Northern Ireland

Claims about disaffected Catholics migrating to DUP are ‘for the birds’

Professor Jon Tonge, author of DUP: From Protest to Power
Professor Jon Tonge, author of DUP: From Protest to Power Professor Jon Tonge, author of DUP: From Protest to Power

IT’S eight years since the then DUP leader Peter Robinson spoke openly about appealing to Catholic voters. Back then, it was support for the union that was seen as the key selling point.

However, since 2011, the importance of moral and social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage in political debate has grown.

While they have yet to trump the constitutional question, their influence on voting behaviour is increasing.

In recent years, northern nationalism’s two largest parties have liberalised their positions on abortion – Sinn Féin moving to a policy of supporting terminations within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, while the SDLP now allows a free vote on abortion policy.

Meanwhile, the DUP remains steadfast in its opposition to same-sex marriage and any relaxation of the north’s strict abortion laws.

But will this lead to Catholic voters who previously supported Sinn Féin and the SDLP to switch allegiance to the DUP – a party once synonymous with anti-Catholic sentiment?

Last year, North Antrim MP Ian Paisley said he had received a letter from Catholic priest in which the cleric said he would be "urging his parishioners" to vote for the DUP.

Mrs Foster also said she had been contacted by "nationalists and republicans" who claimed they "will be voting for the DUP because they believe we are the only party that supports the unborn”.

Professor Jon Tonge, a lecturer at the University of Liverpool and author of DUP: From Protest to Power, characterises Dublin-based Catholic Dr Ciarán Ó Coigligh as an “outlier” and says claims about Catholic votes migrating to Arlene Foster’s party have been exaggerated.

“While the DUP would welcome support from people who previously voted for nationalists parties, the notion that conservative Catholics are voting for the DUP in significant numbers is frankly for the birds,” he told The Irish News.

“In a normal world, arguably the DUP would pick up votes from conservative Catholics on the basis of its moral and social stance but people don’t vote on the basis of same-sex marriage and abortion – they vote on the basis of the constitutional issue.”