Catholics now majority in Northern Ireland
Sinn Féin has called for an Irish reunification referendum, after a census showed Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time. Unionists are traditionally Protestant, while nationalists are mostly Catholic. In the census, taken last year, 45.7 per cent identified as Catholic and 43.5 per cent as Protestant. There was also a drop in the number of people who identified as British and an increase in those identifying as Irish, compared with the last census in 2011.
SINN FÉIN has called for an Irish reunification referendum to be prepared, after a census showed Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland for the first time.
During partition in 1921, the province’s borders were drawn to ensure a Protestant majority.
Unionists are traditionally Protestant, while nationalists are mostly Catholic. In the census, taken last year, 45.7 per cent of the population of 1.9million identified as Catholic and 43.5per cent as Protestant.
There was also a drop in the number of people who saw themselves as British and an increase in those identifying as Irish, compared with the last census in 2011.
The 2011 census recorded 48 per cent of the population as Protestant or raised Protestant and 45 per cent as Catholic.
Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’neill, Northern Ireland’s First Minister designate, said the change was “historic”.
John Finucane, a Sinn Féin MP, described the shift as “irreversible”, adding: “The Irish government should establish a Citizens’ Assembly to plan for the possibility of a unity referendum.”
But Phillip Brett, a DUP member of the legislative authority, told BBC Radio Ulster: “I don’t come from a traditional Protestant background but my support for the Union isn’t in question.
“What most worries me is an attempt by some to try to use a census … as some sort of mini referendum on the position of Northern Ireland within the UK.”
Dr David Marshall, of the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, said the Catholic community was younger than the Protestant one, on average. There were more births than deaths in the Catholic population, which increased its size, he said, and more deaths than births in the older Protestant population.
“There are other factors as well but those are the two key things,” Dr Marshall said. There was also a “fair chance” that increasing numbers of Protestants were describing themselves as having no religion, he added.
In May, Sinn Féin became the biggest party in Northern Ireland for the first time, overturning an unbroken, century-long stretch of unionist, Protestant majorities.
However, neither community has a majority and there is no guarantee that someone would vote for or against reunification in a referendum because of their religion.
While Sinn Féin won the elections, there was a majority in favour of unionist parties but support was fractured among them. More and more people no longer define themselves as unionist or nationalist.
In the census, 17.4 per cent of the population said they had no religion, a 7.3 per cent increase from 2011, while the centrist Alliance party, which is neither unionist or nationalist, got its best ever results in May’s election.
The census included a question on people’s sense of national identity, with 31.9 per cent stating they were Britishonly and 8 per cent deeming themselves British and Northern Irish.
The proportion of the population that said they were Irish only was 29.1 per cent while those identifying as Northern Irish only was 19.8 per cent.
In the 2011 census, 40 per cent said they had a British-only identity, 25 per cent said they had an Irish-only identity and 21 per cent viewed their identity as being only Northern Irish.
The Good Friday Agreement recognised the right of people on the island of Ireland to reunify if border polls in Ireland and Northern Ireland support it.
UK law says the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland should order a vote if it “appears likely” a majority of voters want a united Ireland but is unclear on how that should be decided. The Irish Government must also agree.
Brexit, which most Northern Irish voters opposed, and the Northern Ireland Protocol, which created the Irish Sea border with Britain, has thrown the spotlight on questions of national identity. The Census also showed a 63.5 per cent increase in people in Northern Ireland holding an Irish passport since 2011.