Thursday, July 26, 2012

Home Rule is Rome Rule?

Republic of Ireland, 1980s: Garret Fitzgerald launches a so-called "constitutional crusade" to liberalise the Republic's laws on divorce and contraception, partly to make the prospect of a united Ireland more attractive to Protestant Unionists.

Belfast, July 2012: Belfast City Council becomes the first local authority in Ireland to support same-sex marriage. Ulster Unionists walk out before the vote, while all 21 Sinn Féin and SDLP councillors-- parties traditionally considered "Catholic" as well as nationalist-- supported the motion.

Isn't it time the term "Catholic" was dropped entirely from discussions of the ethnic conflict in Northern Ireland?

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