Acknowledgements
The author is indebted to Lizanne Dowds, Deputy Director of ARK (the Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive) for invaluable assistance in accessing the survey results.
Notes
ESRC projects ‘Political Attitudes to Devolution and Institutional Change in Northern Ireland’ (L327253045) and ‘Public Attitudes to Devolution and National Identity in Northern Ireland’ (L219252024).
Discussion of the sensitivities of conducting public attitudes research in deeply divided societies can be found in Mac Ginty et al. (2001: 482–4) and Brown and Mac Ginty (Citation2003: 87–8),
‘Archbishop Calls for “New Vision” in Northern Ireland’, BBC News Online, 20 March 2002.
According to DUP Deputy Leader Peter Robinson, ‘The vast majority of unionists are against the Agreement’. Cited in DUP press release ‘UUP is now “Beyond Redemption”’, 16 June 2003, available at ⟨ http://www.dup.org.uk ⟩.
Democratic Dialogue's ‘Monitoring Devolution’ programme provides regular and informed commentary on the performance of devolved government in Northern Ireland: ⟨ http://www.democraticdialogue.org/devolution.htm ⟩.
Brendan O'Leary notes that it was precisely the type of power‐sharing on offer that was problematic for UUP negotiators in the run up to the Belfast Agreement (2001: 75).
Norman Porter (Citation2003: 77) observes that many unionists have a sense of ‘the pendulum having swung too far against them’.
‘Jeffrey Donaldson: Too Tough to Trade?’, Fortnight, October 2002, p.13.