Northern Ireland Protestants in Despair
Episcopal News Service. May 18, 1995 [95096I]
(ENI) As the British government and Sinn Fein begin their first official talks in 20 years, Sam Hutchinson, general secretary of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, recently said that the mood of the province's Protestant community is one of "quiet despair" and that the Protestants already sense "an irreversible change in climate." He said that he was "more optimistic than ever that the cease-fire will hold. But for this to produce a satisfactory permanent peace, the South has got to change too. We are not seeing that." Another problem, he said, was that "the people have been told that violence doesn't pay, but now they see on both sides the men of violence getting all the attention."