57% of Protestants see bright future

‘Building Confidence, Ways Forward to Support Protestant Participation and Inclusion in the North West’ - which has been leaked to this paper and will be launched later this week - is based on a comprehensive survey of the Protestant community in Londonderry, Strabane, Omagh and Donegal.

The report was commissioned late last year by Derry City Council with pollsters Ipsos Mori door-stepping 661 people from Londonderry, Strabane and Omagh and carrying out a further 149 interviews in Donegal between February and May this year on behalf of consultants Deloitte who authored the document.

The new research is a remarkably positive follow-up to ‘Population Change and Social Inclusion Study Londonderry (2005)’ which made for dismal reading and revealed a deep sense of Protestant alienation across the North West.

It is the second strand of the North West Peace III (2007-10) plan’s Strategic Priority of “assisting Protestant Participation, especially in disadvantaged urban and rural areas” in order “to encourage the participation of the Protestant community by promoting a shared sense of belonging and addressing issues of marginalisation and tackling sectarianism and racism.”

The first strand was the Gateway to Protestant Participation (GPP) programme which was officially launched in late 2009 and which has been rolled out across Londonderry, Strabane, Donegal and Omagh over the past year-and-half.

‘Building Confidence’ presents its findings thematically focusing on community, leadership, relationships and cultural identity before making a range of recommendations on how to boost Protestant participation in future and build on progress already made.

The recommendations - which the Sentinel can reveal today for the first time - focus on implementation, leadership, community development capabilities, relationship with public bodies, shared space, young people, education and opportunities for peace building.

Community

Before outlining the draft recommendations in detail the report notes that at community level: “there is scope and support for the community sector to grow” and goes on to state that across the North West 20 per cent of respondents attended church activities; 15 per cents attended Loyal Order activities; and 13 per cent attended local community events although participation in church and community groups was higher in Donegal.

The authors found that the GPP and Bands Forum have helped connect and develop groups with limited capabilities and that there was a growing appreciation of the value of community development from within the Protestant community.

Of those surveyed 57.3 per cent thought there was a bright future for the Protestant community; although 50.5 per cent felt the Protestant community was in political decline; and only 46.1 per cent felt local Protestant leaders had done a lot of positive things for the community.

Leadership

In terms of the quality of leadership offered the report found the general feeling that “political, community and church leadership all have a role to play.”

Of those surveyed 69 per cent said strong leadership was needed to strengthen the community sector and over 36 per cent said strengthening leadership was a number one priority.

Less than 31 per cent felt political leaders were doing a good job representing their views with a range of reasons offered. Some said leaders

were “out of touch,” “bickering with one another,” “not seeing the bigger picture” or that they were being restricted by wider “Northern Ireland politics.”

Two-thirds of people felt Protestant church leaders were key players in terms of building Protestant involvement in the community sector and it was suggested the publication of the Bloody Sunday report this time last year and the Church response to it was deemed positive.

“Notably there was positive qualitative evidence of church leadership, in particular the response of the Protestant church leaders following the release of the Saville Inquiry report. However, some still observed certain church leaders as being insular,” the report states.

Relationships

Looking at relationships within the PUL community and at cross-community level the researchers reported that “internal and external relationships are progressing” with 42 per cent of respondents of the view that more networking within the Protestant community sector was needed.

Seventy-five per cent felt involvement in the Protestant community sector helped break down barriers between communities and 86 per cent believed facilities controlled by Protestants should be used to build better cross-community relations.

Furthermore 81 per cent of respondents agreed that residential segregation created poor community relations, whilst 71 per cent would prefer to live in a mixed neighbourhood although 80 per cent felt safer in a ‘Protestant areas.’

A significant 61 per cent thought local Councils, health, education and housing bodies were actively promoting equality for all sections of the community, whilst 58 per cent agreed that the Protestant community had an equal say in the development of the local area in which they lived.

Cultural Identity

Discussing culture ‘Building Confidence’ states that “cultural identity should be a valued asset for the community and the area” and found that 87 per cent of those surveyed were comfortable expressing their cultural identity in the neighbourhood in which they lived although 69 per cent of respondents lived in ‘mostly Protestant’ communities.

Despite this confidence less than half believed the majority community in the North West was keen to help the Protestant community protect their identity although in Donegal the view of the Protestant community was significantly more positive.

More people disagreed than agreed that the Protestant community within their local area was in decline in cultural terms whilst the feeling of decline was higher in urban areas than in rural areas.

There was strong support for the Protestant community being “confident in expressing its culture and identity” (77 per cent); for the Protestant community fully participating “in the politics, economy and culture of the North West region” (75 per cent); and making “the most of its talents and culture in shaping the future of the North West region”

The report expresses the view that Protestant cultural identity was diverse and difficult to define; that it was often linked to religious and political structures; that it was far from homogenous; and that it could fragment and lack cohesion as a result.

It states: “Understanding Protestant cultural identity remains a challenge but also provides an opportunity. This opportunity to learn and educate has inward and outward looking dimensions both in terms of building confidence and supporting enhanced and mutual understanding of what Protestant cultural identity is. Rural areas appear more confident in their identity than urban areas.”

Donegal

‘Building Confidence’ notes a clear distinction between the Londonderry, Strabane and Omagh Protestant community and that across the border in Donegal.

