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15/08/2008
O'Loan 'Sorry' For Giving Offence
Although not renowned for controversy, the BBC's long-running radio show, Woman's Hour, has this week sparked considerable debate over remarks attributed to Dame Nuala O'Loan which have been interpreted in some quarters as a slur on NI Protestants.
Her comments on the BBC Radio Four programme have been criticised by listeners leaving comments on the BBC's Woman's Hour website.
One correspondent said: "I was deeply upset, and hurt, by Nuala O'Loan saying that Protestants in N.Ireland grew up being told that they could not trust Catholics. This was certainly not my experience nor, I'm pretty sure, would it have been the experience of the majority of our Protestant friends."
Another correspondent writes: "All I can say is that I was never aware of anyone being told that Catholics couldn't be trusted. Since hearing this being said by Nuala O'Loan... I've mentioned it to a few people locally and they've all been horrified. I'm sure it'll have caused great offence [to Protestants].
Today's Belfast News Letter reports on a 'lengthy discussion' on the matter, with Mrs O'Loan saying that she was sorry if her radio remark was deemed offensive "but I simply report what was said to me".
The former boss of the body representing NI's electricity users, and latterly, the first ever NI Policing Ombudsman's reported comments follow those of other senior figures in the Catholic community about Protestants in recent years.
In 2005, at a public meeting, Father Alec Reid compared the unionist community to Nazis.
"They [Catholics] were not treated like human beings," he said. "It was like the Nazis' treatment of the Jews."
The same year, Irish President Mary McAleese also compared Protestants to Nazis.
"They [Nazis] gave to their children an irrational hatred of Jews in the same way that people in Northern Ireland transmitted to their children an irrational hatred, for example, of Catholics, in the same way that people give to their children an outrageous and irrational hatred of those who are of different colour and all of those things," she said.
See: Decommissioning churchman criticised over 'Nazi' remark
(BMcC)
Her comments on the BBC Radio Four programme have been criticised by listeners leaving comments on the BBC's Woman's Hour website.
One correspondent said: "I was deeply upset, and hurt, by Nuala O'Loan saying that Protestants in N.Ireland grew up being told that they could not trust Catholics. This was certainly not my experience nor, I'm pretty sure, would it have been the experience of the majority of our Protestant friends."
Another correspondent writes: "All I can say is that I was never aware of anyone being told that Catholics couldn't be trusted. Since hearing this being said by Nuala O'Loan... I've mentioned it to a few people locally and they've all been horrified. I'm sure it'll have caused great offence [to Protestants].
Today's Belfast News Letter reports on a 'lengthy discussion' on the matter, with Mrs O'Loan saying that she was sorry if her radio remark was deemed offensive "but I simply report what was said to me".
The former boss of the body representing NI's electricity users, and latterly, the first ever NI Policing Ombudsman's reported comments follow those of other senior figures in the Catholic community about Protestants in recent years.
In 2005, at a public meeting, Father Alec Reid compared the unionist community to Nazis.
"They [Catholics] were not treated like human beings," he said. "It was like the Nazis' treatment of the Jews."
The same year, Irish President Mary McAleese also compared Protestants to Nazis.
"They [Nazis] gave to their children an irrational hatred of Jews in the same way that people in Northern Ireland transmitted to their children an irrational hatred, for example, of Catholics, in the same way that people give to their children an outrageous and irrational hatred of those who are of different colour and all of those things," she said.
See: Decommissioning churchman criticised over 'Nazi' remark
(BMcC)
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