The divisions in Northern Irish society are brilliantly lampooned in a now famous scene from the hit Channel 4 comedy Derry Girls when a group of teenagers are asked to explain the differences between Catholics and Protestants. ‘Protestants keep their toasters in cupboards’ and ‘Protestants hate Abba’ are among the nuggets from the now iconic scene.
In the last while another division may have emerged in what is a similarly obscure domain: data gathering methodologies.
Opinion polls and surveys on constitutional matters have particular importance in Northern Ireland due in part to the vague wording of the ‘Border Poll’ provision of the Good Friday Agreement:
Victims campaigner Raymond McCord took a legal action in 2018 seeking clarification of this clause. McCord wanted to know the exact criteria that would determine whether or not a poll was to be held. He lost the case.
Opinion polls and surveys on constitutional matters have particular importance in Northern Ireland due in part to the vague wording of the ‘Border Poll’ provision of the Good Friday Agreement:
The Secretary of State shall exercise the power [to call a Border Poll] if at any time it appears likely to him (sic) that a majority of those voting would express a wish that Northern Ireland should cease to be part of the United Kingdom and form part of a united Ireland.
Victims campaigner Raymond McCord took a legal action in 2018 seeking clarification of this clause. McCord wanted to know the exact criteria that would determine whether or not a poll was to be held. He lost the case.
Continue @ Stories From A Border Kitchen.
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