NI Young Life and Times Survey - 2012: Community Relations Comments

Year: 2015
Module: Community Relations
Variable: COMMENTS

Below are the responses to the open-ended question:
'Is there anything else you would like to say about community relations in Northern Ireland?'
Note: Responses were only edited for grammatical reasons, if necessary. Square brackets indicate where editing occurred.

A lot of people judge and assume things about people when they aren't actually true.

A lot of sectarian prejudices are passed on to children from their parents and until that stops, it will be difficult for improvements to be made.

All Positive

Although improving, there is still segregation in N.Ireland, within GAA and Soccer clubs, however the distinctions of people based on their religion is deteriorating, benefitting everyone in the community.

Although relations are getting better there is still an under-lying hatred that both communities carry to a certain degree.

Are increasingly getting more polarised in that each one side's ideas give no room for the others which shows they are too stubborn to get along.

As a Republican, I don't believe religion is the issue. It is the stance people take on their nationality regardless of religion.

As for as I can tell the vast majority of young people couldn't care less what background a person is from whether Protestant or Catholic. The average person in the street doesn’t mind what community a person belongs to.

As long as we raise and educate the future generations in the correct way, I think NI will become so much less segregated. It's up to all of us.

At certain times of the year tension is higher than it should be.

At this moment in time they are very tense. I don't think it will change because people don't change and family mind-sets don't change.

Because of Catholic only and Protestant only schools I would never have mixed with Protestants. We also never had cross-community programmes in my area or school.

Better than they were but there is still a semi-sectarian outlook on religious/ethnic background

Catholic secondary schools should receive as much funding as government/integrated schools. Schools shouldn't receive less funds because of the religion. Catholic schools are always at the top of the exam leader boards, so why are they not receiving more funding?

Communities need to mix and children need to go to school together.

Community relations are poor in NI

Community relations are very important. However it must ne recognised that improvement of these relations is a gradual process and it is important it is not rushed.

Community relations will always be fragile because of the history between us and current issues in the welfare reforms that divide us

Community relations will get worse if the government, parades commission and republican groups don't stop moaning about each other.

Community relationships in my local area are growing stronger due to the likes of joint education programs which I am involved in myself but there is still a strong religious background which may mean people will not want to associate with those from anot

Could be a lot better probes

Days like the 12th and St. Patricks day will always create a gap in communities as both are basically antagonising the opposite community, especially the burning of the Tri-colour on the 12th.

Despite all the idealistic 'peace' processes, I still feel I live in a country that is segregated and a lot of the population are still prejudice and discriminatory to members from other communities, for reasons I still don't fully get.

Do not let past mistakes ruin as future is promising.

Everybody should be treated equally and have equal rights.

Everyone needs to remember that not everyone from any particular religion is a bad person, just because a member of their religion as done something against the law. People just need to give everyone a chance and be open minded.

Far too religion-based

Feel if you're brought up in predominantly one area or another you're always going to be prejudiced.

feel like there should be less emphasis on the separation and more attention on the togetherness. There should be cross community events for older people too.

Find it disappointing that people prejudge others based on their religion

Flags and kerb paintings and also parades should be banned, as all they do is place a statement and cause upset to people.

For as I've seen very few to no one I know has bad relations with anyone because of races

Forget the roubles move on

From what I have experienced, no one cares about religion. It just shows what kind of environment you happened to live in.

Get united. Love everyone as you love yourself.

Good

Good god get a grip guys…

Have a fair amount of flags up from each community

Having less secondary/primary schools that are either Catholic or Protestant would help community relations.

How good community relations are completely depends on the area you are in. There will probably always be people who are hostile towards those different to them, but it is at least improving.

I am an atheist I feel like religion is a bad thing its caused more unhappiness than actually making people happy. PS Sorry for bad spelling

I am disgusted by the sectarianism in NI. I would like to see more equality and a less hate-filled society. I think the politics regarding relations is disgraceful and would like to see a more tolerant society.

I am not against anyone's religion or ethnic origin in NI

I believe all schools (primary and secondary) should be all mixed so children are brought up having friends with different religions and backgrounds.

I believe communities are still too separated in Northern Ireland today. More cross-community projects needs to happen.

