THE recent census figures provide much food for thought.
Most worryingly, they point to an ageing population. It would seem young people are voting with their feet. This trend has serious implications for the future of public services.
This ominous warning sign was mostly lost amid the ‘big reveal’ about how many of us and how many of ‘themuns’ there are on this piece of scorched earth.
So before the shrill cries of the archaic sectarian bean counters get into full flow, let me make the following clear.
I am in favour of a united Ireland. I am not agnostic on the need for the union with Britain to end. I don’t believe it’s possible to be agnostic about the future of one’s country.
I make no apology for wanting this island to reach its full potential by sharing its resources and harnessing the combined talents of all its citizens. People united in vision and ambition.
There is nothing sectarian or myopic about this aspiration. It’s noble. Those who try to squeeze it into some sectarian green pigeon hole need to politically grow up.
In the short term, how and when a united Ireland evolves is not certain. The figures in the census are not a route map. They show a significant milestone has been reached.
The Orange statelet is no more. In reality, it died a long time ago. It was killed off by the civil rights movement and the inability of political unionism to show generosity over decades.
The creation of the Housing Executive, the implementation of fair employment and equality legislation, the primacy of power sharing in government, the disbandment of the B-Specials, UDR and phasing out the RUC stripped away the discriminatory infrastructure of unionist hegemony.
Today, the political landscape has changed.
Stormont, for so long the symbol of supremacy, has no unionist majority. Unionist MPs are no longer dominant in Westminster.
My grandfather, who fought against the partition of Ireland and was jailed for it in 1921, would not recognise the Northern Ireland of 2022. That’s history we can touch – only three generations apart.
The census figures are a blunt instrument. Certainly the near 46 per cent who identify as being ‘Catholic’ are not sitting in pews across the north. Same goes for those who identified as ‘Protestant’ – they too are like hens teeth when it comes to church attendance.
For the politically interested, the census figures are as fluid as the choices at a swingers party. There’s something for everyone. A lid for every pot. Unionists and nationalists can spin statistics as they see fit.
That said, the stark reality is that unionism has a lot to worry about and nationalism has much to work towards.
Brexit was a spectacular own goal by political unionism which alienated a third of their supporters and drove a wedge between them and moderates.
As long as they remain in denial over their idiotic folly and wed themselves to English nationalism, fewer here will identify with them. In fact, the drop in those identifying as solely British in Northern Ireland is in no small part due to the intolerant and equality-denying nature of political unionism masquerading as British.
The uptake in Irish passports is not surprising. The people of Northern Ireland are both thran and pragmatic. For decades many Catholics held British passports based solely on the then price differential.
Post-Brexit, the continuation of free movement and the avoidance of long queues at passport control in EU countries would make the staunchest Orangeman yearn for a harp-embossed passport.
Sadly, the census also shows the polarised nature of our local government structures. In fact, it’s Balkanised. It’s hard to integrate communities which are effectively governed in silos and living in parallel political bubbles.
We need to bleed those political structures.
Any new Ireland starts and ends with people. The census shows many hearts and minds have yet to be won over.