"if you take a look at the plight of Catholic Northern Irish compared to the way Protestant Northern Irish live you have to be blind to not understand that they are an underclass with poorer health, less jobs, less opportunity and live under the threat of attack just as much as you do - if not more"

In the past, yes - a clear religious divide - but now? Oh yes, there's an underclass - but not exclusively aligned to any church. This is a socio-economic matter. The people who aren't getting jobs, and who aren't getting decent medical care and who don't have opportunities are the poorer people, not just one particular religion. Yes, Northern Ireland is undoubtedly divided on religion and politics (or at least in their name), but it's also a class divide. Poverty isn't discrimnating on the grounds of religious worship. I hope that one of the reasons that three quarters of the population voted in favour of the Peace Process - beyond the fact that we were sick of the shit that's gone on for years - is that finally, just maybe, our politicians can deal with matters other than terrorism, such as health, education and employment, and all at a local level.