I believe people should be happy to live in any community regardless of the religions belonging to members of that location.

I believe relations have been greatly improved however certain people are unwilling to improve relations, which is having a negative impact on society

I believe that all religions will become very minor in the future in NI, so it won't matter what religion anyone has.

I believe that community relations here improved in this country.

I believe that in smaller areas that has mainly on religion, there should be more opportunities for people, especially children, to mix with people from other religions in order to make them more tolerant.

I believe that integrated and mixed secondary/grammar schools make a great difference in removing the prejudice towards other communities and ethinicities.

I believe the key to improving community relations in NI is to stop bringing up the past and past differences. People will move on.

I believe the problem lies with education, people are so tied up with flags and land that they forget how similar our beliefs actually are. I know that as a whole, people feel they need something to believe in for hope and what not, but I wish it didn't affect their ability to love and treat everyone without prejudice and discrimination.

I believe the Protestant and Catholic Community should stop segregating into their own groups and I believe to make progress is to accept each others values, this can only be done in mixed communities.

I believe there will always be a hostility between the Catholic and the Protestant communities in Derry. I have no hate personally towards Protestants, but generally there are a few occasions I can feel uneasy being around them ie. Marches.

I believe they're improving

I believe while some still discriminate, the view of Northern Irish people on other religions is improving and social justice is an idea the majority of the people support.

I don’t think they will ever really improve because no-one is willing to compromise and make things better and forget about the past. They are still focused on paramilitary's and the extremes of their religion

I don’t understand why it needs to be the way it is. I don't see the point in the conflict between Protestants and Catholics.

I don't care what religion someone is but what annoys me is when people go that extra bit to prove they're Protestant or Catholic. And I hate flags around places because they're the people who just focus on what religion someone is.

I don't know why people care so much. I work and go to school with people of different religious backgrounds and its interesting to find out about their way of life. But that doesn't change mine, it just expands my knowledge of theirs.

I don't really care about religions but I would feel more safe with my own religion, because of some of the stories I have heard, it's not that I'm discriminating against anyone.

I don't see any positive leadership in this matter from out government, in fact, I think politicians make the matter worse.

I don't want there to be any more fights especially in Belfast because it frightens people and it is unjust

I feel as if there are a lot of problems in NI that are not being addressed as we are still caught up in the religious divide.

I feel as long as the drug trades and riots are killed off I would happily share a community with a mixed religion

I feel community relations in the North could improve significantly

I feel everyone should get along no matter what their religious or ethnic background is

I feel I don't know much about all of the different religions and relations. Probably because I don't live in a town or city.

I feel in NI ethnicity and religion should not affect or determine who you are as a person

I feel like prejudice is a big issue on Northern Ireland. The government play an influential role in this and its time for a change

I feel like there should be more integrated schools, so people from different backgrounds and religions can be accepted in one place. I believe this could be a step to create a better relationship with the Catholics and Protestants in the future.

I feel many politicians are to blame for the tension between the two communities and it's a disgrace we can't move foward

I feel MPs have made no progress in their cross community relations and their ignorance is causing a tension between youth groups in our society.

I feel strongly about this topic as I believe more people should be welcoming to people of ethic minority and other religions.

I feel that although relations between Catholics and Protestants are improving, I am still cautious about interacting with Protestants.

I feel that communities in Northern Ireland have better communications with eachother and communicate with eachother better without and conflict between them

I feel that in my town this topic isn't as relevant as the population is roughly 50:50 of both Catholic and Protestant religions. Various groups and organisations are in place that include all youth and not of just one religious group. From media however

I feel the past has had too much influence. We are being taught what happened in the past rather than how to deal with it and move on.

I feel they have definitely improved but still have a long way to go. There is, however, in my opinion, not very much stopping the relations going back to what they were before I was born however.

I feel they will never improve while there are terrorists in government

I feel young people from different communities have a decreasing dislike towards one another.

I find that many Catholics would live in one area and then the Protestants in another. However I have friends in which have a different view on religion etc than me and it doesn't change our friendship. I believe it is very important that people don't pre

I have never experienced first hand tension between Protestants and Catholics but this doesn't mean there isn’t any.

