Northern Irish Unionists visit Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland 1973 

Northern Irish Unionists visit The Republic of Ireland, 1973 Part 1 - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vWpDtOXhDn4.html

Its quite interesting to see how the Republic has moved on and unionist politicians still seem to be stuck in the past.

As a Monaghan(Republic Of Ireland) and Ulsterman, the use of Ulster by Unionists as a term encompassing Northern Ireland has always slightly erked me. You hear it here and I've heard it from contemperary Unionists too. There are 9 counties in Ulster, the Province of the island of Ireland and only two thirds of which is part of Northern Ireland. Small hill and all but sure.....

3 Young Irish priests not a sight that you would see today.

Very interesting to watch, however it's very telling how they cannot separate the concept of "Southern" Irish from Catholicism. They also seem to only ask questions which they pretty much know the answers to - a priest's views on contraception are already known, and they could have got that answer without leaving Belfast. Asking that question is just getting a pretext for expressing your own views on the matter. None of the men seemed to be there to find out what "Southern" Irish people were like, only to tell them what they thought of them. The women seemed more open minded. I don't know if there was more to this documentary but it would have been interesting to see what their interactions would have been if they were brought to speak to ordinary people, in Dublin for example, rather than the seminary in Maynooth which they could hardly have seen as neutral ground. Also the fact that they kept interrupting the answers to their questions was wrecking my head LOL.

At 2:52 - here we have two priests from the Diocese of Derry, both men have died within the last year of 2021-2022. Father Aidan Mullan on the left of the screen and Father Patrick O'Kane on the right I believe.

All very interesting. I'm a Northern Irish Protestant, born in 1973....It's fascinating to see these uploads and how views have (or haven't) changed....

As soon as they can feel their recieved opinions start to fall they rush in with tired tropes as "gotcha" type questions. They are not really there to learn, but to defend their prejudices.

This is SO interesting. Would love to see more. Pat on the back to the Unionists that took the trip down South to ask questions and actually find out what's what. I'm sure it took a lot of guts for them to come down South at that point in time. The thing is, if a Catholic from down South had gone up North at that time poking around and asking questions I don't think they would have been nearly so pleasantly received and allowed to debate ideas back and forward like we see in this short clip.

I've been to the university at Maynooth once for a conference, and I remember that exact tunnel! I stayed in those same dorms right across from it. Great slice of life and window in to the changing society of Ireland almost 50 years ago. It seems like Irish accents were thicker at the time.

They ask a question and interrupt almost immediately.....

of course the guy casually wearing a top hat studies history 2:32. Classy...

Important little snapshot of history. Thanks for uploading

29… loyalism fairly ages you. Being aggrieved all the time taking effect.

Jaysus grown up in Maynooth my whole life the college looks beautiful there much more greener and way less parking

The nun spoke sense. The Protestants are being a little rude here I think.

I'm only catholic when there's protestants around.

Aggressive, confrontational, hostile and belligerent - the default settings of Unionists laid bare in this wonderful little video. They talk about loyalty to the crown but it's a conditional loyalty, dependent on the British government giving them annual handouts.

Where do you find these? Really amazing vintage footage.

Good old Maynooth.. Certainly had its own gothic charms..and interesting thing to do..

"I'm only a shipyard worker" spoken by someone taking full advantage of their religion and orange order membership.....ffs

The Ulster people have quite an aggressive tone in their questioning..doesn't seem much as changed in 50 years which is sad..

Maynooth was set up by the British in the late 18th century. The irony is that the Catholic Church was allowed to develop in Ireland throughout the 19th century to become an agent of British rule. They never opposed British rule & during a crisis always came down on the side of established authority. They were no different from the Protestant churches.

It cut off just when it was getting interesting: 'Too many things are accepted and not questioned on both sides'.

I studied in Maynooth myself, the student in the hat looks very like my Northern Irish Society lecturer who is also now a senior professor at the department of sociology. The student even said he was studying sociology. I do wonder if it's him, he is from Northern Ireland and I'd say that's about the age he would have been back then!

Seeing this has acted as a warning to me as we move into these very divisive post-Brexit days. We never want to see army checkpoints on the island of Ireland again.

Interesting how two communities can stand and have a civilised chat with each other without the Toxic Press and Media Stirring.

The ulster people weren't wanting to listen.

I was a teenager in 1973 and didn’t give a dam about the church nor did I give a dam about the queen

It must be quite a shock to find normal human beings on the other side of the border, it is dangerous to have a closed mind, to think that only you should have total rights over everything, that you own the world, that God will only look after your needs and to hell with everyone else. It is very good to have an open mind, treat all others well and you will in return get treated very well. No wars, no conflict, free to travel and roam across all the land. This comes from someone who was tricked his way to become one of the very youngest to join the Irish army. I left because I refused to point a gun at anyone

From Maynooth myself. The college still looks the same only difference is u rarely see priests or nuns these days.

It would be another 25 years before the Good Friday Agreement would be signed... and in the coming years the Troubles would get worse....

I wonder what the unionists would think of the Republic of Ireland now... One of the most liberal states in Europe.

Why was Ireland so polarised along religious lines? I put it down to Lord Randolph Churchill's decision to "Play the Orange Card" against Gladstone's policy of Home Rule for Ireland. In Ireland, that meant over a century of sectarian violence, at first with explicit Tory support, which led to nearly a century of Conservative dominance in Scotland and the industrial class cities of England, as champions of Protestant over Catholic workers. Religion is played out now, so the Tories have switched to race, lightly disguised as nationality. The new baggage entails a "hostile environment," identity checks, ending human rights, subjecting the Supreme Court to ministerial veto, etc.

