The Republic is no longer a hostile place for Protestants and the Church of Ireland has gained considerable self-confidence, writes Michael JT Webb
Is Ireland a cold place for Protestants? Robin Bury in his Rite and Reason article on July 11th claimed it is. I could not disagree more strongly.
There was a time after independence when Ireland was a cold place for Southern unionists - most of whom were Protestant.
There was a time, in 1922, when the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Archbishop Gregg, went to see Cosgrave and Collins, leaders of the provisional government, to ask if they were "desirous of retaining Protestants in the country".
There was a time when Roman Catholic triumphalism (a perhaps understandable reaction to Protestant ascendancy) led to Ireland becoming, in some Protestant eyes, an outpost of the Vatican. Protestants felt it a very cold place as they watched examples such as Fethard, the Mayo librarian and above all the debilitating effects of Ne Temere.
My late father-in-law, Prof WB Stanford, wrote in his memoirs: "When I had become fully aware of religious pressures in the South I decided that I should try to do something myself to strengthen morale in the Church of Ireland and among Southern Protestants in general... There were two ways of approaching the problem, one positive, one negative. Positively one could try to convince Protestants that they could and should maintain their faith in the new Ireland. This I argued in two published booklets." (A Recognised Church, 1944 and Faith and Faction in Ireland Now, 1946)
Together with George Simms, then Dean of Cork (later Archbishop of Dublin and Archbishop of Armagh), he travelled to parishes throughout independent Ireland to encourage Protestants to fully participate in society.
But all of that is history. We must move on from our history, learning from it, but not beholden to it. Any Irish woman or man, Protestant or not, who is prepared to contribute will find modern Ireland a warm place.
It does all Protestant citizens a disservice to continually harp back to the difficult days in the birth of the Irish State. To suggest that Protestants are discriminated against in employment in the public service is demonstrably untrue. Again it unfortunately was true in the 1930s and 1940s but it is not the situation today.
The small number of Protestants in the Garda and the Defence Forces is the fault of us parents who do not encourage our young people to join.
The number of Protestants in political life is regretfully small - two TDs (one a party leader) and four senators by my count - but I suspect that is our fault rather than the fault of the political parties or the electorate.
In the judiciary there are currently two Supreme Court and a number of High Court and other judges drawn from the Protestant community. I am open to correction but I believe there have never been two Protestant Supreme Court judges before.
In the professions Protestant men and women have contributed greatly to their professional organisation and been rewarded accordingly with a disproportionate number of presidents of all the professional bodies.
However, it is facile to suggest that those who have done well in professional or commercial life have done so because they are Roman Catholics or Protestants. The reality is that they have done so because they are good at their jobs and have contributed to their profession. It may be regretted by some but modern Ireland, south of the Border, takes little or no interest in one's religion or lack of it. The old trick of asking "what school did you go to?" doesn't work anymore, as many Roman Catholic parents send their children to schools under Protestant management while many Protestant parents send theirs to the local community school or convent.
A number of surveys of Border Protestants have been quoted to suggest that Protestants in those areas are unhappy with their lot. The Border counties have suffered from decades of neglect. The situation was not made any easier by the corrosive effects of the IRA murder campaign in the Northern Border counties, which many in those areas saw as virtual ethnic cleansing. Many young people left those areas for education and work opportunities, leaving an older and dispirited generation behind. With this background I suspect that a survey of the Catholic population of those areas would give similar results.
The Church of Ireland, in recent years, has gained considerable self-confidence. It looks to express its opinions not as a beleaguered minority but as of right as a community that is contributing positively to society.
For the first time in over 100 years, the Church of Ireland population in the South is growing. This applies not only to Dublin but most of the Southern dioceses. Thanks to the stemming of emigration and the influx of Anglicans from many countries, our worshipping population has increased considerably. New families have brought new life and new vigour to many parishes.
The growing confidence within the Church of Ireland can be seen by the increasing number of women and men coming forward for ordination. This year 17 deacons were ordained in the Church of Ireland.
Rather than rail against the influence of the Church of Rome, today we look with sadness at the torrent of criticism that the venal activities of a few have drawn down on the church as a whole.
The decision of the Government to enter into formal and structured dialogue with faith communities has been welcomed by the Church of Ireland as an opportunity for an ongoing and coherent dialogue with the Government.
In the recent past governments have been welcoming to the Church of Ireland leadership and have listened and, in most cases acted, on their concerns with regard to support for the education of Protestant young people and the protection of the Protestant ethos in healthcare following the move of the Adelaide Hospital to Tallaght.
Ireland is a cold place for many of our immigrant community.
Ireland is a cold place for the disadvantaged.
Ireland is a cold place for those on hospital trolleys or waiting for treatment.
Ireland may very well be a cold place for those Protestants who hide themselves under the rock of history and remember only past injustices.
But today's Ireland is not a cold place for the vast majority of Protestants, who are prepared to contribute as citizens of a truly modern Republic.
Michael JT Webb is a member of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland and the Dublin Diocesan Synod but writes in a personal capacity