President not far off the mark

WHILE President McAleese has apologised for her remark that “people in Northern Ireland transmitted to their children an irrational hatred of Catholics,” I believe she was not too wide of 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.”