Northern Ireland General Discussion

[DC Al Fine]

Something I came across recently is that for whatever reason, there are more Mormons in Northern Ireland than in the Republic. I wonder what party they tend to vote for.

UUP maybe?

Mormons tend to do well, so they probably don't lean left. They're way too socially conservative for the Alliance, and I'm sure Ian Paisley doesn't like them.

[DC Al Fine]

Given that Northern Ireland is now plurality Catholic (and in fact outnumber Protestants in Belfast), does anyone see it becoming majority Catholic within the next few decades?  

It will under current demographic trends, and quite soon at that.

Not that I think that will change the constitutional situation much.

Could you elaborate for the reasons behind this? Immigration, Cultural Catholicism, Birth rates?

[DC Al Fine]

Northern Ireland isn't allowed to have democracy. Thats the whole point of the GFA: no one ever gets to implement their (inevitably horrific) platform and elections serve as a means of apportioning patronage and public money.

The problem is that Northern Ireland's "democracy" is based on voting for the party that's closest to your religious ideology - if one party ever got a majority, there would be religious tensions again. The closest NI gets to having a democratic vote is in the UK General Election - where their vote doesn't matter.

It's remarkable isn't it? If Northern Ireland was an African state, Western newspapers would be full of patronising editorials about 'people unready for democracy' and the like.

If it makes you feel any better, I recall a Canadian newspaper running an editorial like that