Whopping 94.2% of students in Holylands are Catholic – with sectarian divide branded ‘depressing’

Although it has long been regarded as an area dominated by Catholic students, even by the standards of Northern Ireland’s most divided communities it is unusual to have a Catholic/Protestant split which is as stark as that.

The news stems from two Freedom of Information requests from Dr Edward Cooke, a mature graduate of Queen’s University Belfast.

Dr Cooke has written on many occasions to the News Letter about what he sees as the marginalisation of Protestant students at the university.

The Holylands is a dense terraced network of homes largely occupied by students (as well as east European immigrants). It is sandwiched between the Queen’s University campus and the lower Ormeau Road, which is dominated by long-term nationalist residents.

It has often been the scene of raucous parties – and wild St Patrick’s Day celebrations in particular.

Dr Cooke posed a Freedom of Information request to Ulster University and Queen’s, asking how many Protestant students and how many Catholic students had an address in any one of 18 streets in the Holylands, as of the start of term this year.

Ulster University said 465 students living there were Catholic, and only 24 were Protestant.

Queen’s said 646 were Catholic, and 45 Protestant.

Together that makes 1,111 Catholic students living in the area, and 69 Protestant ones – in other words, 94.2% Catholic, 5.8% Protestant.

(It is worth re-stating that this is the Catholic/Protestant breakdown only; as such it obviously would exclude any minority of students living there who register a different religious background).

Despite Northern Ireland’s long history of division and intimidation when it comes to housing, the official data shows it is still rather rare to have such deep uniformity in a single neighbourhood.

The News Letter looked at the most recent census numbers, plotted out by ward (that is, neighbourhood-sized chunks of land usually consisting of a couple of dozen streets or less).

Even areas which normally conjure up images of extreme segregation are less than 94.2% uniform.

For instance, the loyalist Shankill ward in west Belfast is still 7.8% Catholic, and the republican Ardoyne in north Belfast is still only 92.8% Catholic.

Dr Cooke himself said the overwhelming domination by students from one community in the area should spur action from the government to deal with the “marginalising of Protestants and unionists”.

He called the picture “depressing” adding it “asks questions about the unionist political community’s neglect in holding the NI university sector to account” over a period of many years.

Nathan Redmond, 22, is treasurer of the UUP’s youth wing and lived on the edge of the Holylands during his final year of university.

Whilst he never encountered serious trouble, he said: “To be honest, 95% being Catholic in the Holylands doesn’t really surprise me, having lived there.

“I don’t think I could tell you of any other Protestants who lived there.”

In part, this picture comes down to shifting demographics – with a huge shift in recent years towards more young Catholics and fewer young Protestants overall in the Province.

And in particular the demographics show Protestant attendance at universities is dwindling.

Official figures for 2014/15 show of students entering university in NI, 29.5% were Protestant, and 45.3% Catholic – a gap which has likely widened since.

READ MORE ON THESE TOPICS FROM THIS REPORTER:

Click here: Catholic population set to dwarf Protestants in years ahead

Click here: About 50 per cent more Catholics than Protestants enter higher education

Click here: No chill factor for Protestants in NI universities: Farry

Click here: Paramilitary signage at university ‘just latest kick in teeth for Protestant/unionist students’

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