“How can you give somebody who is your enemy, a higher position in order to allow him to destroy you.”
This dislike towards Catholics is traditional as past incidents are often remembered, such as the massacres of 1641, which fosters the hatred between them. By the 1960s, they were living in separate communities and educated in completely different ways. In 1921, when the Republic was declared a separate country, the Catholics realised the Protestants wanted nothing to do with the South. They were pleased with the partition even though the Catholics hoped the North would become a part of the Republic again. Northern Ireland was dominated by Protestants who owned their allegiance to Britain and felt British. Although they were in control, they feared the power of the Catholic Church. The Protestants felt that if they gave the Catholics equal rights, the Church was bound to play a bigger part in the running of the state. This would mean Protestants losing their power and the Catholic opinions and strong views on issues such as abortion and contraception would have to be considered. Also, the strength of the Church meant it was capable of many things,
“The Roman Catholic Church is out to destroy Protestantism.”
It is obvious that some Protestants felt that the Catholics could be very dangerous if given the opportunity
Not all politicians felt like this. Captain Terence O’ Neil was a Protestant Unionist who hoped to improve the lives of the Catholics. Even though he was a Protestant, he still admitted that Catholics had to face a vast amount of discrimination in many areas of life. He tried to convince the Unionist party that if the Catholics were treated like Protestants, they would begin to behave like Protestants. Also, the fair treatment of the Catholic people would help to guarantee their faithfulness to Ulster, as they were previously seen as ‘disloyal’.
O’ Neil introduced some mild reforms, giving the Catholics a better deal in the allocation of local authority housing and public appointments. He was accused by many Protestants of being a traitor and was eventually forced out of office. This happened because there were many people against him, even his fellow Unionist party members, such as Ian Paisley and his followers.
A hard line Unionist that agreed with Ian Paisley was Basil Brooke. He was the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland from 1943 to 1963 and believed the Catholics posed a threat to the security of Ulster.
“Our country is in danger. No surrender. We are the King’s men.”
He was also afraid of the Catholics becoming a danger to the Protestant numerical supremacy and didn’t want to become the ‘minority instead of the majority’. This is the way that he justified the mistreatment of the Catholic society.
Altogether, it is fair to say that the Protestant politicians had many different views on the treatment of the Catholics. O’ Neil attempted to help the Catholics but lost his job as Prime Minister. Politicians such as Paisley pursued a policy of hatred towards him and therefore, he was pushed out of office.
The Protestant politicians felt that discrimination against Catholics was favourable because if they gained power, they would use it against the Protestants. An argument presented by many politicians was: why should the Protestants give jobs to the people who weren’t interested in making a stronger economy for Britain, but were only thinking of their own welfare. They did not see why they had to help, or give jobs to the Catholics who were loyal to the pope, Rome and the Republic of Ireland. The Republic, with the majority Catholics, had many laws which the Protestants didn’t want to abide by. Divorce and abortion were illegal because they were Catholic rules incorporated in the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland.
There were some problems from the past that affected the way the Catholics were treated. The massacres of 1641 stick in many Protestant minds, as this is when the Catholics rose against the Protestants and killed hundreds of people. This makes it hard for many Protestants to treat their fellow Catholics like equals and also promotes their fear of the Catholics disloyalty.
Not all Protestant politicians tried to explain the reason for discrimination towards Catholics. Others minimised the differences between the two denominations or argued that the Protestant political control nevertheless gave Catholics equal chances of social and economic progress. They did this by pointing out some good factors of the Catholic way of life, such as the quality of the best Catholic schools. Some politicians did not even think they needed to clarify this apparent maltreatment of Catholics. They argued that there were no differences and any that seemed apparent were exaggerated by the frequent media attention.
So therefore, this is how the protestant politicians explained the social, economic and political differences between the Catholics and Protestants in society.