Letter: Protestants fled Ireland as they did not believe they would be granted political, social, economic or religious equality in the new state
A letter from Robin Bury:
Newly available data from the 1926 census shows that the Southern Protestant population in the 26 counties fell by almost 33% since the previous census in 1911.
Why did so many leave? Padraig Pearse had promised to ‘cherish all the children of the nation equally’. But many Protestants did not believe they would be granted political, social, economic or religious equality in the new state and left.
In 1920, the Church of Ireland's Archdeacon of Dublin wrote that "...large numbers of our members are leaving the country and settling in England due to the terrible conditions of things that prevail here".
In April 1922, the Anti-Treaty IRA murdered thirteen innocent Protestant men and boys, and attempted to kill 20 more, in West Cork.
This served as a chilling 'signal crime'. Thousands fled, and those who stayed 'kept their heads down'.
Professor Brian Walker of Queen's University has recorded that members of the Free State government, and Catholic clergy and laity, denounced such attacks on the Protestant community.
However, the Protestant Bishop Miller of Cashel said soon afterwards, "Many of our people were driven from their homes, many others left through fear of violence."
By 1926, Protestants were certainly not an oppressive minority. Local government was in Catholic hands.
The Wyndham Land Act had facilitated the transfer of approximately nine million acres of land to tenant farmers before 1914.
The Church of Ireland was no longer an established church.
But the exodus of Protestants continued down the decades: the 2022 census recorded a mere 2% of the state's population is Protestant.
The Irish government failed to include the Bandon Valley Massacre in its 'Decade of Centenaries' commemorations.
Robin Bury, Toronto