SDLP leader: I hope news that Catholics outnumber Protestants will come as relief to victims of state oppression

Nationalist parties have hailed the 2021 census results, showing that Catholics now outnumber Protestants, as a major sea-change in the history of the island – with the SDLP hoping the news will bring some “relief” to those who lived under the old “oppressive state”.

Sinn Fein using the occasion to call for Dublin to plan for the possibility of a unity referendum, while Aontu said it should spur “some level of self-awareness” within unionism.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: “The census figures published today reveal that, by any measure, the constitution of the North has been transformed utterly 100 years on from partition...

“As we have built a more inclusive and diverse society, we have together shattered the bonds of an oppressive state which engrained discrimination against a Catholic minority in its every outworking for far too long.

“We are never going back to state sponsored discrimination against any religious minority.

“I hope that all those who lived through decades of discrimination and who experienced the sharp end of that oppressive state are able to breathe a sigh of relief today...

“The significance of this transformation should not be downplayed or diminished out of fear or insincere politicking.”

He also called for “replacing old battles of identity with a new contest for ideas”.

Sinn Fein’s statement came in the name of North Belfast MP John Finucane.

It said: “Today‘s census results are another clear indication that historic change is happening across this island and of the diversity of society which enriches us all.

“There is no doubt change is under way and irreversible ... We can all be part of shaping a better future; a new constitutional future and a new Ireland. But we must prepare for it.

“The Irish government should establish a Citizens’ Assembly to plan for the possibility of a unity referendum.”

Meanwhile,

Peadar Toibin, leader of anti-abortion republican party Aontu, said: “The Northern state was originally set up as a Protestant state for a Protestant people.

“While it’s not the case that people vote on the basis of their religion in every case, there is a clear correlation between people’s cultural and religious background and their vote in the north of Ireland.

“The unionist boycott of Stormont is another echo of their historic dominance that has no place now in modern society.”