Madam, – Now that I am an aged man (I am 83), I believe I have a contribution to make against sectarianism in Ireland.
My father and mother were educated at a village school in Co Derry in the early 20th century, where all creeds and classes were educated together from the age of five. When it came to my turn to go to school I was sent to the very same village school but at the time I began, in 1931, the Catholics were being taken away to another school some miles away.
I was then put into a position where I was educated with only Protestant children. I was not given the privilege of being educated with Catholics, or they with me.
My father and mother, when they were young, were able to play with Catholic children at school and make friends for life. I was not. I have always felt that this was not right. I am sure it was wrong. And this failure, over a period of many years, has produced bitter results.
It is very evident to me that this segregation policy has not produced any better behaved children. They are all the same, for they are all human. But surely it would have been better for the Protestants, and the Catholics of Ireland to have been educated together? There might even have been a united Ireland by this time. At least I don’t believe there would have been the same amount of rioting on our streets.
Are there no courageous people around today that shall take their stand against this evil? Or is Ireland to be cursed with division, in the name of religion, for another generation? – Yours, etc,