19 December 2002

Census 2001: press round up

David McKitterick reports a rise in the numbers of Catholics in Belfast. In the Examiner, Dan Buckley focuses on population changes in Belfasts, that have practical effects:

"Many Catholic districts of Belfast are now bursting at the seams, while some Protestant zones are half-empty, illustrating a demographic change which may have huge political consequences."

In the Newsletter, Suzanne Breen returns to the the partition of the historic 9 county province of Ulster to find context for the magnitude of the changes involved:

"...Sir James Craig insisted a 43 per cent Catholic state couldn't survive. 'No sane man would undertake to carry a parliament with it,' said his brother Charles. So Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan were dumped, losing 70,000 Protestants but - more importantly - 260,000 Catholics."

Jack Holland takes a decidedly dark view of the potential of the census figures to destabilise Northern Ireland.

For more check out Newshound.

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