Irish Double-thought
By ERIAN INGLIS
" No Catholic may enter the Protestant University of Trinity College without having previously submitted his case to the Ordinary of the Diocese.
" Any Catholic who deliberately disobeys this law is guilty of a mortal sin, and while he persists in disobedience is unworthy to receive the Sacraments."
ANNUALLY these words are to be found in the Arch- bishop of Dublin's Lenten Pastoral. Visitors—not only from Britain, where Irish eccentricity is taken for granted, but also from Catholic countries on the Continent— are astonished to come across them. They arouse little sur- prise in an Irishman. If he knows his history, as he usually does, he realises how few years have gone by since the gyve was on the other foot. Education was given to Catholics (if it was given at all) in the hope that it would cure them of their Popish superstition. A reaction was inevitable: the surprise is that it has been so mat. The words of the Pastoral are a formula. If fears were seriously entertained for the Catholic student, he would presumably be forbidden to enter pagan Oxford. But no ban is laid on Oxford. Nor, really, is there a ban on Trinity College, Dublin, at which there are several hundred Catholic students, including the daughters of a recent Minister for External Affairs, and of a present Judge of the Supreme Court. They would not be there if serious sectarian strife existed.
Paradoxically, although proofs positive appear to exist of bigotry in Ireland, little bigotry exists. This is largely because the Irish mind has a remarkable capacity for holding two contradictory sets of values at the same time. Consider the case of Lenten observances. To go off cigarettes or drink for Lent is a custom long honoured here. With the help, perhaps, of a " bisque " to see them through the night after an Inter- national Rugby game, or through St. Patrick's Day—though March 17th is " dry " so far as the pubs are concerned, in order to prevent excessive celebration—thousands of Irishmen will make a real effort at self-denial during Lent. At the same time, there are the formal observances of the Church to be followed. Followed they are, most faithfully. These regula- tions are set forth in the Lenten Pastorals, often in considerable detail. The very closeness of the definitions operates as a powerful incentive to that form of double-thinking which per- mits a wealthy Catholic to observe to the letter his day of Fast and Abstinence by dining off oysters, bortsch, Lobster Mor- nay, Peche Melba, and Camembert, rounded off with a liqueur at the club, where he can comment upon the decay of Christianity among the Dublin poor, who cannot be persuaded to give up going to the cinema during Lent.
Double-thinking in Ireland is, however, less a constitutional weakness than a tendency imposed by the forces of environ- ment and history. Particularly is this true in Irish politics. The winning of national independence left many problems unsettled—Partition, the language, the relations of Church and State. Since 1921 the speeches of politicians have tended to stick close to a pattern of devotion to the cause of a United Ireland, a Gaelic Ireland, and a Christian Ireland—usually in that order. This is not hypocrisy : usually the speaker believes that he believes. The belief, however, is entirely divorced from reality. There can hardly be a politician in the South of Ire- land who is unaware that the Border cannot now be removed. Even if both parties were willing, many weary months, prob- ably years, of effort would be required to integrate the two economies, if chaos were not to come again. In private con- versation most Southern politicians will admit as much, speculating ruefully what would happen to the china-shop of Southern industry if it were to be invaded by hard-headed Belfast business bulls. They do not talk about this in public. No plan, even, exists to make unity possible on an economic level, should a unity of hearts be secured. The politicians have simply shut the business out of their minds.
Much the same is true of the Irish language question. Although " compulsory Irish " in schools has made enemies, most people in the South would like to see Irish become the spoken language of the country in time, provided that they personally are not expected to do much about it. The poli- ticians faithfully reflect the prevailing mood. At party meeting after party meeting, resolutions urging renewed efforts on behalf of the Irish language are moved and passed unani- mously, or at least nem. con. The effect of over a quarter of a century's agitiation of this kind was shown the other day at the annual Convention of the Government party. By mis- chance the usual motion on the language was put in the Irish language. Hardly a hand arose, in the crowded hall. Somebody on the platform hastily suggested that the desired result might be obtained if the motion were put in English. It was; and almost all the delegates raised their hands.
Double-thinking is not without its advantages. It enables a politician to satisfy the cranks and the obscurantists with vehement phrases, while doing nothing for them in practice. This variation on the Erewhonian idea of a musical bank, the value of whose currency for practical purposes is nil, but in which the possession of an account gives a certain cachet of respectability, has its value in enabling the ordinary political • " banks " to get on with the job without fuss. Irish political parties are as a result vastly saner than the public expressions of their leaders would seem to indicate. An instance has occurred recently when the Government decided to remedy an old injustice by the introduction of a shortened form of birth certificate for general use, in which details of parentage would not be included. In this way, it was argued, the teeth of the natural child need no longer be set on edge every time he presented himself for, say, an entrance to a scholarship examination, or for State employment. This bill was denounced on its appearance by General MacEoin, an opposition leader, as " a product of the liberalistic mind " and " the first step to break down our ancient traditions "—an attempt under the guise of legitimising everybody to make everybody illegitimate.
The State's attempts to inject a little Christian charity into the country's social system are often met with arguments of this kind; and the General, it should be noted is a man of influence. He was Minister for Justice in the last Government, and runner-up in the last Presidential election. But the signi- ficant point was that he received no support. The attempt to equate liberal or " liberalistic " ideas with anti-clericalism or communism, though it is frequently made, only rarely has much success, however noisy the demonstrators may be. The solid weight of public opinion in Ireland, though it is not always courageously expressed, is very far from obscurantist.
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