Sectarian hatred has such an ugly face that it usually hides from the light of day. It is a pernicious canker. And if its manifestations are tolerated or ignored, they have the capacity to poison civilised society and lead to loss of life. That is why the response by the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to representations made last week by the Moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church, the Rev Ian Paisley, concerning the destruction of church property in the Border region was both wise and opportune. The Taoiseach did not attempt to dismiss the series of recent attacks as vandalism, although that may have been a motivating element. Instead, Mr Ahern accepted that the destruction of church property carried sectarian undertones, publicly expressed his Government's revulsion over the incidents and offered reassurances that steps had been taken by the Garda to ensure such attacks would not recur.
It was, of course, precisely what the great majority of citizens of this State would have expected. Article 44.2.1 of the Constitution declares: "Freedom of conscience and the free profession and practice of religion are, subject to public order and morality, guaranteed to every citizen". That provision has received active government support and positive discrimination now exists in relation to the funding of Protestant education. There has been a long-standing, official anxiety that given the communal divisions in Northern Ireland no whiff of authorised partiality or naked sectarianism should poison the Republic's society.
The series of attacks on Free Presbyterian and other churches in the Monaghan and Cavan region last July was a disturbing development. Coragarry church, founded by Dr Paisley twenty-five years ago, was badly damaged by fire at a cost to the 70-strong congregation of about £100,000. Another premises at Castleblayney was damaged. At about the same time, a Church of Ireland building at Drumully and a Baptist church in Co Cavan were vandalised. They may have been relatively minor incidents, given the tensions and turmoil across the Border arising from the stand-off at the Garvaghy Road and the violence in Portadown. But for the local Protestant communities they were devastating.
Dr Paisley came to Dublin last week to protest against the way members of his Church had suffered and to seek greater protection for them. It was not, he said, a political visit. But nothing is quite that simple. When he and the Taoiseach met for an hour they enjoyed a robust dialogue. Complaints from Dr Paisley received a positive response. And then Mr Ahern sought Dr Paisley's assistance in relation to on-going attacks on the nationalist communities in Larne and Carrickfergus; he did not refer to the harassment meted out to Catholic churchgoers at Harryville, in Dr Paisley's home town of Ballymena.
Only if we stamp out the stirrings of religious bigotry in the Republic can we hope to address unionists' deep-rooted fear of cultural absorption. The Belfast Agreement does not only articulate rights for both communities in Northern Ireland, but also obliges the Government to strengthen and underpin their protection in the Republic. Even Dr Paisley must now recognise that positive benefits can flow from it.