Dear Reader,
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We reject Government funding, because, in our view, that would be the end of our independence. The moment we did so, we would begin looking over our shoulder, and wondering if our coverage of a particular issue might lead to that money being taken away. In time – not all at once, but slowly and inexorably – we would become just another safe, consensus, state-funded voice.
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What we try to do here is to be open, honest, and brave. That does not mean that you will always agree with us. It does mean that there will be times when we will annoy you, and publish things you disagree with: That’s part of the deal. We are independent, not servants of one cause, or another.
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John
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Now his daughter, Kitty Holland calls the boyfriend of Ashling Murphy a racist for wondering why we imported a foreign work shy sex offender and now murderer. The filthy apple doesn’t fall far from the rotten tree
Eamon McCann – I remember him well on Questions and Answers – very very clearly a Marxist and deep hypocrite loved by those in Montrose (why else be continually wheeled out?). It is perhaps because of his immense moral flexibility that he is a member of people before profit… he remain a blight on the nation and its children.
MCann a man of no consequence, who has poisoned the well of Irish unity.
He has beqeathed to us , thru his poisoned seed, another harridan, a daughter Kitty Holland, a disgrace to the profession of journalism and a hatred of Ireland and its People.
By their fruit, you shall know them , was never truer than this example of a tainted, fouled bloodline.
Her fake migrant assault story and its defence by the MSM was shocking and completely in line with her father : https://gript.ie/the-remarkable-holes-in-the-irish-times-migrant-attack-story/
” ….. A sentence that almost alone virtually destroys the assertion that Northern Ireland was an apartheid state”
But it most certainly was. You could say
The Unionist party were certain to have a few Catholic traitors in their ranks, but they were less than 1% of the whole civil service, to provide a tiny mirage against accusations of the endemic racism against Irish people in Northern Ireland, 1922 – 1972 and the end of devolution.
There wasn’t even that 1% of Irish left into the NI elite until Terrence McNeill’s paltry reforms of the very late 1960s under pressure from London and increasing unrest from NICRA.
Here are the real facts:
From its founding in 1921, Northern Ireland was, by design, a state built to ensure permanent Protestant and Unionist dominance. For decades, Catholics lived as second-class citizens in their own land—politically marginalised, economically disadvantaged, and culturally stigmatised.
The vote itself was weaponised. In local government elections, the notorious use of the property-based franchise and gerrymandered electoral boundaries ensured Protestant majorities even where Catholics were the numerical majority. Cities like Derry—a nationalist stronghold—were ruled by unionist councils thanks to these engineered distortions of democracy.
Public housing allocation was a tool of control. Unionist councils routinely favoured Protestants in the distribution of social housing. Housing meant more than a roof—it meant the right to vote and a stake in power. Catholic families, even with more urgent need, were passed over to maintain political dominance.
In employment, Catholics were shut out. Discrimination was endemic, especially in public jobs and influential private firms. In places like the shipyards of Belfast or the civil service, Catholics were systematically underrepresented. Job security and advancement were often denied purely on the basis of creed.
Policing and justice were biased and hostile. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), overwhelmingly Protestant, was widely seen by Catholics as a partisan force. Backed by the armed B-Specials, they enforced a system in which Catholic grievances were ignored and Protestant power protected. There was little recourse to justice for Catholics harassed or discriminated against by the state.
Culturally and educationally, Catholics were sidelined. The Irish language, nationalist history, and Catholic perspectives were excluded from public discourse and curricula. Catholic schools were segregated and underfunded, and Irish identity was treated with suspicion or outright hostility.
This wasn’t mere “sectarian tension”—it was systemic, structural discrimination entrenched by a state that saw Catholics not as citizens but as a threat to be contained. The official narrative portrayed Northern Ireland as a peaceful, prosperous democracy. But for hundreds of thousands of Catholics, it was a cold house—a place where opportunity was rationed, dignity denied, and basic rights deferred.
It is no surprise that civil rights protests in the 1960s—calls for equal voting, fair housing, and freedom from police intimidation—were met not with reform, but with repression. The system cracked because it was never just. And the long years of conflict that followed were born from that fundamental injustice.
