saw the British Military as a Neutral Force there to protect
both sides – the British Military was welcomed by the Catholics. Soon
afterwards the British Government and the British Military’s real goals in
Northern Ireland were made clear: they were not a Neutral Force there to
protect both Catholics and Protestants – they were there to help the Northern
Irish Protestant Government and the Northern Irish Protestant Police,
The British Government and
Military focused solely on the Catholics during: the 1970 Falls Curfew, the
1971 Operation Demetrius -Internment Without Trial and the August 1971 Ballymurphy
Massacre – where the British Military’s 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment
murdered 11 unarmed and innocent people simply because they were Catholic. The
victims were aged 19-44 years old.
Things changed dramatically on
January 30, 1972 the same British Military’s 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment
(from the Ballymurphy Massacre) murdered 14 innocent and unarmed people in
Londonderry/Derry simply because they were Catholic. Five of the victims were
only 17 years old. The Bloody Sunday Massacre (as it was called) was
photographed by media from around the world and countries like the US, the
Republic of Ireland and many others demanded answers and justice from the British
the London Government officially covered-up the truth for 38 years and instead
of punishing the British Soldiers guilty they punished the Catholic Victims
themselves (I was in Belfast, Northern Ireland in June 2010 when the British
Prime Minister Cameron officially apologized for the killings and decades-long
cover-up.)
Before Bloody Sunday in 1972 only
2% of Northern Irish Catholics were actively fighting against the Protestants (the
Northern Irish Protestants and the British - with 1% of Northern Irish
Catholics passively helping.)
After Bloody Sunday in 1972 49%
of Northern Irish Catholics actively fought against the Protestants (the
Northern Irish Protestants and the British – with another 37% of Northern Irish
Catholics passively helping.)
The Troubles lasted from
1969-1998 with 1,840 Civilians killed and 47,500 Civilians wounded. The
violence officially ended with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 which finally
gave the Northern Irish Catholics the same Civil Rights as Northern Irish
Protestants (who had received Equal Rights with the rest of the UK in 1922),
the English, the Welsh and the Scots.
The Agreement also said that a
Border Referendum (on whether Northern Ireland should remain part of the UK,
become part of the Republic of Ireland or become and Independent Country) had
to be carried out with Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom and the Republic of
Ireland – something which hasn’t happened even 24 years later.
For the first time in 100 years
Northern Irish Catholics outnumber Northern Irish Protestants. Finally the
Northern Irish Protestants and the British can no longer automatically claim
that the majority of the Northern Ireland wants to keep the Status Quo as they
have for a Century.
Brexit and the new Border
Controls between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have changed things
that have been a constant since 1998 and a vote should and needs to be held to
determine the future of Northern Ireland. ^
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