Catholic Unionist

A Catholic Unionist is either a Roman Catholic in Northern Ireland who supports continuing ties between Northern Ireland and Great Britain or a Roman Catholic from 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 latter party's involvement in some contentious Orange Order parades and because of the anti-Catholic religious doctrine of 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.

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.
* William Mulholland, Fact|date=February 2007 a Belfast born engineer who later emigrated to the United States of America.

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 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. Few of its members would regard themselves as "Unionists" in the conventional sense.

Irish 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. Fact|date=December 2007
* Conor Cruise O'Brien, former member of the UK Unionist Party and the Irish Labour Party.
* Ruth Dudley Edwards, Dublin-born writer.

See also

* Southern Unionism and Neo-Unionism
* West Brit

Irish-Origin Catholics in Britain

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

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. [ [http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/2005/Political_Attitudes/NIRELAND.html Northern Ireland Life and Times survey 2005 (question: "Do you think the long-term policy for Northern Ireland should be for it…" followed by options listed).] ] 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. [ [http://www.ark.ac.uk/nilt/2005/Political_Attitudes/NIPARTY.html Northern Ireland Life and Times survey 2005 (question: "Which Northern Ireland political party would you support?" followed by options listed).] ]

Footnotes

See also

* Ulster Unionist Party
* Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
* Unionism (Ireland)
* West Briton
* Protestant Nationalist

External links

* [http://www.uup.org/ Ulster Unionist Party]
* [http://www.allianceparty.org/ Alliance Party]