Irish people, North and South, may finally be moving towards a society which can respect difference and provide diverse people with a sense of belonging, a former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church has said.
But the Rev John Dunlop said it was a great pity the ideals of the United Irishmen of 1798 had not applied during this century when people had pursued exclusive and excluding ideological systems in this country. "Irish Catholic nationalism and Ulster Protestant unionism have both denied many people a sense of belonging," he said at an ecumenical service to commemorate the United Irishmen held in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, yesterday.
The service to commemorate the rebellion's ideals was attended by the President, Mrs McAleese; the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, religious leaders of different denominations including the Papal Nuncio, Dr Luciano Storero; the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev Walton Empey; and a Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Dublin, Dr Jim Moriarty. Politicians and public representatives also attended.
The invitation to a Presbyterian to preach, which came from the Dean of St Patrick's, the Very Rev Dr Maurice Stewart, "shows how things have changed from 200 years ago", Mr Dunlop said. It was an occasion of "sober remembering" rather than romanticising the rebellion, "lest some go out and add to the total of the dead instead of uniting Catholics, Protestants and Dissenters".
In a second address, Prof Joseph Lee, professor of history at NUI Cork, said 1798 was "a truly awful occasion in Irish history", which led to slaughter and torture of Bosnian proportions; a consequence of "thinking in stereotypes". There was nothing in human nature to suggest it might not happen again. Ireland was "still saturated in stereotypes" though this, he believed, may be overcome by starting first with ourselves, by looking at "the words we utter, the phrases we write".
The scripture lessons were read by the President; the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Hamilton, and the Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces, Lieut Gen Gerry McMahon. The introduction included two harp pieces from Edward Bunting's Collection of Ancient Irish Music transcribed at the Belfast Harp Festival in 1792.
