Irish Protestants - Do you feel discriminated against?

[bobbysands81]

I think this might be an interesting debate on here given that according to one of our Northern friends the Gardai are racked with anti-Protestant sectarianism.

My personal opinion is that in the Ireland of 2009 the overwhelming majority of Irish people care not a jot about anyone's religion.

Do people on here feel that there is a lot of religious discrimination in Ireland? Is there much anti-Protestant sectarianism? Can anyone give examples from the last couple of years of sectarianism, if any, they've encountered in this country?

I would say that if there was much discrimination it would be against Muslims and not Protestants.

[peadarmc]

you do realise everyone (the trolls!) are going to drag up the "Love Ulster" debacle based on your request for "examples of sectarianism"....

it wasnt an issue of religion and im not dragging it up myself.....just expect it!

[5intheface]

Check out the post from Glenceo on this thread, Bobby, about Protestants in Donegal. I believe it was his first post and certainly one of the most interesting I've ever read here. Few more from same poster on that thread.

http://www.politics.ie/connaught-uls...ml#post1305305

[wysiwyg]

are they Dublin Protestants, or culchie Protestants ?

Actually, there is little or no discrimination against Irish Protestants, bar some ignorant comments by ignorant people. The Gardai thread was started by a known troll here

[Eddie Collins]

I think this might be an interesting debate on here given that according to one of our Northern friends the Gardai are racked with anti-Protestant sectarianism.

My personal opinion is that in the Ireland of 2009 the overwhelming majority of Irish people care not a jot about anyone's religion.

Do people on here feel that there is a lot of religious discrimination in Ireland? Is there much anti-Protestant sectarianism? Can anyone give examples from the last couple of years of sectarianism, if any, they've encountered in this country?

I would say that if there was much discrimination it would be against Muslims and not Protestants.

Your responses will be minimal because most of them were murdered or hounded out after independance

[slx]

I have some Donegal Protestant relatives who are about as Republican as you can get without breaking the law. They constantly moan about SF and the SDLP capitulating to the DUP.

They would have been poor famers and weavers from East Donegal and West Derry. They absolutely detested Northern Ireland's establishment which was pretty much based on class as well as religion. They also felt very hard done by as the UUP Governments did serious damage to the Donegal economy by isolating it from Derry and damaging transport and other infrastructural links.

Their Derry relatives would be SDLP/Labour voters, going back a long way. They'd have been socialists, the religious divide was not something that worried them, they just weren't very keen on the whole class system / British establishment as represented by the UUP.

After partition, they received letters from the Northern Ireland Government inviting them to move 'home' to Northern Ireland. They still laugh about the notion of anywhere other than Donegal being 'home' and kept the letter for historical and comic value.

They have a copy of the Declaration of Independence hanging on the wall in the hall!! No risk of seeing any portraits of the Queen of England that's for sure lol

Needless to say, the response they sent back was anything but polite lol

You can't really generalise about protestants and catholics in the Republic at all. Their view of the world is nothing like the entrenched views of Catholics or Protestants in NI.

[drbob1972]

apart from childhood taunts and some other sillyness, never felt discriminated against any more than red haired people, people with glasses*, etc do. In actual fact being part of a small community has some benefits, preferencal school places in one of the best schools (both primary & secondary) in the area being worth its weight in gold.

* I mean who doesn't have the specy gingers, bastards the lot of them !

[Eorna]

I have met plenty of Protestants that are as republican as you can get, and many that have time inside as a result.

[slx]

I have met plenty of Protestants that are as republican as you can get, and many that have time inside as a result.

That's the thing that I find very difficult to explain to some Northern Irish people. Unionism and Republicanism have nothing to do with your religious background, once you step outside of the bubble of modern (20th/21st century) Northern Irish political culture.

[greasytrucker]

I think this might be an interesting debate on here given that according to one of our Northern friends the Gardai are racked with anti-Protestant sectarianism.

My personal opinion is that in the Ireland of 2009 the overwhelming majority of Irish people care not a jot about anyone's religion.

Do people on here feel that there is a lot of religious discrimination in Ireland? Is there much anti-Protestant sectarianism? Can anyone give examples from the last couple of years of sectarianism, if any, they've encountered in this country?

I would say that if there was much discrimination it would be against Muslims and not Protestants.

Its a catholic state for a catholic people. Hence the sectarian schools, hospitals, laws etc.