Protestants have been migrating out of the south Armagh area for some years, according to local research.
David Hanna is chairman of Altnaveigh House, an Ulster-Scots umbrella organisation in Newry which supports some 170 groups.
His group has commissioned extensive research into the migration of Protestants in the broad Newry and Mourne area, which takes in most of south Armagh – though not the area where Aghavilly and Keady Primary Schools are located.
Mr Hanna said: “Our research in 1999 and 2003 showed that the Protestant people who were staying were the parents and grandparents, while the young people were going to university in England and Scotland but not returning.
“We found that young Protestant people in the area were travelling to the north and north west to socialise, to Hillsborough, Portadown, Banbridge, Dromore and Belfast.
“In part it is a legacy of the Troubles. In future we could see an even bigger effect on the demographic mix which impacts on the viability of schools and churches.”
In Newry town, Protestants make up only five per cent of the population and only 8.5 per cent across the borough, outside of the Mournes.
Ross Chapman is an elder of the Quaker meeting house in the south Armagh village of Bessbrook. The village itself was built by Quakers in the mid-1800s as a centre for the linen industry.
“But they didn’t have a stake in the land like farmers so when the industry dwindled there was an exodus from the area,” he said.
Anyone who attends the Meeting House now comes from Banbridge or further north, with just Ross and one other person from the Newry area. Altnaveigh House’s findings about young Protestant people moving out of their area applies equally well to Quaker young people, he said.
However Mr Chapman lived for a time in Co Louth and although the Protestant population there was smaller than in south Armagh, he notes that it was a “very stable” community nonetheless.
“I guess Protestants in the Republic of Ireland have accepted their position there and now see themselves as citizens - they don’t run away from it. In fact, in some places Protestant communities have grown in the past 10 years, for example in Kilkenny.”