Introduction

• Contrary to popular opinion, issues of race and ethnicity are far from unimportant or insignificant in the attitudes of people living in Northern Ireland
  
  
• In terms of statements of general principle, a significant majority of those in Northern Ireland tend to hold quite positive and liberal attitudes towards race relations. This is evident from a large majority (over 80%) of those surveyed supporting the need for effective equal opportunities policies for minority ethnic people in relation to employment and housing and supporting the need for teaching about minority ethnic peoples traditions and cultures in schools. It is also evident from a significant majority of respondents disagreeing with the sentiments that they prefer to 'stick with people of their own kind' (67%) and disagreeing with the view that they would not want a person from a minority ethnic background as a neighbour (78%).
  
  
• However, when it comes to more specific matters such as when the specific identity of particular minority ethnic groups are named and/or when considering issues that might effect respondents more personally, racial attitudes in Northern Ireland tend to be significantly more negative. For example, a quarter or just over of all respondents were unwilling to accept either an African Caribbean, Chinese or South Asian person as a resident in their local area. Similarly, over two out of every five people also stated that they were unwilling to accept a member of any of these three groups as a close friend. Moreover, just over half of those surveyed stated that they would also not be willing to accept anyone from these three communities as a relative by way of marriage.
  
  
• Within this, the most negative attitudes appear to be reserved for Travellers. For example, 40% of those surveyed felt that the nomadic lifestyle of Travellers was an invalid one which should not be supported or resourced by the Government. More generally, 57% would not be willing to accept Travellers as residents in their local area while two thirds (66%) would not willingly accept a colleague at work who is a Traveller. Moreover, three quarters of all respondents (77%) would be unwilling to accept a Traveller as a member of their family by way of marriage.
  
  
• Overall, racial prejudice appears to be around twice as significant than sectarian prejudice in the initial attitudes of the population in Northern Ireland. Around twice as many respondents in the survey stated that they would be unwilling to accept and/or mix with members of minority ethnic communities than they would members of the other named religious tradition (i.e. Catholic or Protestant) to themselves.
  
  
• Moreover, negative attitudes towards specific minority ethnic groups have become significantly worse over the last few years. For example, in the present survey, 54% of respondents stated that they were unwilling to accept a person of South Asian origin as a relative by way of marriage. This compares to 37% who stated in 1995/1996 that they would mind 'a little' or 'a lot' if a close relative married someone of South Asian origin. A similar difference exists in relation to attitudes towards Chinese people (53% compared to 32% in 1995/1996.)
  
  
• With regard to racist name-calling, at least one in five of the population are likely to belong to a social grouping where name-calling occurs to one extent or another. More specifically, 21% of respondents stated that their friends had called someone a name to their face because of their colour or ethnicity. Moreover, given the sensitivity of the issue, this figure is likely to be an underestimation of the true incidence of racist name-calling.
  
  
• Significantly, there is only a very small relationship between levels of racial prejudice and the tendency to engage in racist name-calling. In other words, racial prejudice is only a marginal motivating factor in influencing a person's decision to engage in racist name-calling.
  
  
• Finally, it was found that both racial prejudice and racist name-calling were not the preserve of any particular social group. There is such variation in the incidence of both within the population that they are likely to occur within any social group, however that group is defined.

(Source: Racial Attitudes and Prejudice in Northern Ireland. Paul Connolly, Michaela  Keenan. Published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Article Entitled: Summary & Recommendations)