I have played soccer with people of different backgrounds and religions and played Gaelic with people of different backgrounds and I love interacting with them!

I just think communities are too territorial. Some estates look like prison camps, they are so dull depressing

I really don’t like the was community relations are at the minute. I really hope things change.

I really don't see why people are sectarian in NI

I really would love to see unity between the communities. Just because we have different beliefs doesn't take away the fact that fundamentally we desire the same things.

I strongly believe that the negative /feelings of sectarianism is upheld by older generations. And that issues of homophobia and sexism are a lot more evident in NI

I think all schools should be mixed as it would be interesting to learn about other religions

I think an effort could be made to make them better.

I think being educated in an integrated school has taught me to not care about what religion someone is, and to just know a person and how they interact with you, not based on their beliefs.

I think it is ridiculous that there is still a divide between Catholics and Protestants. The politicians need to get their act together and do what is better for our country instead of what is better for their parties. Education should never be segregated. Its is ridiculous.

I think major efforts have been made to improve relations.

I think more needs to be done to connect the people on both sides of the community

I think Orange Marches and flags play a huge role in contributing to the segregation in NI.

I think people make too much of a big deal about community relations in Northern Ireland. Everyone should leave each other alone and carry on with their own lives and their own religions. It shouldn't matter to anyone else what religion you are. However,

I think racism is still prevalent which is disturbing.

I think that despite extreme people, who wish only to associate with people of their own religion, most people in NI don't care about people's religions as long as they are good people.

I think that if towns didn’t have different estates for Catholics and Protestants, the two communities would get along better.

I think that sectarianism in my generation is far less than in my parents generation I think that its parents fault that their children talk on sectarian views

I think that the relationship between Protestants and Catholics will get worse if they don't get over the past and move on. People feel safer when they are among people of their own religion as they don't know what others from another religion will do or if they will be made fun of or beaten up for mixing with other religions. This needs to change.

I think that the religion category is very over looked and over exaggerated

I think the sectarianism in Northern Ireland is stupid and childish, and these 'paramilitaries' make it worse. They should go away and the murals and flags be taken down (may have one flag for one area)

I think there is still a lot of sectarianism and prejudice.

I think there is still conflict between Catholics and protestants

I think they are getting better and projects like the Ulster project do help. If more cross community projects were put into place then it would definitely help for how NI is in 5-10 years time

I think they are getting slightly better but slowly.

I think work has to be done with the older generation as well as the younger as the older generation influence the younger generation.

I think, personally, if people just practiced their own religion and didn't get involved with anyone else's religion then there could potentially be some peace in Northern Ireland

I try my best to get on with both religions, but people bring issues up too often that create clear division lines. When I say I'm Irish I get a big reaction, so I don't say I consider myself to be Irish - I'd rather be Irish - too many problems/trouble in NI

I wish that everyone would wise up

I wish that, like in England our communities were completely mixed and were more open to diversity rather than being exclusive to people who are only the same religion or same as yourself - a more modern global community

I would be fearful with the current Northern Ireland politics that things will go backwards

I would like to see relations between ethnic minorities and non-ethnic minorities improve but I feel this can only happen through better education.

I would like to send my children to a Catholic primary school so that they go through First Confession, Communion etc with their classmates and friends. However in regard to secondary education I don't think it would matter to me what religion the school

I would prefer if people judged less on what community they are a part of.

I would prefer if they were more mixed but I would feel quite unsafe

I'm not politically minded and have no real views - politicians probably don't listen to people on the street anyway.

Improvements are being made although it is obvious that tension still exists.

In my area relations are very good. They were very bad in the past.

In my generation, relations between young people from different religions are getting better because there are less violent attacks from religious terrorist organisations in NI

In my own opinion I feel that the relations between Protestants and Catholics will never be strong. For the way I was brought up I do feel a sense of resentment and hatred towards Catholics although I did not live during the troubles. I feel no hatred for people of minorities I feel the past will always be in the present.

In smaller communities they are better than large cities eg. Belfast

It doesn't bother me at all. I live mixed and doesn't make a difference.

It doesn't matter who you are, what religion, colour of your skin is, if you are nice to me, I will be nice to you regardless

It has clearly not changed completely. The fact that I feel scared to walk through protestant areas both in my uniform and out of it is disgusting.

