Mixed marriages between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland are becoming more acceptable and popular according to new research from the University of Ulster.

The findings, part of the Life and Times survey, shows that the number of mixed marriages in Northern Ireland has slowly risen over the last ten years.

Catholic respondents are still more optimistic than Protestants about how mixed marriages are generally accepted in society and said that they would not mind a mixed marriage within their own family. In 1989, 25 per cent of Protestants said that they would ‘mind a lot’ if one of their close relatives chose to marry someone of a different religion but in 1998 this had fallen to 16 per cent. 60 per cent of Protestants said they would not mind such a marriage.

Report author and workshop co-organiser from the School of Policy Studies at the University of Ulster, Gillian Robinson, said: “New survey evidence suggests that people in Northern Ireland are much more likely than they were ten years ago to regard mixed marriages as acceptable. 16 per cent of those interviewed for the Life and Times Survey in 1998 thought that most people in Northern Ireland would “mind a lot” if one of their close relatives were to marry someone of a different religion. Nine years previously, more than 33 per cent of those interviewed thought that people in general would mind a lot.”

Workshop co-organiser, Dr Marie Smyth, said: “On the face of it, there has been a modest, but not particularly marked, shift over the decade. Catholic attitudes have changed little over the decade and it is still the case that Catholics are more likely than Protestants to say that they would not mind a mixed marriage in the family – but the gap in attitudes between Catholics and Protestants has narrowed over the decade.” (CD)