Sir, - Dr Francis Costello (July 20th), in his criticism of Kevin Myers's comments on Protestant depopulation in the independent Irish state post-1921, states that it is a matter of record that "Sir James Craig aggressively encouraged Protestants from these (Border) counties, through the offer of government jobs, to relocate across the border".
Having some time ago done some research in this area I would be interested to have details of such historical records.
It is on record that Craig and his new unionist government in Belfast were embarrassed at their inability to respond to appeals for help from southern Protestants, particularly in the crucial first half of 1922. In London, public funds amounting to £10,000 were allocated to the Irish Distress Committee under Sir Samuel Hoare to assist refugees fleeing from Ireland to Great Britain, but people moving from southern Ireland into Northern Ireland were excluded from assistance under the fund. When the committee was set up in May, Austen Chamberlain, then Lord Privy Seal, told the cabinet every effort should be made to discourage any general exodus of southern unionists, and that the availability of this special relief should not be advertised. In November 1922 the committee reported that it had dealt with almost 3,500 applicants over a six month period, and approved 1,873 for emergency relief. More than half of these were Catholic, presumably including many ex-army and ex-RIC men and their families.
In Belfast no government funds were made available to help refugees from the south. On the other hand, Craig's administration did agree to reimburse the new Dublin administration £17,000 spent by it in assisting refugees fleeing from north to south. Leading Unionists, under Captain Herbert Dixon, did set up a private loyalist fund, which by October 1923 had spent £495 assisting southerners who had fled north. Attempts were made to have this money refunded from the Hoare Committee in London, but these were refused.
As far as I can see, therefore, it is incorrect to say that the new Craig government in Belfast "aggressively encouraged" Border Protestants to move north. In fact census and other records suggest there was no significant movement of Protestant population from the Border counties into Northern Ireland in this period. This is evident from the census returns of 1926 and from Protestant church records. The 1937 census in Northern Ireland sought to explore the issue by listing people living in the province but born outside it, and found that there had been no significant variations since 1861.
Contemporary accounts record a general perception among Protestants north and south that widespread persecution was occurring, particularly in 1922, and there are eyewitness accounts of significant numbers crossing the Border, perhaps to escape immediate, and short-term, threat. There is evidence of much more significant numbers fleeing to Great Britain, from the south and west rather than from the Border counties.
This neither proves nor disproves Mr Myers's assertion that a process of expulsion and coercion helps explain the drastic fall in the south's Protestant population since independence. But it surely seriously undermines Dr Costello's counter suggestion that the new Northern Ireland drew large numbers of southern Protestants across the Border. - Yours, etc.,
Dennis Kennedy, Mornington, Belfast 7.