Whilst similar concerns and hopes were expressed the community in Donegal was more church-going, more community involved, enjoyed better relations Catholic and was more confident.

Apparently “the Donegal Protestant community is in a different place” with 32 per cent attending church activities; 25 per cent attending local community activities; 89 per cent believing Protestant involvement in community activities helped break down barriers between the communities; 84 per cent confident expressing their identity all or most of the time; 46 per cent believing the Protestant community had declined in cultural terms in recent years; 71 per cent saying the Protestant community was confident about the future; 81 per cent believing they were treated equally; 70 per cent considering relations between Protestants and Catholic had remained the same and 28 per cent believing they had improved over the past five years.

There was evidence of greater cross-community engagement in Donegal with four out of five confident expressing cultural identity and although compared to their counterparts across the border a smaller proportion felt relationships between Protestants and Catholics had improved, this was because there had been more settled relations there - not least because Donegal has suffered less impact during the Troubles.

Nationalists and Republicans

Deloitte also took account of the view of the nationalist and republican community and found evidence of the view amongst Catholics that “a more engaged Protestant community is good for the North West.”

There was agreement that a more engaged Protestant community would be beneficial for the entire North West and that there was now an “improved sense of community relations.”

Notwithstanding this positivity there was a feeling the Protestant community would look inwardly “when the going gets tough” and parading was cited as an issue that had the potential to “create tension.”

Where to now?

Having garnered the views of a broad cross-section of the Protestant community across Londonderry, Strabane, Omagh and Donegal ‘Building Confidence’ used the information gathered to outline a road map for greater participation and better community relations in the future.

Implementation was deemed critical and the starting point for this is the establishment of a Steering Group of community, church and political leaders from across the region.

This should - the report states - be a “GPP Plus” model, evolving from and building upon the work of the Gateways to Protestant Participation initiative to date.

As well as including community, church and political leaders two young people will also be included in the Steering Group which should be geographically representative.

‘Building Confidence’ says leadership needs to become more cohesive; that there should be a broad register of leaders; and that a range of principles of what the community expects should be observed.

Leaders should be accessible; go beyond the narrow issue and lead on long term strategy; work with others; capably represent politically and civically; and push the agenda in building relationships. A workshop is to be set up with leaders to embed these principles.

The community development capabilities should also be improved by getting stakeholders to engage with the Protestant community and gauge participation at church, community, Loyal Order, band and sporting events

The report identifies three types of Protestant groups: those who aren’t ready to engage and need help; those who are ready to engage but don’t want to; and those who are ready and willing to engage.

Leaders should in future identify and support groups to engage with ongoing Council-led and community development activity.

Back in 2005 a problem identified in ‘Population Change and Social Inclusion Study Londonderry’ was a general mistrust of some public bodies.

This persists to a degree although there was feedback suggesting a feeling that greater efforts were being made to ensure Protestants are included within civic and political governance processes.

Two challenges, however, present themselves as the report states: “First public bodies need to continue targeted outreach and inclusion of Protestant community representatives. Second, the leaders from the Protestant community need to be in a position of readiness (i.e. willingness and capability) to engage in civic and political governance processes.”

And to counteract the perception of a minority within the Protestant community that “unequal treatment by public bodies” information should be disseminated to ensure the facts are known; there should be continued targeted outreach to and engagement of the Protestant community; and public bodies should review the make-up of decision-making boards and processes.

The report noted: “There are continued concerns around access to certain services due to locations where services are provided, transportation requirements (especially Derry-Londonderry) and issues relating to the neutrality of the some environments where services are to be accessed (symbols, clothing etc).

“Engagement on locations of services and transport solutions (through regeneration and consultation processes), and monitoring and communication of results of practice in relation to promoting neutral environments needs to continue.”

In relation to Shared Space the report recommends patterns of segregated living and contested space need to be challenged.

It notes the “substantial support for use of Protestant facilities for cross-community purposes” and notes that this is already happening and that the new Steering Group should consider how to do it more systematically.

Council-led and regeneration activity should encourage Protestant community representatives to be engaged in the development, promotion and use of shared space, particularly in areas of Londonderry and Strabane.

Meanwhile contested spaces and interfaces should be mapped using indicators and local knowledge and Councils should monitor progress in these areas.

Unsurprisingly, the report finds that young Protestants are critical to progress and that they must be represented on the Steering Group.

Protestant leaders should engage with statutory bodies on issues affecting Protestant young people such as education, training, mobility, shared space, regeneration and leisure facilities and include young emerging leaders in leadership and mentoring programmes.

Education is also pivotal and the report recommends that evidence be gathered, collated and analysed from the report itself, the GPP and any other relevant sources to improve understanding on education issues.

Stakeholders should engage in the Northern Ireland-wide debate on working class Protestant underachievement - especially amongst young males - and they should engage on this issue with public bodies, at Council level and with local Learning Communities amongst others.

Finally, the draft Executive Summary of what could prove to be a critical new piece of research for the Protestant community in the North West suggests a number of opportunities for peace-building arising from the survey.

There is an opportunity to engage with local processes explicitly supporting peace-building; to participate in other societal opportunities that have peace-building opportunities in them such as UK City of Culture 2013.

The report identifies a need to continue to educate, challenge and explore Protestant culture and identity through community groups, schools, churches and Loyal Orders amongst others and to support the use of Protestant facilities for cross community relations.