Catholic Unionist

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A Catholic Irish Unionist is a Roman Catholic in Northern Ireland who supports continuing or maintaining ties between Northern Ireland and Great Britain or a Roman Catholic in the Republic of Ireland, who supports Ireland rejoining the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland is a constituent country of the United Kingdom, consisting of the north-eastern portion of the island of Ireland.

Among those who vote for mainstream Unionist parties in Northern Ireland, Catholic Unionists usually support the more moderate Ulster Unionist Party, as opposed to the Democratic Unionist Party because of the anti-Catholic religious doctrine of the former DUP Party leader Ian Paisley. Many Catholic Unionists vote for the Social Democratic and Labour Party or for the non-aligned Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, notwithstanding the SDLP's support for a United Ireland.

Historically, after the enactment of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, a great number of Catholics served in senior positions in the British empire of the 19th century, some of whom supported various forms of Irish home rule, while others did not. Probably the most eminent was the lawyer, judge and politician Charles Russell.

Catholic Unionists

Richard Doherty, author, military historian and RUC reservist from County Londonderry.
Sir John Gorman, a Catholic Ulster Unionist Party delegate.
General Sir John Winthrop Hackett. Known as 'Shan' Hackett, he was born in Australia to Irish Catholic parents. Hackett was a professional soldier in the British Army. He served as Commander in Chief of the British Army of the Rhine and later as Commander of the Northern Army Group for NATO. He also wrote the best seller The Third World War, a work of fiction that laid out a "what if" scenario of a possible conflict between NATO and the Warsaw Pact during the 1980s. He had a home in County Donegal.
Edward Haughey, Baron Ballyedmond, OBE. Educated by the Irish Christian Brothers in Dundalk; self-made pharmaceutical tycoon who served as a nominee of Taoiseach Charles Haughey in Seanad Éireann.
Sir Denis Henry, was born in County Londonderry in 1864. A son of prosperous Catholic businessman, he was elected MP for South Londonderry in 1916 and later served as Solicitor-General for Ireland and then as the First Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland.
Tina McKenzie. The chairperson of the pro-union political party NI21 and businesswoman. She is the daughter of Harry Fitzsimons, a former member of the Provisional IRA.^[1]

Many prominent members of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland have been Catholics, including the majority of its past leaders (such as John Cushnahan, Oliver Napier and Sean Neeson), some of its Deputy Leaders (such as Seamus Close and Eileen Bell), former MP (of the Northern Ireland Parliament) Thomas Columba Gormley, as well as three of its seven current Assembly members. The Alliance Party is not, as such, a Unionist party, as its support for the Union is based purely on that being the wishes of the majority of the people of Northern Ireland.

Irish Catholic Unionists in the Republic of Ireland

Stan Gebler Davies (deceased) – a journalist for the Irish Independent, who stood as a Unionist for the Dáil in 1987.^[2]

Conor Cruise O'Brien (deceased), former member of the UK Unionist Party and the Irish Labour Party.

Having opposed the partition of Ireland from 1949, all the major political parties in the Republic of Ireland approved the Belfast Agreement of 1998 that consents to Northern Ireland remaining a part of the United Kingdom as long as a majority of its electorate so desires.

Irish-origin Catholics in Great Britain

Since 1922 at least a million Irish people have moved to Great Britain, or are descended from Irish emigrants. By 2007 these included government minister Ruth Kelly and Sir Gus O'Donnell, the head of the British Civil Service, both of whom are Catholics.

A notable person of Irish Catholic background in Great Britain who had unionist political opinions was the author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Voting trends

Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey's 2005 poll results suggest that a quarter of Northern Irish Catholics favour Northern Ireland remaining as part of the United Kingdom.^[3] The NILT results also suggest that 5% of Roman Catholics would vote for the nominally unionist Alliance Party, but none would support any of the mainstream or 'hardline' Unionist parties. Similarly, the poll results suggested that 7% of Protestants would vote for the Alliance Party, while 2% of Protestants would vote for the moderate nationalist SDLP.^[4]

A 2011 survey by the Northern Ireland Life and Times survey found that 52% of Northern Irish Catholics respondents favoured Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom over a United Ireland.^[5]^[6]

Footnotes

External links

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