evidence: Well I don't know. But up until the 1900s there were still vast expanses of Southern Ireland that spoke Irish as a native language. Obviously the accents in those remote parts are a result of the Irish language. It depends were you go but around here we have a very Scottish sounding accent. I do feel that the Extreme western parts of Ireland are a different world to the South-east of England for example. I have yet to visit these places but they look very different to even here. They speak Irish native down there. [...] Well in general there is the Northern Ireland variety which is mid-ulster english/Ulster-Scots. Generally that is a mix up of Irish words, scottish words and english words. Although there seem to be more Scottish words than Irish. There are a few areas like Newry and Fermanagh were there is a dialect called 'Southern Hiberno English' and there they speak with a dialect that sounds Southern/Northern Irish. [...] Q2). It depends were you live. In Ulster-Scots areas like Ballymena everybody has the same accent. But in places like Belfast there is a split, East Belfast and West Belfast. Generally to me there is a pattern, but if a protestant is living in a catholic area they will have the same accent and if a catholic is living in an ulster-scots area they will have a Ulster-scots accent. Some protestants pronounce certain words and letters different to Catholics. To me as a native if I was not told and I listened to someone I could easily identify their religion just by listening to them.