Triumph of tolerance

PARTITION has had profound effects but, arguably, its most striking impact was in this part of the country rather than the North.

Deprived of the vigorous witness of almost one million Northern Protestants who are as Irish as we are but who do not share the particular religious beliefs or specific cultural orientation of the majority in the Republic we built a society here that does not reflect what is common to the whole people of Ireland, but reflects rather the particular ethos of the majority in the Republic.

Can we at last abandon our past determination to impose the narrow range of cultural values of each community upon the other? I believe this may yet be possible. A significant minority of Northern Protestants are now thinking in these terms; very many people in the Republic are starting to do likewise.