The most effective cure for Northern Irish unionism? Attitudes in England | Emma DeSouza

Some in Northern Ireland see themselves as British through and through - but on the mainland, we find we're just Irish'

The polarisation and politicisation of identity in Northern Ireland, particularly within unionism today, is giving rise to the misperception that you can only be Irish or British - not both. Northern Ireland was constructed as a Protestant state for Protestant people, with an inbuilt Protestant majority to maintain its place in the UK. Loyal Ulster", as it became known, was proudly British. But many of the citizens who had spent considerable time on the so-called mainland would find their perception of British identity challenged, at odds with Britishness within the wider UK. As one woman who was born and grew up in Northern Ireland told me: I moved to England, and everyone thought I was Irish."

I recently interviewed a number of people about the question of shifting identities in Northern Ireland. Mark McKechnie, a 48-year-old IT specialist from Bangor, said he would have considered himself very strongly Protestant, even loyalist" into his 20s. That changed when he moved to England. I went and told English people that I was British, and I found a very different reaction," he said. Today, he associates British identity with the island [of] Britain".