Attitudes to refugees and asylum seekers in Derry/Strabane ‘significantly’ more positive than elsewhere

This was the joint highest percentage alongside Belfast.

The figure is contained in a new ‘Attitudes to Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Northern Ireland 2023’ report published by The Executive Office on Wednesday.

The report analysed data from the NI Life & Times (NILT) survey, examining public attitudes to refugees and asylum seekers in the North.

Respondents were asked if they agreed ‘asylum seekers should be allowed to stay’ in the North.

“The percentage of respondents who agreed with the statement ranged from 54 per cent in Mid and East Antrim to 72 per cent in Belfast and Derry City and Strabane.

“The estimate for Mid and East Antrim [54 per cent] was significantly lower than the estimates for seven other LGDs,” the report reveals.

Participants in the survey were also asked if the North was a society that ‘welcomed refugees escaping persecution in their home country’.

Again Derry & Strabane was far more receptive than elsewhere.

“The percentage of respondents who agreed with the statement ranged from 40 per cent in Fermanagh and Omagh, to 55 per cent in Derry City and Strabane.

"The estimate for Derry City and Strabane was significantly higher than the corresponding figures for seven other LGDs (Ards and North Down [45%], Belfast [44%], Causeway Coast and Glens [43%], Fermanagh and Omagh [40%], Lisburn and Castlereagh [44%], Mid Ulster [44%], and Newry, Mourne and Down [42%]). No other significant differences existed in the proportions who agreed with this statement across LGDs,” the report explains.

People were also asked if they agreed that ‘it is our duty to provide protection to refugees who are escaping persecution in their home country’.

Seventy-four per cent of respondents from Derry & Strabane agreed that it was ‘our duty’ which was second only to 78 per cent in Lisburn & Castlereagh.

The authors of the report advised that to ensure the achieved sample for each LGD was sufficient for analysis, 2022 and 2023 NILT data were combined to produce the new estimates.

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