It is a lot better than it used to be but there's still quite a long way to go

It is generally politics or order people who are more bigoted (in my experience) than younger people. Religion needs to be taken out of local politics

it is not too bad but we nedd more time with people in our communties

It is obvious when entering a certain area in NI if said area is protestant or catholic i.e. copious amounts of union jacks or Ireland flags or GAA clubs etc.

It is really stupid that people segregate each other from societies, to make NI a better place, we need to work together and develop this very special place in my opinion

It is up to our generation to change these relations. We need more cross community activities.

It shouldn't matter whether someone is Catholic or Protestant, we are all people

It will take generations to change NI relations. New politicians may make the difference, as current politicians experienced the troubles.

It's a bit silly, really.

It's bad!

It's disgraceful that some people in both parts of the community act so childish. We wont ever get anywhere unless both sides are willing to work together.

Its forced - can't wait til it’s a natural ting!! Happening everywhere.

Its getting better

Its hard to discriminate against a whole group based on a few individuals/stories heard about happenings involving people in that group. So in that sense, the questions above are hard to answer

Its stupid

its unfair to judge the community as catholics and protestants as a lot of my friends are protestants and even though I’m a catholic we get along just fine. however i would feel intimidated if i had to walk through a protestant area alone

Its up to parents, not schools to teach their kids about religion and practice religion. I come from a mixed religion family and have attended a catholic school and a protestant school and know from my own experience, religions that are different should not be educated apart.

Loyalist paramilitaries are becoming an issue.

Main reason that there is always fighting between people

Make the place safer for children my age and younger to be able to go out or make more places or things for us to do

Many communities are stable, but few have a small amount of racist people causing problems

Many people are racist and prejudice so many people do not get among

Mixed schools are the way forward it is an early years wall and will affect their knowledge and feeling in later years.

Mixed schools from primary school age for Catholics and Protestants would help break down barriers.

Most are satisfied if housing, employment, health care and education are managed reasonably well. Younger people, especially, do not care about tribal lines in NI

Most of the problems are caused by the older generations, the younger generations sometimes confused by the source of hatred

most of the time I believe relations are good

Most young people who don’t like the opposite religion are ignorant chavs who know nothing relevant about the 'past' and hold on to their parent's beliefs.

Mostly peaceful but throughout all age groups it is the delinquent people who fuel social tension

My group of friends consist mails Catholics but some protestants. None of us are very religion. I would never judge someone based on their religion but sadly most of the county does

N/A [10]

Need to get over the hurdle of religion and ethnicity ASAP.

NI is a very troubled place but young people are not interested in sectarianism or racism and through integrated schools young people can be exposed to different religions, ideologies and backgrounds

NI will continue to stay the same because people drag on the past and pass it on to their children.

No [137]

No I think that's it

No other comments

no thanks.

No, it’s a topic I don’t speak about

None [3]

Non-existent

Nope [8]

Not all people are sectarian - and that's good. You still get people from Catholic and Protestant sides trying to intimidate each other.

Not aware if there are any events which could attempt to cross political boundaries (Nationalist/Unionist)

Not enough is being done

Not looking good on each side. In my eyes Protestants have more say eg. Paramilitary flags

not really

Not very good in my community.

Nothing will change

Nothing wrong with community relations. The politicians need to wise up. Stop acting like spoiled kids

Nothing/It could improve

On a whole, we are well mixed and all accepted

Only that they don't encourage me to live here for much longer than I have to at the present time. Its going to take a hell of a long time for anything to change.

Parents need to stop teaching their children to hate each other over stupid things like skin colour, gender identity, ideas (religious) and so on.

People are far too quick to judge. Need to try and unite people of NI a LOT more.

People are very prejudiced

People can be very close-minded

People here need to learn to be more open minded.

People need educated more about each other.

People need to be more open and accepting to people from different backgrounds and try to learn more about the different cultures and religions in Northern Ireland before judging them.

People need to carry on with their lives and stop bringing religion into everything

People need to get over prejudice over different religions. I have always attended integrated education and now I don't care what religion or background people come from.

