Background to the Research

• In the Programme for Government, the NI Executive recognised the importance of promoting better relationships within the community. One of the key actions identified was to review and put in place a cross-departmental strategy for the promotion of community relations. The NI Executive saw this strategy as necessary to produce a significant improvement in community relations, and believed that it would reduce the causes of conflict between communities, especially at the physical interfaces.
• This chapter considers whether the devolution of power from Westminster to the locally elected Assembly in December 1999 has had any impact on the fraught area of relationships between communities in NI.
  

Research Approach

• The data used by the authors come from the NILT and NISA surveys.
• The NISA surveys were carried out annually from 1989 to 1996 and interviewed a random selection of adults (aged 18 years and over) who lived in private households in NI. The sample size in each year of the survey was around 800.
• The NILT survey began in 1998 and is carried out annually. Interviews are carried out with a random selection of adults (aged 18 years and over) who live in private households in NI. The sample size for the NILT surveys is 1,800 in each year, although the sample size in 1999 was 2,200.
• Similar questions on community relations were asked in both the NISA surveys and the NILT surveys which makes it possible to compare data across the years.
  

Main Findings

• Respondents were asked whether relations between Protestants and Catholics were better, worse or the same as they were five years ago. Across the years, perceived relations between Protestants and Catholics significantly improved from 1989 until the mid 1990s; since then, however, respondents appear considerably more pessimistic, and by the end of 2001, both Protestants and Catholics were reporting attitudes close to those first assessed in 1989.
• By 1995, almost two thirds of respondents believed that relations would be better in 5 years time, although Catholics were considerably more positive (78%) than Protestants (52%). However, expectations have changed markedly since then; more pessimistic perceptions are evident among both Protestant and Catholic respondents, although Catholics remain consistently more positive than Protestants.
• A preference for living in mixed-religion areas peaked at 83% in 1996, followed by a progressive decline until, by 2001, overall 66% indicated such a preference.
• By 1996, around 95% of all respondents said they would prefer to work in a mixed-religion workplace. There is progressive decay from this position and, by 2001, fewer people from both Protestant and Catholic communities are indicating a preference to work in a mixed-religion workplace than was the position in 1989.
• Around 50-60% of all respondents said they would prefer to send their children to a mixed-religion school across the twelve years.
• There has been a steady erosion in the percentage of respondents who see the best long-term policy for NI as remaining part of the United Kingdom. Of particular interest is the decline in the percentage of Protestants who see this as the best solution, from 93% in 1989 to 79% by 2001.
• In 1989, 65% of all respondents thought there would be a United Ireland in 20 years; this proportion had fallen to 40% by 2001.
• There has been an increase from 1998 to 2001 in the proportion of Protestants who agree that their cultural tradition is always the underdog in NI with 37% in 2001 - more than double the 1998 figure. Catholic views were generally fairly constant over the period.
• Just over one half (54%) of Catholics are happy with the search for peace over the last few years compared with only 26% of Protestants.
• More than double the percentage of Catholics than Protestsants are optimistic or confident about what might happen over the next few years and 20% of Protestants indicate they are worried about the future compared with 6% of Catholics.
• Very few respondents believe they have been refused a job, treated unfairly in promotion or treated unfairly by their colleagues because of their religion over the last ten years.
• Only 19% of Protestants and 11% of Catholics agree that there is no need for equality laws in NI.
• Figures for the years 1994, 1998 and 2001 suggest some increase in the proprtion of respondents who would mind having a boss of Chinese origin (from 11% in 1994 to 19% in 2001), but little change in attitudes towards a close relative marrying a person of Chinese origin.
• 8% of respondents in 1998 and 12% in 2001 said they would mind if a suitably qualified person of a different religion were appointed their boss.
• In 1998, 26% said they would mind if a close relative were to marry a person of a different religion compared with 28% in 2001.

Conclusions

• The results reported in this chapter emphasise the critical importance for government in NI to initiate urgent, broadly based and strategic action to achieve the Executive's vision as set out in the Programme for Government.