to the parents that one brought both children and the other took them home to save them time and expense . But although they chatted together at the school gate , it would have caused trouble if they ’ d been seen on their street with each other ’ s children as one was a Catholic and the other a Protestant .
I asked if religious differences were less prominent now and they both went to great pains to put me right .
“ Oh No ! It ’ s never been about religion ,” they agreed . “ Definitely not . It ’ s culture .”
Apparently , when they arrived , starting from 1606 the Scots brought their culture to Ireland where people already had their own culture . It was James VI / I ( he was the sixth King James in Scotland but the first in England ) who started it all by ousting Gaelic chieftains from their Ulster lands and bringing in newcomers .
That they were Protestant , and the existing residents were Catholic was not the cause of conflict but that many native Irish lost their land and felt their culture was threatened .
I ’ d read Kate Adie ’ s book , “ The Kindness of Strangers ”. She writes of a period spent as a BBC correspondent in Northern Ireland . After living there and reporting on the troubles , even she never really found the underlying cause of what it was all about . With abortion laws different from the rest of the UK and same sex marriage illegal I wondered why they want to stay part of the UK but was told that it ’ s complicated and such a solution as to unite with the rest of Ireland would be too simplistic .
There was no chance of understanding it all in ten days , so I resorted to just noticing the differences as I enjoyed more lighthearted conversations over a half of Guinness .
There was no rush in the morning which allowed me time for a swim
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