People need to get over the fact that others are from different religions and believes and just get on with more important things.

People need to grow up

People need to let go of past grievances

People need to stop judging people by the religion or ### and to see them as there own person

People need to talk more about what they want or need from their politicians.

People only wanting to stay within their own religion can never ignore the fact that throughout the world there are millions of people with different backgrounds. Its inevitable you'll meet and become friends with. What's the point in holding back when you can learn and become tolerant from young.

People should be educated taught to respect people's religion and ethnic roots in schools, more cross community efforts must be made, remove idols of sectarianism/racism.

People should not be divided. The reason (in my opinion) that young people have hatred against people from different backgrounds is because it is acceptable for people to live, work and be educated separately.

People with different ethnic backgrounds are only now coming to NI, therefore I don't have many friends from different ethnic backgrounds.

Personally I don't believe the community relations will ever improve in Northern Ireland

Political conflict makes things worse than necessary - we shouldn't base relations on religion and politics.

Politicians are mainly to blame - shared education is still being divided - should not be provided unless sharing everything.

Politicians are making things worse. "Sad they just don’t want to mix".

Politicians in Stormont are not helping with community relations

Politics should be less about religion It should be about making positive changes.

Questionnaires like this help no one, you do not ask normal questions, you only look for reasons for communities not to get on with each other.

Reason why I would send to my own religion school is because they follow my religious beliefs etc.

Relations are improving because people in this generation are not exposed to the troubles. Relations will continue to improve.

Relations towards some ethnic minorities could be worked on.

Relatively good relations but I would like to wear my GAA gear without thinking of what area I'm in

Religion creates extra conflict, but we are all just human.

Religion doesn’t define a person, hence why I chose "I don’t know" for the previous three questions

Religion is ruining relations through the in-built predjudice belief system. We can only hope that education can lead people away from religion and towards caring for each other. Without religion, people in NI would be far more accepting.

Religion will always be a big deal just because of the way people were brought up. I think our generation can change that because there are now more mixed schools in NI, and we are less stubborn to learn about other religions

Religious views will always make a difference, it will always be a barrier for people

Sectarian/racist abuse is very common with many outdated views held as common belief

Sinn Fein and DUP don't resolve anything.

So much better than they used to be. Very few issues in north Antrim/Coast. Some people may always been prejudiced but this is being filtered out to a more select group of individuals I believe.

Some people still hold grudges against people of other religions and ethnicities that is being passed down to the next generation which I strongly dislike and is what is holding us back.

Sometimes there can be some difficulties just in general causing us to make it difficult to communicate but in the end things calm down and eventually resume to 'normal'.

Sport is the key to uniting communities

Sporting facilities. Clubs.

Still judged, Religion is still important to many.

Still tension in certain areas

Strong outside the realms of politics

Stuck in the past.

That NI needs to stop living in the past.

The adults are to blame because they are all still living in the past.

The community have no faith In our politicians as they are from an older generation, who have links to violent organisations and a history of crime. They are more interested in political gain than peoples well being.

The community in Newell never move forward so long as extremist groups dedicated to living in the past from both sides are still around and are in power at Stormont.

The constant fighting at stormont and the pointless ### of flags parades and the past doesn't help.

The divides sadden me because I think that we're all the same. I hope that in the future, there won’t be tensions between Catholics and Protestants

The government are trying very hard to bring communities together; for example, by the new shared campus for all the schools in Omagh. However children are being influenced at home by their parents to join bands, go to church, etc. so I don't think it wil

The government aren't doing enough to bring the communities together and help forget about the past.

The government need to set a good example! I feel like the troubles generation are holding back my generation from reaching out as much as we should be because of their bad experience

The more people spend time with each other, they'll realise they have plenty in common. Enjoy each others company and forget the past.

The MPs in Stormont do not help this country's history at all as they are still caught up in it themselves.

The next generation of the people who fought in the troubles spoil Northern Ireland. The spoil opinions of others.

The only two religions aren't catholic and protestant in NI. Also Many Christians would describe themselves as neither, just Christian.

The people involved don't really seem to know why they even hate the other community and they really need to realise this and move on with life.

The people of both communities are making bigger effort than the politicians. More work needs to be done to try and resolve the bitterness between both communities.