How dare Mr. Myers rewrite history, you lying, treasonous dog of a man. No wonder he supports
the Israeli genocidal apartheid state of today, also.
Venomous lies and rewriting of history from a south Dublin Blueshirt. Typical of the likes of Kevin Myers, formerly of the Irish Slimes.
One a group of Fascists and West Brit traitors, always a group of Fascists and West Brit traitors.
And by the way, this is no defense of Eamon McCann I despise that two bit Communist, but Kevin Myers is worse by far.
Only a Demon in human skin is could deny the suffering of the Irish under the Orange State
The enemy of my enemy is no friend in this case
No one is denying that the Catholics in Northern Ireland weren’t maltreated. The article is about McCann and those who had dealings with him. What SPECIFIC claim of Kevin Myers’ do you take issue with and what is your evidence of refutation?
Read the first sentence of my comment again Robert
Also Kevin Myers has been denying that there was discrimination against Catholics in NI since the day he became a journalist, I just about remember the 1990s although I’m still a fair few decades younger than he is.
Myers is of the Ruth Dudley Edwards, Peter Hart, Richard English, Liam Kennedy (wrote a book, “Unhappy the Land: the Most Oppressed People Ever?” Which argued that the British did nothing wrong during the Great Famine, and instead it was caused by Irish stupidity, indolence and excessive Catholic reproduction),
school of revisionist Irish history, who argue that nothing of any value has ever come from the Irish.
That “revisionist school” has been spreading the same misinformation and ideological and partisan scutter from Trinity College Dublin’s History department since independence, when they were on the losing side.
All of them essentially argue that there was no significant discrimination against Catholics in NI before devolution, and if there was it was needed because a minority supposedly loyal to a “foreign Roman priest”, and/or the “foreign” country of the Republic of Ireland, needed to be kept out of power and influence, and used solely as a source of menial physical labour by preventing them from going to university (this changed when the Labour government in post war UK took the universities into public ownership, and took this decision out of the direct control of the devolved government at Stormont).
Essentially they agree with the old Unionist canard of a nation (NI) “Under Siege”, which needed to ruthlessly oppress the Catholic minority to survive.
So to summarise, there are very many Irish people here in the Republic who agreed with the apartheid, brutally violent and terrorististic Orange state of 1922-1972 as it kept Paddy in his place, although they sometimes use more euphemistic words.
It is not for nothing that the same group of current and former Fine Gaelers and Irish Times types are generally fully in favour of the current Israeli atrocitities in Gaza.
By the way, earlier I’m as far from a leftie as you can get, I’m a nationalist conservative, and I wouldn’t piss on either Eamon McCann or Kevin Myers if they were on fire
Hi Baile ,
I have read it – repeatedly – do you not agree that it does contradict the “apartheid state” claim at least to some extent ? Put it another way are you aware of many or any black high court judges appointed during the apartheid era in South Africa ?
Hopefully Mr. Myers himself will chime in at some stage.
I’d class myself alongside you as a nationalist conservative by the way. I visited South Armagh as a teenager in the 80s and became thoroughly disabused of the notion that the Provisional IRA were anything other than communist criminals – of course it would be communism for the plebs and stolen wealth for themselves.
Anyhoo best of luck to you.
I am no Provo fan either Robert, but saying South Africa was worse doesn’t make NI any better.
Besides the point. The fact is that Catholics were discriminated against viciously for most NI’s existence, it is not controversial to say that James Craig or Brookeborough were as vicious in their hatred against the Catholics and held them down for many years.
A few token loyal Catholics allowed into positons of power in the late 1960s, against the backdrop of criticism from London against NI, and they really were only a tiny, tiny percentage even then, does not change this
All the best.
The Truth…….Thanks…..”” ….. A sentence(a comment) that almost alone virtually destroys the assertion (by a Gript.ie contributor )that Northern Ireland was an ideal state”…….
“For decades, Catholics lived as second-class citizens in their own land—politically marginalised, economically disadvantaged, and culturally stigmatised.”
Just as our forefathers lived for 320 years after the final conquest after the Battle of Kinsale.
