Protestant tradition should not be defined by unionism

It is hard to fathom how in 21st Century Ireland views like those expressed by the DUP MP Gregory Campbell, that he would treat calls for an Irish language act as “no more than toilet paper”, can be articulated and defended in public?

Despite world admiration of the genius and achievements of Ireland’s Protestant cultural and literary tradition, a tradition which over the centuries gave us, among many others, Berkeley, Burke, Swift, and Yeats, it appears the philistines and curmudgeons of unionism are still unwilling or unable to cross the tribal divide. This fine Protestant tradition should not be allowed to be defined by culturally impotent unionism.

Tom Cooper