The relations between the two communities will never get better until there is a mixed education system where people can realise that stigmas attached to each community are wrong and learn to live in a more tolerant homogenous society for the future.

The whole 'religion' thing is ridiculous, people shouldn't like others because if it.

There are not really many community relations in my community and surrounding communities. There is still are serious levels of sectarianism and racism. For example if I entered a protestant area in my uniform I would be discriminated

There are ongoing efforts to get rid of the divide between different communities but the job isn't done yet. Some people don't like the idea.

There are still many conflicts between communities in NI. I do not think it will stop either, there will always be conflict.

There are very little community relations

There is a separation between Catholic and Prodestant

There is a very sectarian culture among young people which all attempts at educating us (eg. LLW lessons) have failed to stop.

There is less sectarianism among young people than most adults would expect

There is no sense of uneasiness

There is none, only Belfast is focused on this

there is room for improvement

There is so much segregation that people have become less and less familiar with others from different religious backgrounds./ As divided knowledge of the 'other side' grows, division too grows and people mix even less.

There is still a lot of work needed on both sides of the community but I think that relations will get better with this new generation

There is still much hatred between Protestants and Catholics and unfortunately probably always will be. I think there should be no flags of any kind up anywhere.

There is too much focus on the titles people bear, and their beliefs that they carry. There are some that are ignorant to the fact that we are all humans and that thebe tension between groups will never have any beneficial outcome.

There needs to be more integrated schools especially integrated primary schools to bring children up being open to different religions and races

There should be more of an effort to integrate segregated communities.

There would be less tension between Catholics and protestants in NI if the government were to change. Some of the representatives in Stormont are ex-IRA or UDA men. With there people in government the country will never ### as ###?

They are crap and need sorted.

They are improving

They are improving but a few people want things to stagnate. They will continue to improve though as more and more people become more forward thinking and the country becomes more and more modernised.

They are living in the past. They take the past happenings and keep reliving in it. I think the parents particularly influence their children in a biased way. I would rather have them all forget the past and focus on the present and future worries. It is a bit silly really, fighting over something that should have been finished ages ago.

They are made worse by organisations such as the Orange Order and the DUP.

They are not diverse enough

They are quite bad

They are terrible, people tend to career too much about religion and ethnicity.

They are terrible.

They have improved

They need to be improved

They need to improve in order to make a better more productive society.

They need to stop thinking and staying in the past and start getting along with each other.

They shouldn't be forced to mix it will cause resentment.

They will only improve if religion was not there/thought of/discriminated against.

They're awful and I wish everyone could stop being stupid, racist and sectarian.

They've improved but people remain polarised over their national identity and are hostile to others who disagree

They've improved recently but there's still a long way to go.

Time for people to wise up and accept everyone!

To get to know someone before doing anything extreme.

Too many people look in the past and discriminate because of this - the troubles will never be forgotten

Too much emphasis on religions, your religion shouldn’t negatively affect others

Very broken - all as a result of the broken relations in Stormont

Very different from each other. This can involve Catholics disrespecting the poppy on remembrance day. One sided on both sides.

Very poor

We are humans. Our choice of religion shouldn’t decide whether or not others will like us.

We are part if Britain, therefore our flag is the Union Jack so it should be flying.

We have a lack of knowledge about other people's religions besides our own and therefore it is difficult to have a clear opinion on other's religions

We have moved on slightly, but there is a lot of work to be done. We need to have more occasions where people of mixed religions and race come to meet.

We should focus on the people, not the religion. There should be more mixed community projects.

We should not have criminals in parliament ie. The education minister should be someone like a teacher or a principal, not an ex-convict.

Why is religion being asked about? We are the generation where religion does not matter.

With so much unrest I wish to leave for an area where divides are not present

With time, more people from ethnic minorities will live in NI, with their own religions and ideas. They will offer us different perspectives, leading to a decrease in the 'Christian' violence and hatred between Protestants and Catholics.

yes, I like to say that it does not matter to me if people are different coloured skin or different religion. I still treat people that should be treated equally.

Young people nowadays need to be educated of other religions when they are younger so that they are more accepting of other people who are different.