Conflict and Consensus: A Study of Values and Attitudes in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland

Author(s): Tony Fahey, Bernadette C. Hayes and Richard Sinnott
Document Type: Book
Year: 2005
Publisher: Institute of Public Administration
Place of Publication: Dublin
ISBN: 1904541186
Subject Area(s): Religion, NI Conflict, Culture/Identity

Abbreviations: ROI - Republic of Ireland, NI - Northern Ireland, EVS - European Values Study

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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