Exactly
100%. Myers still an apologist – to be kind to him – for anything Brits did here. Broken record for 50 years.
Best journalist on Gript.ie in my opinion, here in the comment section!
Ah, the great days of RTE punditry !!!
And lest not forget the world class economist, political genius and theological expert, Mr. Eamon Dunphy…a cocaine druggy….which didn’t impede him lecturing the Nation on all and sundry….
Or the great Lady Nell McCafferty, another geopolitical genius, religious oracle, financial and economic guru whose speciality was anything and everything under the sun…for the Montrose Cantine Curia (or Politburo)….”a drinker of strong liquor” as the Oirish Slimes put it…..a drunk (God forgive her…RIP).
Whatever about “draining the Swamp” State-side, we need to “powerhose the sewer”….I guess we can still count on RTE to indulge us with PantiPiss or Vradkar to pontificate to the mob….
“a sentence that almost alone virtually destroys the assertion that Northern Ireland was an apartheid state.”
As much as I admire you Kevin, that is ABSOLUTE BO1_1_OCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It seems, Mr Myers, that you have never heard of the term “Castle Catholic”.
Born in Northern Ireland, growing up on the border and also having lived in South Africa in the apartheid era, I confirm that NI was most definitely a de facto apartheid state for at least the first fifty years of its existence.
As a young man, just South of the border, it was my great honour to have as a next door neighbour a man by the name of Mr G. I was too young to be told his first name, he was always Mr G to me. Mr G was a very tall man from Kerry, a true gentlemen and married to a very lovely very small lady from Belfast. As so many men do, he moved from his home to get a job close to his wife’s home. He was a teacher, and and a very brilliant, intelligent man, from a family of very accomplished persons. His brother served for many years as an Ambassador of the Republic.
Despite his abilities, as a Catholic, and a Southerner, but primarily because he was Catholic (a Southern Protestant would not have suffered the same discrimination) he was never permitted to progress above the level of School Inspector.
NI was not an apartheid state? No, if your definition requires formal legislation mandating apartheid.
But, yes, HELL YES, if the actual practice of Government administration there had exactly that effect.
Mr G died in the mid 90′ aged in his mid 80’s.
A few years later, when a couple of Catholic families were burned out of their houses in Belfast, Mrs G became extremely upset and came to my house. I made a pot of tea and listened to her story. She was almost 90 years old then. As a child and young woman, she told me had been burned out of her home at least twice and the news from Belfast brought all those memories back too life.
So, Kevin, when you try to propose the fiction that NI was not an apartheid, tyrannical, oppressive state for those who were not Loyalists/Castle Catholics, please understand that those of us with more practical experience wish you should just get a fucking grip on reality!
Spot on MMG, what a ridiculous thing for Kevin Myers to say
BTW, apart from anything else, McCann has always been a useless effin loser, who ever listened to him except so-called journalists?
If journalists hadn’t boosted him, nobody would know him, he has never had anything of substance to contribute.
I think Mr Myers is dishonest rather than delusional.
You have exposed quiet a number of inconvenient truths there Mr Myers!
Will anyone care to contest them?
Aye I will.
I will tell you the TRUTH
” ….. A sentence that almost alone virtually destroys the assertion that Northern Ireland was an apartheid state”
But it most certainly was. You could say
The Unionist party were certain to have a few Catholic traitors in their ranks, but they were less than 1% of the whole civil service, to provide a tiny mirage against accusations of the endemic racism against Irish people in Northern Ireland, 1922 – 1972 and the end of devolution.
There wasn’t even that 1% of Irish left into the NI elite until Terrence McNeill’s paltry reforms of the very late 1960s under pressure from London and increasing unrest from NICRA.
Here are the real facts:
From its founding in 1921, Northern Ireland was, by design, a state built to ensure permanent Protestant and Unionist dominance. For decades, Catholics lived as second-class citizens in their own land—politically marginalised, economically disadvantaged, and culturally stigmatised.
