President not far off the mark
While there are very many Northern Protestants promoting equality and peace, often under difficult circumstances, there is certainly some substance to the president’s comments.
For instance, the first prime minister of Northern Ireland, Sir James Craig, in 1932 called for a “Protestant parliament for a Protestant people,” while simultaneously a future prime minister, Sir Basil Brooke, appealed to loyalists “wherever possible to employ good Protestant lads and lassies.”
Also, the current leader of unionism, Rev Ian Paisley, made no attempt to disguise his feelings for Catholics when he attacked Pope John Paul II at the European parliament in a most virulent manner. The unprecedented scenes of hatred at Holy Cross Catholic school, the vile attacks on churchgoers at Harryville Catholic church, and the anti-Catholic Orange Order, who have consistently refused to meet the Catholic residents of Garvaghy Road to try to resolve the running sore that is Drumcree, and whose influence permeates every tenet of the Northern state, all give testimony and substance to Mrs McAleese’s remarks.
If unionists were serious about bringing to fruition a society where Catholics could feel welcome it could start by supporting a bill to reform the Act of Settlement of 1701 which excludes Catholics from the line of succession to the British throne.
Tom Cooper
23 Delaford Lawn
Knocklyon
Dublin 16
