Sectarianism and Catholic disadvantage claims 'least of modern Scotland's social problems'

Professor Devine said the study ignored historical and sociological research ?published since the 1980s which pointed to an end to workplace discrimination and the role of denominational schools in the creation of a Catholic middle class.

The study’s authors suggested the situation in Scotland had potentially arisen because it does not have specific legislation to tackle religious inequality similar to that introduced in Northern Ireland.

But Professor Devine said: “The vast majority of Catholics in Scotland are the descendants of Irish immigrants who settled in Glasgow, west of Scotland, west Lothian and Dundee, the areas of Victorian industrialism. These are the regions with the highest rates of multiple deprivation in S because of long term impact of deindustrialisation on employment, living standards and health. The findings therefore essentially reflect where most Catholics live and little else.”

Amongst a raft of findings, the report, which involved experts at Queen's and Ulster Universities in Belfast and the University of Edinburgh, found Catholic men in Scotland were 39 per cent more likely to die between the ages of 25 and 74 than Protestants.

Using a sample of 156,448 Scots and 248,255 people from Northern Ireland, it also found gaps between Catholics and both their co-religionists across the North Channel and Protestant neighbours in those having degrees, occupying professional jobs, in employment and car ownership.

The study concluded: “In Scotland, Catholics remain at greater socio-economic disadvantage relative to Protestants than in Northern Ireland and are also at mortality disadvantage. These disadvantages may result from sectarian discrimination acting on a much smaller minority group that is without the protection of the well-established anti-discrimination legislation enacted in Northern Ireland.”

On the back of the report, Duncan Morrow, the Scottish Government’s expert adviser on sectarianism, again called for Scotland’s equality legislation to be tested and for sectarianism to be included in routine monitoring of inequality.

It also prompted a joint statement from the two main Christian churches pointing out that Scottish life expectancy remained the lowest in the UK, that "structural injustice and the refusal to share wealth fairly are the root causes of poverty" and that they both actively opposed sectarianism.

But Professor Devine added to his criticisms, claiming the report was "historically illiterate" and did not take into account factors such as the impact of disadvantage on Catholics born before 1970. He said that when wider factors were taken into account "and the study corrected, the data ironically confirms Scottish Catholic progress in recent decades".

He said: "Sectarianism is yet again in the news. I am sure the public are aware that not all academic research is of equal? merit.

"Spurred on by recent 'research' which purports to show its continuing impact on Scottish Catholics, Duncan Morrow, author of an unconvincing report on the subject to the Scottish Government, demands yet more legal action to control this terrible scourge tormenting our land.

"The work I trust on this topic has been carried out over the last three decades by a number of distinguished social scientists and historians, at least five of whom are Fellows of the British Academy.

"It shares a common and independent conclusion:the sectarian beast is in its death throes and is the least of Scotland's modern social problems."

Professor Sir Tom Devine

The vast majority of Catholics in Scotland are the descendants of Irish immigrants who settled in Glasgow ,west of Scotland, west Lothian and Dundee, the areas of Victorian industrialism. These are the regions with the highest rates of multiple deprivation in S because of long term impact of deindustrialisation on employment, living standards and health. The findings therefore essentially reflect where most Catholics live and little else.

The recent excellent study on The Glasgow Effect by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health shows that post-1950 planning and rehousing policies in the old immigrant neighbourhoods aggravated the problems of these communities in the post-industrial era.

The study ignores most of the vast amount of historical and sociological research ?published since the 1980s with not one historian referenced. This research would show that labour market discrimination has been in decline from early 1970s and, in any systematic sense, is now extinct.

Study after study shows denominational schools have long out-performed the rest of the public sector and have been an important ladder to upward social mobility for Catholics.

All the sociological research shows Catholics reaching 'occupational and educational parity' with rest of the population in the 1990s. There is not one reference to this work in the study.

It is also historically illiterate. The Irish did not simply come to Scotland in 1840s as described. The period of major immigration ran from 1790s to 1914.

On mortality there is no weighting for age. Catholic people before 1970 were overwhelmingly working class and relatively disadvantaged. Hence it would be highly likely that those born before then and and who are now in early 50s and above would experience excess mortality. What, however, about the post emancipation generation born from the 1960s. There is silence on that key question.

Once all the above points are taken into account and the study corrected, the data ironically confirms Scottish Catholic progress in recent decades.

A scholarly contribution builds on the work of those researchers who have gone before, whether to confirm their findings, revise or reject. This study fails to mention a whole generation of contributions by leading Scottish social scientists and historians:Frank Beckhofer, Steve Bruce, David McCrone, Martin Mitchell, Lindsay Paterson, Martin and Michael Rosie, to name but some.