The vote itself was weaponised. In local government elections, the notorious use of the property-based franchise and gerrymandered electoral boundaries ensured Protestant majorities even where Catholics were the numerical majority. Cities like Derry—a nationalist stronghold—were ruled by unionist councils thanks to these engineered distortions of democracy.
Public housing allocation was a tool of control. Unionist councils routinely favoured Protestants in the distribution of social housing. Housing meant more than a roof—it meant the right to vote and a stake in power. Catholic families, even with more urgent need, were passed over to maintain political dominance.
In employment, Catholics were shut out. Discrimination was endemic, especially in public jobs and influential private firms. In places like the shipyards of Belfast or the civil service, Catholics were systematically underrepresented. Job security and advancement were often denied purely on the basis of creed.
Policing and justice were biased and hostile. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), overwhelmingly Protestant, was widely seen by Catholics as a partisan force. Backed by the armed B-Specials, they enforced a system in which Catholic grievances were ignored and Protestant power protected. There was little recourse to justice for Catholics harassed or discriminated against by the state.
Culturally and educationally, Catholics were sidelined. The Irish language, nationalist history, and Catholic perspectives were excluded from public discourse and curricula. Catholic schools were segregated and underfunded, and Irish identity was treated with suspicion or outright hostility.
This wasn’t mere “sectarian tension”—it was systemic, structural discrimination entrenched by a state that saw Catholics not as citizens but as a threat to be contained. The official narrative portrayed Northern Ireland as a peaceful, prosperous democracy. But for hundreds of thousands of Catholics, it was a cold house—a place where opportunity was rationed, dignity denied, and basic rights deferred.
It is no surprise that civil rights protests in the 1960s—calls for equal voting, fair housing, and freedom from police intimidation—were met not with reform, but with repression. The system cracked because it was never just. And the long years of conflict that followed were born from that fundamental injustice.
How dare Mr. Myers rewrite history, you lying, treasonous dog of a man. No wonder he supports
the Israeli genocidal apartheid state of today, also.
Venomous lies and rewriting of history from a south Dublin Blueshirt. Typical of the likes of Kevin Myers, formerly of the Irish Slimes.
One a group of Fascists and West Brit traitors, always a group of Fascists and West Brit traitors.
And by the way, this is no defense of Eamon McCann I despise that two bit Communist, but Kevin Myers is worse by far.
Only a Demon in human skin is could deny the suffering of the Irish under the Orange State
The enemy of my enemy is no friend in this case
You are right Baile, and what you say is incontestable . Kevin Myers likes to stir things up because he is bored and boring and has nothing much to say, so he turns the facts upside down . Yes there were a few horrors on the Catholic side , but overwhelmingly the hatred and profound ignorance came from proddies
who were never Christianns .
Well I have nothing Protestant per se, I have some Protestant heritage, but I am opposed to Orange Order types and bigots
All very well stated and mostly true statements.
Especially the west Brit view of events expecially during the late 60s
Relatives of mine had to move south in the 20s not by choice.
Due to intimidation.
Plenty of families had to move south during the 70s
A colleague who was one of the few Catholic apprentices in H&W gave a not very complimentary take on his apprenticeship.
He couldn’t get over the sheer animosity.
Another thing to remember about the North this was the place where they perfected their divide and conquer tactics that were spread around the world.
But on the specific subject of the article and its assertions.
How wrong is it?
It is the mostly the first line that bothers me.
….. A sentence that almost alone virtually destroys the assertion that Northern Ireland was an apartheid state” One token Catholic judge doesn’t mean that NI wasn’t a horrid place for Catholics until recently.
Could not agree more.
Divide and conquer.
Presbyterians weren’t exactly admired until they became useful to the English state.
And the spirit of the penal laws continued into the 80s in the North.
Eamonn MC Cann , articulate & intelligent, but a charlatan if there ever was one.
Mc Cann another thug who thinks killing is only wrong if it’s not done for a cause he promotes.
Myers supports the genocide of Palestinian women and children he is in no position to judge anyone.
No, he supports Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorists who use their civilians as shields.
You bring this into every single subject as though there were no other wars where people are killed ,but entirely ignored because it doesnt suit your cause .
