Northern Ireland
 | This article does not cite any sources; the information may not be accurate or reliable. |
Northern Ireland, which is termed a "Province", is one of the four territories which form the United Kingdom, the others being Scotland, Wales and England. It was formed from six of the counties of Ireland, when the other twenty-six counties became the Republic of Ireland. The thirty-two counties were divided into four provinces, the nine in the north being the province of Ulster. As six of these nine stayed as part of the United Kingdom, the name "Ulster" was frequently given to what is more formally termed Northern Ireland, although, obviously three Ulster counties were part of the Republic. In early 2020, the suggestion was mooted in the public domain that a road bridge be built from Scotland to Northern Ireland.
The capital of Northern Ireland is the city of Belfast, which has access to the sea, and is situated on the eastern side of the province. The other culturally important centre is that of Derry/Londonderry on the western side. Both of these cities are divided culturally between Catholic and Protestant areas. The Bahá'í community in Northern Ireland includes people from a Catholic background, others from a Protestant background, and some from a Jewish background. In addition, there are, of course, Bahá'ís from other parts of the world who have moved there. The Bahá'ís from the two parts of Ireland are in active contact with one another, for example at summer schools, where Bahá'ís from one country will deliberately take part in schools in the other.
There are small areas in Northern Ireland where the Irish language is still spoken, and other areas which speak a form of English which has Scottish and Irish roots.
There is a Bahá'í Council for Northern Ireland, and the province is divided into four clusters. The clusters in the eastern part of the province are more advanced in terms of programmes of growth than those in the west, where there are less Bahá'ís. Belfast has one neighbourhood, Windsor, where the core activities are now more intensive. A building in the area is being used by the Bahá'ís and their friends as a form of neighbourhood community centre.
Bahá'ís from Northern Ireland include Keith Munro and Jackson Armstrong-Ingram.
