For a moment, we can reluctantly reply in Mr Eastwood’s own terms and put the religious results in a broader context.
Over the past century, the Republic of Ireland has not been just a cold house for Protestants, but a virtual igloo. Through a covenant between the Catholic Church and the state, a Protestant population of 10% in 1922 fell to 3% by 1990 with a slight rise to 4% in our day.
I cannot recall relentless charges of systemic discrimination, which Mr Eastwood makes against Stormont, being made against Irish governments. Which is what it was: WB Yeats when an Irish senator said so.
By contrast, Northern Ireland for the Catholic population, despite Protestant anti-Catholicism, has been a virtual greenhouse (pun intended) — roughly 34% in 1922 swelling to almost 46% today by census declaration (and likely higher). Protestants down to 43.5%.
If NI in the past half-century since Stormont fell has been a cold house for Catholics, it has had a funny way of showing it.
It has always been distasteful to see the future of Northern Ireland, indeed Ireland, reduced to a sectarian headcount. I believe that Mr Eastwood responded to the census in ways that could signal to the Catholic population: Thankfully our time has come. It bodes ill.
John Foster
Here: https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/opinion/letters/academic-my-concern-at-sdlp-leaders-response-to-the-northern-ireland-census-findings-3855239











