Northern Protestants: On Shifting Ground

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There has been little peace dividend in the working class estates or the deep rural interior of Ulster. Many of the participants talk about how they are moving away from orange/green politics to left/right issues which are effecting communities. And those interviews provide an invaluable insight into the psyche of the Northern Protestant community. The bogeyman of a United Ireland features on a number of occasions, and I think there's a lot of grounds for optimism there too.

It's a completely riveting read, as the author visits communities in each part of the north to gauge opinions on the state of the union and how the protestant community is feeling on a range of issues.It was more - red top for number 52, make sure Mrs Murphy at 16 pays you for the cream from last week. Ties in to topical debates around identity in the context of Brexit and the centenary of the foundation of the NI state. In the meantime, unionist anxiety is turning to anger and, on the ground in loyalist areas, to unrest and threats of violent resistance from the paramilitaries, who have been an ominous presence at recent anti-protocol protests. She was a founder of the Belfast Rape Crisis Centre and from 2009 to 2012 was CEO of the National Women’s Council of Ireland. Especially those from a unionist/protestant tradition, as they move into the unchartered waters of becoming a minority in a statelet designed to maintain, [what I suggest was the lie which fed) their perception of being in control.

The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. The rest of the interviews,snatches of conversation with people at Drumcree and historical analysis and context provided by McKay only serve to confirm the accounts of the former.Based on almost 100 brand-new interviews, and told with McKay's trademark passion and conviction, this is essential reading. Belfast playwright Stacey Gregg describes an emerging “fluidity of persona and identity” among her contemporaries, wryly observing that Northern Ireland “has unclenched somewhat”. At present, it would seem, unionists are fighting mainly with themselves, the DUP’s leadership debacle a symptom of a deeper existential crisis within unionism caused by a conjunction of forces, some predictable, some unforeseen, which have rendered Northern Ireland’s future as part of the United Kingdom increasingly uncertain. Never does McKay come remotely close to resorting to the kind of condescension which can often be the default setting for intellectuals – whether from the Irish Republic or from Britain – when working-class Protestants are being discussed.

The sense of grief, betrayal and loss is palpable alongside the optimism and hope of a new generation. There were a couple of protestant owned businesses but they were mostly concentrated at one end of the small town we were from. It's almost impossible to separate my reaction to the interviews in this book from my personal experience of growing up in Belfast (not as a Protestant but Protestant adjacent shall we say) and my current view on the constitutional question. What emerges most forcefully from her myriad encounters is a quiet, matter-of-fact pragmatism about religion, identity and social issues that runs counter to that stridency of the DUP narrative.perhaps because I know more of the interviewees, some better than others, and even with those I don't know I recognise the mindset. The is a truly enlightening and thought provoking read that opens a new perspective on the shifting identity of the Northern Irish protestant community. When unionism’s back is against the wall,” he reminded his supporters, “history has proven that we will come out fighting. Despite that, it is a book worth reading to understand why it is so difficult to find a way forward in Northern Ireland in 2021.

The most interesting voices here tend to belong to people who have made the biggest leap from one often inherited political belief system to another. She is the author of four books: 'Sophia’s Story', 'Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People', 'Without Fear: A History of the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre' and 'Bear in Mind These Dead'. I would agree that the diversity of Protestant opinion (and Republican for that matter) gets lost when discussing the constitutional question or social justice in general. I'd have liked a conclusion that could recommend what could be done to help NI move forwards, or provide an analysis of where it stands now. Myself and another colleague had been conducting interviews in Northern Ireland for two weeks over the summer of 2022 and heard many of these sentiments echoed from the various Protestant (or mixed background) interviewees we spoke with.

It’s a deep but breezy read, and I found myself constantly saying far past my bedtime, “Just one more section.