” ….. A sentence that almost alone virtually destroys the assertion that Northern Ireland was an apartheid state”
But it most certainly was. You could say
The Unionist party were certain to have a few Catholic traitors like yourself, less than 1% of the whole civil service, to provide a tiny mirage against accusations of the endemic racism against Irish people in Northern Ireland, 1922 – 1969 and the end of devotion.
Here are the real facts:
From its founding in 1921, Northern Ireland was, by design, a state built to ensure permanent Protestant and Unionist dominance. For decades, Catholics lived as second-class citizens in their own land—politically marginalised, economically disadvantaged, and culturally stigmatised.
The vote itself was weaponised. In local government elections, the notorious use of the property-based franchise and gerrymandered electoral boundaries ensured Protestant majorities even where Catholics were the numerical majority. Cities like Derry—a nationalist stronghold—were ruled by unionist councils thanks to these engineered distortions of democracy.
Public housing allocation was a tool of control. Unionist councils routinely favoured Protestants in the distribution of social housing. Housing meant more than a roof—it meant the right to vote and a stake in power. Catholic families, even with more urgent need, were passed over to maintain political dominance.
In employment, Catholics were shut out. Discrimination was endemic, especially in public jobs and influential private firms. In places like the shipyards of Belfast or the civil service, Catholics were systematically underrepresented. Job security and advancement were often denied purely on the basis of creed.
Policing and justice were biased and hostile. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC), overwhelmingly Protestant, was widely seen by Catholics as a partisan force. Backed by the armed B-Specials, they enforced a system in which Catholic grievances were ignored and Protestant power protected. There was little recourse to justice for Catholics harassed or discriminated against by the state.
Culturally and educationally, Catholics were sidelined. The Irish language, nationalist history, and Catholic perspectives were excluded from public discourse and curricula. Catholic schools were segregated and underfunded, and Irish identity was treated with suspicion or outright hostility.
This wasn’t mere “sectarian tension”—it was systemic, structural discrimination entrenched by a state that saw Catholics not as citizens but as a threat to be contained. The official narrative portrayed Northern Ireland as a peaceful, prosperous democracy. But for hundreds of thousands of Catholics, it was a cold house—a place where opportunity was rationed, dignity denied, and basic rights deferred.
It is no surprise that civil rights protests in the 1960s—calls for equal voting, fair housing, and freedom from police intimidation—were met not with reform, but with repression. The system cracked because it was never just. And the long years of conflict that followed were born from that fundamental injustice.
How dare you rewrite history, you lying, treasonous dog of a man. No wonder you support the Israeli genocidal apartheid state of today, also.
Venomous lies and rewriting of history from a south Dublin Blueshirt. Typical of your colonial kind. One a group of Fascists and West Brit traitors, always a group of Fascists and West Brit traitors.
And by the way, this is no defense of Eamon McCann I despise that two bit Communist, but you are worse Kevin Myers.
Demon in human skin is what you are, to ignore the suffering of the Irish under the Orange Statelet
Don’t think discrimination ended in 1969.
Discrimination against catholics is still alive and well in the six counties to this very day.
Having said that Unionists are no longer a single majority as was the case since the partition of Eire. .
But a nation once again still seems unlikely in my lifetime.
No that’s true, it’s still bad, I know the hatred there is still in parts.
But it was worse before Devolution ended under the likes James Craig and Basil Brookeborough who famously said that ” Iwill never have a Catholic about the place!” about Stormont, and made a speech saying that no true Protestant would ever hire a Catholic during the Great Depression.
Myers, the dirty, lying sleveen he is, argues above that Northern Ireland was never like this, and that the Catholics who matched and were savagely beaten and sometimes murdered for equal rights and one man, one vote were a bunch of moaners and unemployed deviants like the Orange Order said they were.
I highly doubt McGuirk would have David Irving on his website to talk about how the Holocaust didn’t happen, or it it happened the Jews deserved it.
Kevin Myers and David Irving are two cheeks of the same arse, two self importang old men who are lying through their hat in order to push an agenda
You wil be happy to know that the church which spawned so much of the Protestant Calvinism which destroyed Scottish culture is closing down .
