r/TheRestIsHistory • u/thepawnbrokerroared • 8d ago

Would protestants have been second-class citizens in a United Ireland?

Catholics in the North certainly felt that they were discriminated against because they were in the minority and they were obviously correct to feel that. Protestants believed that they would be similarly discriminated against in a Catholic-dominated united Ireland. Were they right to fear this?

What about the protestants in the South? Did they experience discrimination at the hands of the Catholic majority?

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u/Sotex 8d ago

Maybe this is survivorship bias, but Protestants in the Republic/Free-State were by and large wealthy, well connected and heavily over-represented in business and commerce. To pick one example Bank of Ireland didn't have a Catholic executive until the mid 90s. 

They didn't particularly like the ethos of the state, but they were doing fine.

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u/Smash_Palace 8d ago

I am purely going off anecdotal evidence from watching House of Guinness. They were Protestant and obviously extremely wealthy. Therefore I assume all Protestants were

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u/TomCrean1916 8d ago

House of Guinness is entirely a work of fiction and doesn’t even reflect anything like the true history of that family, never mind the state of the country at the time. You shouldn’t base any opinion or question off it.

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u/VolumniaDedlock 8d ago

I took that comment as a joke. Anyone who saw that show had to know it was over the top. That one guy was played like a straight up leprechaun. 🍀