Captain courageous
Sir: I wish to reply to some criticisms of my letter (17 January) and article (24 January) on Northern Ireland.
I. Mr Cunningham (Letters, 31 January) challenges my statement that originally Catho- lics were bitterly hostile to the state of Northern Ireland. But evidence in support of this statement is abundant. To mention only three facts: no Catholic MP took his seat out of twelve elected to the first Northern Ireland Parliament; two Catholic-dominated county councils and one county borough coun- cil (Londonderry) opted to join the Irish Free State; Catholics boycotted the local elections of 1924. That this attitude persisted until re- cently is indicated in the speeches of Captain Terence O'Neill. Clearly Mr Cunningham's Catholic friends were untypical.
It is true that the economic plight of Londonderry may be, ultimately attributed to partition in that it was cut off from its hinter- land, County Donegal. But two recent decisions seemed to accentuate the imbalance between east and west Ulster and created much ill- feeling in Derry—the siting of the new uni- versity at Coleraine, and the new town of Craigavon in a densely populated area of County Armagh.
2. Senator Nelson Elder (Letters, 31 January) challenges me to name the prominent Orange- man who got into trouble through attending the funeral of a Catholic friend, Colonel McCausland. He is Senator J. C. Drennan, chairman of the standing committee of the Ulster Unionist Council. But it was premature to say that he was expelled. I understand the case is still pending and will come up before the Grand Lodge of Ireland at its next half- early meeting. Of course, Mr Phelim O'Neill was treated more severely.
As to the Orange ladies, it is not for me to call them formidable—although they will doubtless thank Senator Elder for referring to them as such. But I must stick to my point ----they are not members of the Orange Order. The Association of Loyal Orangewomen of Ire- land is a recent creation, not quite sixty years old.
Lastly, I am glad to learn that Senator Elder is anxious to break away from the traditional identification of religion with politics in Ulster. It is a conclusion to which one would not be impelled through reading his Senate speeches. Cornelius O'Leary Department of Political Science, the Queen's University of Belfast, Northern Ireland
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