A census is being conducted in Northern Ireland only a hundred years after the UK government split the island of Ireland in half, keeping the northern part and creating an independent Irish Republic in the south. In Northern Ireland, Protestants in favor of the monarchy had been in the majority for centuries. However, the situation is changing.
Half of school children are Catholics and only a third are Protestants. They haven’t voted yet, but over time, they will become voters. This means that at some point in the future, Catholics will outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland. Researcher Paul Nolan explained that we might actually encounter this in this statistic.
The difference of twenty per cent was already reduced to 3 per cent by the time of the 2011 census. However, supporters of remaining in the UK say this will not lead to a revision of the status quo. Here’s what Billy Hutchinson, a member of the Progressive Union, thinks:
“Having more Catholics does not mean they want a united Ireland. Now they have social rights and there is the healthcare system. People will make a decision based on these. We can talk about trends, but the question is what they mean.”
May tumultuous years come
According to the results of the 2016 Northern Ireland Labor Force Survey, there are actually more Catholics than Protestants among the workers. The situation is also complicated by Brexit.
Trade unionists see the damage Brexit has done and a large portion of them are involved in the debate about Ireland’s future. Republican Sinn Fein Rep. John Finucane said the census would only intensify the debate.
There are serious expectations that the number of Catholics will exceed the number of Protestants in the census for the first time in three hundred years. If so, it is likely that supporters of uniting Ireland will bolster their campaign in the coming years. Euronews correspondent Ken Murray concluded, “In 12 months, we’ll see clearer.”
