Background
to the
Research
- This is a major new comparative
study of attitudes and values among Catholics and Protestants in the
ROI and NI.
Research Approach
- The study is based on a
wide range of survey data covering the period from the 1970s to 2003
but focusing especially on the EVS as fielded in Ireland, North and
South, in 1999-2000.
- The sample for the ROI in
the 1999-2000 EVS included a booster sample of Protestants so that
Catholic-Protestant comparisons could be made on both sides of the
border.
Main
Findings
- Religion is still a source of deep division
in identity and constitutional preferences on the island of Ireland.
But it is also a source of cultural similarity. Catholics and Protestants
in the ROI and NI are closer to each other in their thinking on many
issues than either is to any other population in Europe, including
that of Britain.
- Polarisation on questions of identity and
constitutional preference between the Catholic-nationalist and Protestant-unionist
traditions in NI has not significantly reduced since the Good Friday
Agreement, nor has increased secularisation weakened the role of religion
as a marker of identity in NI. In the ROI, in contrast, both Catholics
and Protestants align themselves with an Irish identity, and Protestants
now stand apart from the unionist tradition.
- In NI, there are significant
minorities on both sides of the Protestant-Catholic divide who are
detached from the dominant identities and assert middle-ground identities
such as ‘Northern Irish’ or ‘neither British nor Irish’. However,
these middle-ground identities do not evoke strong positive feeling,
and cross-over identities are rare. Virtually no Catholics in NI identify themselves as unionist and virtually no Protestants
identify themselves as nationalist.
- Compared with other populations in Europe,
Protestants and Catholics, both in the Republic and NI,
are quite similar in the importance they accord to religion.
- They are also quite alike on questions
of family and sexual morality where religion traditionally has had
an influence.
- On a number of issues the divide is between
the religiously committed and those whose faith has weakened or disappeared.
Secularisation has replaced denomination as the main axis of differentiation
in regard to certain values and attitudes.
- In comparison to much of the rest of Europe,
the populations on both sides of the border are quite positive about
general aspects of the political system This is so in spite of the
political problems of NI and the spate of allegations
about corruption in public life in the Republic. It is particularly
so in the Republic, where attitudes towards several aspects of the
political system could be considered almost enthusiastic by European
standards. Attitudes to the political system in NI are
about average for Europe.
- While Catholics in NI are less confident
in the security forces than are Northern Protestants, they have quite
high levels of confidence in many other public institutions in NI,
and they rate the United Kingdom system of government quite highly.
- The populations on both sides of the border
enjoy high levels of socio-economic welfare, individual life satisfaction
and social capital. Both societies have levels of confidence in political
institutions that in the circumstances could be regarded as surprisingly
high. The grounds for consensus across a range of issues are almost
as extensive as the grounds for conflict. In short, there are many
reasons to be optimistic about the future course of conflict and consensus
on the island of Ireland.
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