Northern Ireland is not just artificial but anti-Irish and anti-Catholic

Posted By: April 28, 2022

IRISH CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING

Distributed to Congress by Irish National Caucus

Northern Ireland is not just artificial but anti-Irish and anti-Catholic

Fr. Sean McManus, President, Irish National Caucus, Washington, DC.

Letters to Editor. Irish News. Belfast. Thursday, April 28, 2022

No commentator on the political realities of Northern Ireland is better than Irish News columnist Brian Feeney. Indeed, he is so good the Irish National Caucus regularly disseminates his columns in the United States Congress as part of our important Irish Congressional Briefings.

So, his recent column – ‘There will never be ‘normal politics’ here because the north is an artificial construct’ (April 20) – was naturally of interest.

I have noticed over the years that increasingly the preferred description of the north, by those critical of it, is that it was artificial. And, of course, it certainly was. However, it was even worse than artificial – it was, also, and more to the point, racist (meaning anti-Irish) and sectarian (meaning anti-Catholic).

It serves neither truth nor reconciliation to evade this. And, certainly, Edward Carson MP (commonly seen as the virtual founder of Northern Ireland) minced no words on that.

On May 18, 1920, he explained why the ‘artificial construct’ was necessary: “We have to refer in these matters to Protestants and Catholics – we should only be making the very greatest camouflage of argument if we did not treat them in that way – because these are really the burning question over there.

“The inclusion of these six counties would bring in under the jurisdiction of the north of Ireland parliament 820,000 Protestants out of 890,000 in the whole province (counting Donegal, Cavan, and Monaghan).

“On the other hand, while you would leave out 70,000 who are in these three counties (Donegal, Cavan, and Monaghan), you would bring in from these three counties into the northern province, an additional 260,000 Roman Catholics.” [British Parliament].

And, that is how and why the six counties came to be an artificial contraption – to keep Irish Catholics as second-class citizens and no problem for Protestant supremacy, or for England’s continuing rule.

Have hardline unionist/Protestant leaders in the past 100 years really ever shown a true change of heart and a newfound commitment to the values of democracy, equality, justice, and solidarity?

These are the values next week’s elections in Northern Ireland must resoundingly endorse and embrace.