The Church of Scotland and most other of Henry V111 sprogs are dying . God is not pleased with them and their hatred of their fellow men ,and He above all hates Power and Ignorance combined as in the Protestantism of N Ireland and Scotland.
Ps you have a good dose of the above yourself and am waiting an apology for your deranged insults of some weeks go .
Certainly I will go give no apology for opposing secatianism against Protestants or their religions north or south, as I said I am part NI Protestant myself and I consider them as Irish as anyone.
I think it is abomnibal and disappointing that you have such bigotry against Protestants Bridget, Erskine Childers, Robert Emmet, Wolfe Tone and many other men of such beliefs were proud Irish patriots. As a religious Catholic I dont think Jesus would want us to discriminate against them either, Love thy neighbour as thyself he once said
How could we ever have a United Ireland without welcoming Protestants as as Irish as any Catholic, Michael Collins, Liam Lynch and De Valera would have been appalled at anyone who said otherwise
Yes Myers is liar who rewrites history wihtout any sign of guilt . Another mortal sin on his soul to add to all the others .LoL
If this is supposed to be some sort of exposee of Mc Cann it’s really lame.
Mc Cann……..a liar and a thief……what more is there to say?
Even I, a British Isles nationalist with Irish unionist heritage, can acknowledge that there was discrimination against Catholics in Northern Ireland in the first few decades of independence. However, it’s rarely acknowledged by republicans that unionist NI Prime Minister Terence O’Neill tried to reform the state only for extreme elements within both nationalism (Sinn Fein-IRA) & unionism (Paisley & loyalist paramilitaries) to prefer civil war over compromise and reconciliation.
Ever since direct rule in the 70s, discrimination against Catholics has been done away with. Today, Catholics in Northern Ireland are full and equal citizens of the UK with many in prominent positions in the civil service and higher echelons of the public sector.
Mr. Myers it appears, I could be wrong of course, to have an Oedipal Fixation with the MOTHERLAND, as many in Ireland (not just for some Irish up North either) view the “mainland”. And a concomitant hostility to our fatherland, Patria Nostra.
Of course, he is only commenting today on one small viewpoint of Ireland and can not be said to encompass his whole reality of the northern statelet….but most reasonable commentators do recognise an “apartheid” like discrimination in the Six-Counties.
I do enjoy the musings of Mr Myers however…..
He’s been at it for years Declan, he’s an old Jackeen hack who is still sour at Irelands Independence
Ireland is our Motherland.
Ireland is not a Fatherland.
ALL personifications ot Ireland are Female!
If KM loves a Fatherlanfd it cannot be Ireland
My humble apologies.
In my ignorance I was translating the word “Patria”, Latin for ones country (patriotic etc..)….which comes from the latin for FATHER, and I wanted to…….forget about it….you are, of course, correct…..stupid of me, really……..and “Fatherland” is NOT spelled with extra “f” ….sorry to point it out…..
ÉIRE is my Fatherland….I’m a stubborn old b**T**d…….
You are of course correct about Patria being the root for both patriotism and fatherland.
A Latin word.
Nevertheless, Ireland has never been considered a “fatherland”, ever.,
ALL references to Ireland as a country throughout all our history and culture have referenced Ireland as a female entity, a motherland, entirely independent of the foreign Latin language.
Oops. I misspelled a word! Oh, my bad!
Ireland is, was, and always will be my motherland.
Funny how Vaterlands always seem to be imperialist!
Maith thú
Do you agree with Mr. Myers that were was no discrimination against Catholics in the devolved Northern Ireland 1922-1972?
Quote from Myers in the above piece,
“…sentence that almost alone virtually destroys the assertion that Northern Ireland was an apartheid state”
If so, then you are either incredibly ill informed or a racist against the Irish.
Ní cheart duit ár dteanga dúchais, ársa álainn a úsáid a thuilleadh, dá réiteoinn tú leis an fealladóir Kevin Myers faoi an Orange Statelet
I don’t think he even believes that.
He was probably astonished that the paper didn’t actually refuse to take the ink on that assertion of his.
Who knows Bog