Protestant and Catholic children in Northern Ireland are living parallel and separate lives divided along sectarian lines, a survey confirmed today.
A poll of 667 children chosen randomly from 35 schools across the North showed Protestants were more likely to define themselves as British and Catholics more likely to see themselves as Irish.
Encouragingly, around half of Catholic children and around half of Protestants were happy to be labelled as Northern Irish.
Catholic children were also four times more likely to name Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams as a politician they knew than Protestants who were three times more likely than Catholics to name Stormont First Minister and DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley.
The survey also revealed Catholic boys were four times more likely to say they would befriend a child pictured in a Glasgow Celtic shirt than Protestants. Protestant boys were three time more likely than Catholics when the same test was applied of child wearing Glasgow Rangers shirt.
The survey revealed:
- Over four fifths of Protestant children (84%) believed Belfast was the capital of their country compared to 39% of Catholics. Under half of Catholic children (47%) said Dublin was their capital compared to just 4% of Protestants.
- Catholic children (51%) were five times more likely to see themselves as Irish compared to Protestant children (10%). Protestant children were nearly four times more likely to see themselves as British (58%) compared to Catholic children (15%).
- However when children were asked if they were Northern Irish, there were roughly similar results — 53% of Catholics said they were and 49% of Protestants.
PA