School Integration no Simple Task in Northern Ireland

It has been over a decade since the signing of the "Good Friday Agreement," the 1998 peace accord that is often credited with ending "the Troubles" in Northern Ireland. Yet despite the peace, tension persists between Northern Irish Protestants and Catholics.

In mid-October, 2010, such tensions again made news when First Minister of Northern Ireland Peter Robinson called for an end to de facto religious school segregation. Currently, the large majority of Protestant children attend state-run schools, whereas most Catholics attend parochial school. A few dozen specially created schools provide integrated education, but they enroll only about 5 percent of Northern Irish pupils.

Integrated Schools in Northern Ireland

Robinson's support for school integration was not the sole cause of controversy. More troubling for Catholics was the fact that he advocated withdrawing public funding for religious schools. As he put it, "I don't in any way object to churches providing and funding schools for those who choose to use them. What I do object to is the state providing and funding church schools."

Many Catholics have fired back, taking the comments as a thinly-veiled attack on their religion.

"The DUP do not seek an integrated education system, they seek the end of the Catholic education sector, there is a difference," said John O'Dowd, a Sinn Fein Assembly member.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness also responded to Robinson's comments, albeit in a more diplomatic manner. "If Peter thinks taking on the Catholic Church, the Catholic bishops and indeed the Protestant churches for that matter and other interest groups is a sensible route to go, I think that is a big mistake," he said.

To understand why the issue is so contentious, it is necessary to examine the politics, history and geography of Northern Ireland. The executive arm of the country is a "diarchy," with power split equally between the First Minister (Robinson, from the Democratic Unionist Party) and the deputy First Minister (McGuinness, from Sinn Fein). The DUP and Sinn Fein are the two biggest parties, the former being advocating continued union with Great Britain and the latter hoping to join Northern Ireland with the Republic of Ireland. Interestingly, they are both more radical versions of the two parties that were dominant a decade ago -- the Ulster Unionist Party and the Social Democratic and Labour Party, respectively. It is difficult to judge how this polarization has affected Northern Irish politics as a whole, but it certainly demonstrates an increased possibility for tension between Northern Irish voters.


Along with political shifts, demographic changes have also created tension. In the past decades, the Catholic population of Northern Ireland has been slowly rising, from 37% in 1971 to 44% in 2001. In the capital, Belfast, which has over 15% of the country's population, the Catholic population has increased from 34% to 47% in the same period. The next census will be significant, as many Nationalists believe that a Catholic majority in Northern Ireland will lead to the eventual re-unification of the island.


When this uncertainty over the future is combined with historical grievances, issues such as religious education can take on great importance. However the government addresses school segregation, clearly it will have to tread very lightly.