KEVIN O'SULLIVAN,
Sir, - David Trimble may have a better sense of humour than many people thought; he certainly gave me a good laugh, and I thank him for it.
The question of sectarianism on this island has long interested observers. Speaking at Chester in 1886, Lord Spencer, a former Lord Lieutenant, said: "I have known instances, not a few, while I was in Ireland, of bigotry and intolerance. . . but I am bound to say the bigotry and intolerance was on the side, not of the Catholic majority, but of the Protestant minority.
Sir Horace Plunkett wrote: "My own experience distinctly proves that it is no disadvantage to a man to be a Protestant in Irish political life, and that when opposition is shown to him by Roman Catholics, it is almost invariably on political, social or agrarian, but not on religious grounds".
The Earl of Dunraven wrote: "I am a landlord, a Protestant and a Unionist. I hold to my class, my creed and my political faith ... that the Protestant minority would be exposed to any dangers of ill-treatment under any extension of local Government, I do not myself believe. The vast majority of Roman Catholics are tolerant."
The historian, Lecky, in England in the 18th Century, noted: "There are many examples in history of the tolerance of Catholic Ireland; amongst other instances we have the honours accorded to the Protestant Archbishop Bedell and the Act for the Establishment of Liberty of Conscience passed by the Parliament of 1689, at the height of the Catholic re-action under James II."
I cite these references from bygone days because of the suggestion by some commentators on the Trimble gaffe that tolerance is a newly acquired attitude for Irish Catholics.
You, Sir, may be interested to know that, in looking up these references, I came across the following: "In 1889, at Ennis (Court) a policeman begged pardon for batoning an Irish Times reporter whom he mistook for a member of Parliament. - Yours, etc.,
P.A. WARREN,
Garville Mews,
Rathgar,
Dublin 6.
... ... * ... * ... * ... ...
Sir, - Henry McDonald identifies David Trimble as the Roy Keane of Northern politics in view of the importance of each to their respective causes (News Features, March 16th).
Surely a better comparison would be with the erratic Fabien Barthez rather than the consistent Corkman? - Yours, etc.,
KEVIN O'SULLIVAN,
Ballyraine Park,
Letterkenny,
Co Donegal.