Almost equal numbers of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland of working age for the first time
Posted By: February 01, 2019
IRISH CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING
Distributed to Congress by Irish National Caucus
“Those knowledgeable about the Black Freedom Struggle in America and with the struggle for justice in Ireland —and in The North/Northern Ireland since the 1920 Partition of Ireland— will recognize the significance of the Labor Force Survey Report as recounted in the attached article from today’s Irish News, February 1, 2019, Belfast.
‘ The number of Catholics and Protestants of working age is almost the same for the first time as Northern Ireland’s population changes continue.
The number of Protestants has declined by 14 percentage points to 42 percent, while the number of Catholics is up to 41 percent. People who define themselves as ‘other/non-determined’ has increased from 6 percent to 17 percent over the same period.
The statistics are revealed in the latest Labor Force Survey Report, which examines the labor market differences of the two main religions, including unemployment rates and levels of economic activity from 1990 to 2017.With estimates suggesting that Catholics will outnumber Protestants in the total population by 2021…’
The artificial State of Northern Ireland was created by England’s
1920 ‘Government of Ireland Act’ (Scotland and Wales can hardly be blamed). It was an outrageous gerrymander, based on a nakedly anti-Catholic, sectarian headcount.
The word gerrymander provides an immediate nexus with the United States because it was first coined in Massachusetts in the early 19th Century. And, of course, it makes an obvious connection to how Blacks had to struggle against the rigging of electoral boundaries in the US to keep them from gaining the power necessary for equality.
Who in today’s America could assert (at least publicly) that it is bad for African Americans and other people of color to overcome gerrymandered political entities? Can people of color be blamed for being pleased they are overcoming contrived, structural injustice and discrimination—structures that Pope John Paul called ‘structures of sin.’?
Yet, there is a distorted and twisted ideology by some in Ireland —inevitably picked up by a few Irish-Americans lacking knowledge of both Irish and British history— which asserts that it is somehow wrong for Catholics/Nationalists/Republicans
to want to overcome their disenfranchisement and contrived marginalization… that it is wrong to be relieved that democracy and equality are pending for the whole island of Ireland.
For example, it has been asserted (behind my back, of course) that I should stop ‘harping’ about the historic mistreatment of Catholics in Northern Ireland … like telling African-Americans, Hispanics, women, and other unfairly marginalized groups in the US to stop talking about fairness and equality. Can anything be more stupid? It’s like White Supremacists saying: ‘It is OK for us to establish supremacy, but it is unreasonable for people of color to seek equality, to quit sitting at the back of the bus.’
The re-unification of Ireland is in inevitable, made more obvious by Brexit. In the meantime, the Beloved community must be built up in Northern Ireland/The North. Equality, solidarity, unity, and peace are not a threat to anyone— just ‘liberty and justice for all.’” Fr. Sean McManus.
The report examines the labor market differences of the two religions in Northern Ireland, including unemployment rates and levels of economic activity.
Suzanne McGonagle.Irish News. Belfast. Friday, February 1, 2019
The number of Catholics and Protestants of working age is almost the same for the first time as Northern Ireland’s population changes continue.
The number of Protestants has declined by 14 percentage points to 42 percent, while the number of Catholics is up to 41 percent. People who define themselves as ‘other/non-determined’ has increased from 6 percent to 17 percent over the same period.
The statistics are revealed in the latest Labour Force Survey Report, which examines the labor market differences of the two main religions, including unemployment rates and levels of economic activity from 1990 to 2017.
With estimates suggesting that Catholics will outnumber Protestants in the total population by 2021, politics professor John Coakley cautioned that the new figures do not automatically point to a majority in favor of a United Ireland.
Historically the Catholic community experienced a higher unemployment rate than the Protestant community, however over the past 15 years that gap has gradually narrowed.
In 1992, 69 percent of working-age Protestants and 54 percent of Catholics were in employment.
But by 2017, the number of Catholics in employment has risen to 67 percent, but working-age Protestants only increased to 70 percent.
In 1992, 76 percent of working-age Protestants were economically active, compared with 66 percent Catholics. Fifteen years later there is more of a similar picture in both communities with 73 percent Protestants and 70 percent Catholics economically active.
Unemployment rates for both communities are now the same following years of higher levels of unemployment for Catholics.
Over the same period, the unemployment rate has moved from nine percent for Protestants and 18 percent for Catholics to four percent for both.
The number of people reporting as “other/non-determined” has more than doubled over the 15-year period – from six percent to 17 percent.
Professor Coakley, of Queen’s University Belfast, said: “it would be dangerous to jump to any political conclusions on the basis of these demographic developments.”
“Until the effects of the uncertainties associated with Brexit began to be felt, opinion polls and surveys showed sizeable Catholic support for the Union – not confined to Alliance and SDLP supporters, but including also a cluster of Sinn Féin supporters. For this reason, it would take a major shift in Catholic opinion for the Union to be endangered. But this is where the instability caused by Brexit may have unexpected consequences,” he said.
