THE REPUBLIC has been accused of “sectarianism” where its Protestant minority is concerned and that the Government’s attitude is that they “don’t matter”.
Writing in the Church of Ireland Catalystperiodical, Belfast journalist and commentator Brian Feeney recalled how last November the Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork Paul Colton "received a number of sectarian letters, anonymous of course, about his comments objecting to the withdrawal of State funding from Protestant schools".
Bishop Colton responded “I don’t know whether to laugh or cry”, when he read the anonymous abuse. Mr Feeney concluded from this and other instances that “sectarianism is flourishing in the Republic of Ireland in 2010. . .”
What intrigued, he said, was that it took the same form as it did half a century ago with a “myth that there is a small, wealthy Protestant elite who control the State’s finances and economy”.
The myth had emerged again in the debate about withdrawal of State funding from Protestant schools, he said, noting how “the Government did nothing to dispel such sentiments”.
He accused former minister for education Batt O’Keeffe of “political power play” when it came to the cutbacks. He would “lose no votes in Cork as a result. Fianna Fáil will lose no votes anywhere else. So that’s okay then?”
Mr Feeney continued: “It’s okay only if Batt O’Keeffe and Brian Cowen believe they can also ignore the messages they are sending to the North of Ireland and wider afield.
“The first clear message is that the susceptibilities of Protestants in the Republic don’t matter. They constitute such a small minority that their views can be ridden over roughshod.” He contrasted this with the North where “it would be unthinkable” to reduce funding to Catholic schools. “Why? Apart from laying the State open to charges of sectarianism that’s not how you treat a minority in a modern European society.”
