Northern census - Talk of Irish unity must be avoided

The 2001 census figures for Northern Ireland published today are expected to show a dramatic rise in the percentage of Roman Catholics among the population.

The figures are expected to show that 46% of the population is Catholic. For the first time since partition was implemented in 1921, Belfast now has a Catholic majority. This demographic shift has enormous symbolic implications.

It is significant that the historian Eamon Phoenix, who comes from the nationalist tradition, should describe the implications as “terribly symbolic”.