Wow didn't know Benedict Cumberbatch was an Irish priest back in the 70's

Good to see seminarians referring to conscience so soon after a certain Roman Catholic archbishop had departed his mortal coil The visitors do not seem to be overly interested in answers to questions which some of them are using to make a point and then counter answer replies unnecessarily. No surprise that the majority of the island remained very peaceful. The Roman Catholic church spoke and still does through one archbishop in Dublin to Roman Catholics in the independent part of Ireland and not other denominations . Then and now Dublin has only one cathedral a church of Ireland (protestant) one. In Belfast the Roman Catholic archbishop was and is the primate of all Ireland but the church of Ireland archbishop was and is primate of members of the COI.. other Christian denimatioms and all Jewish congregations had then and their management structures as do newly arrived religions It seems to me that these visitors of they really wanted answers could have asked these questions from protestant clerics in Belfast and could have used their visit to find out about Roman Catholicism. 😀💛

The Catholics are so much more informed and friendlier.

Wow. This is interesting but stressful too. I know it's as a consequence of where I was born but I'm very glad this didn't factor into my life. I've lived with people in the past who would grew up in NI and I could really see the impact it had. All I saw was the news, living through it all is something I could barely imagine.

The roman catholics have won the debate hands down.

After watching this Video and listening to these People, one would think of what the 1700s were like back then. Wow!

Not a big fan of the church but these lads did a great job, seems like northern extreme protestants will use any uneducated rhetoric, the perfect response to their question on the pope would have been well what are you doing listening to the pope

Crazy it hasn’t changed much at all. The garden down the square even looks exact same

Please can you.post the rest of this documentary..pretty please

The tall guy with the beard is Michael Clery. He became a well known media figure.

Fascinating stuff

29 is all that fella is?! Wha?! Mother of Jaysus..

Fascinating footage of my old alma mater.

Why not paint "we are loyal to a country where the head of state is also head of a church" We are loyal to a country where Catholics cannot be prime minister or head of state" We are loyal to a country where the protestant only prime minister appoints Protestant only bishops to the house of lords" Aye, home rule is Rome rule indeed. lol!

The passive aggressiveness displayed by these people is plain to see. They weren't really interested in learning anything from southern people, they were there to put their pov across and to tell everyone how wrong they were. The loaded questions, the micro aggressions and subtle contempt is in fact the hallmark of a bigot. I can assure you from personal experience of living and getting to know many northern unionists that they are frightened of the southern state and what they believe is in store for them once the island is inevitability reunited. They know what the experience of Northern Catholics was in the six counties and are expecting retribution taking the form of the disgusting discrimination and sectarianism to which northern Catholics were treated. Not understanding that we are just not like them. Bigotry is the cornerstone of the loyalist mindset and its only now that the people of the south are finally seeing it with their own eyes thanks to social media. Oh how they're in for a treat 😊

There Is Only One Queen The Queen Of Ireland And Heaven Our Blessed Lady Mary.☘✝️🇮🇪

Setup: outside in the cold. No chairs. No food. No comfort. 2 sides, facing off. This is a setup. Why not have it inside, hot tea, good food, warmth and comfort? Someone charming and funny doing introductions, speaking for both sides, highlighting the similarities and mutual priorities. This is so setup.

Fantastic upload. Beats all the usual NI stuff.

Very high quality footage considering it is almost 50 years old..

The Unionists asked about a mixed education from the church. What would be better is that the Unionists get a Catholic education instead.

Fascinating social history

Is that " Fat Bastard " from Austin powers..think he was in the first part told us all he was 29

The young priests apologising almost for our faith. On the other hand open dialogue is no longer allowed in any sphere of our culture now.

The Maynooth Grant was a cash grant from the British government to a Catholic seminary in Ireland. In 1845, the Conservative Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, sought to improve the relationship between Catholic Ireland and Protestant Britain

Would love to have seen another couple of minutes more because the northern priest with the glasses.......takes a punk-style puff of his cigarette and the way his body language is shaping up suggests he's rolling the sleeves up for a bit of argy bargy.

They criticize the influence of the religion in the South (and in some ways rightly so) .. but ironically they are the only ones mentioning it .. they are the ones who keep bringing religion up.

I must say, Morrissey looks pretty fetching in a top hat.

Would these people have known that the POPE put King Billy on the English throne

Is there a Part 3?

7:35 he’s right. Too many people complain about the other sides “teachings”. What teachings? I guarantee you can’t tell me one teaching

"Home rule is Rome rule"??????????? No Catholic priests in the Irish parliament. Protestant bishops appointed to the British house of lords by the prime minister who must be Protestant. Ireland has had Catholic and Protestant heads of state voted into office by a largely Catholic electorate. The British head of state must not be Catholic as that is enshrined in British law. The British head of state is also head of a church. Who said "home rule is Rome rule"??????🤣🤣🤣🤣

Northern Ireland is mental. Look at how old those Unionists look.

7:11 Vistior: "Do you think we're bigots?" Student: "no, if you were bigots you wouldn't be here talking to us". I'm not sure, but I think that student might be Dermot Farrell, the present Catholic Archbishop of Dublin.

Interesting to hear how so many of the points of contention brought up by these unionists are theological (at least ostensibly). It's bizarre how old fashioned that seems now. Nowadays most religious people on the island are a lot less strict and many aren't religious at all, so very little sectarianism (in the strict sense of the word) comes into play in the unionist/nationalist divide. It's funny to see the unionists in this video criticise how the south forbids dirty books and contraception, when now the south has a greater track record of culturally liberal policies than the north (too liberal for many modern protestants), and a population that is only nominally catholic and barely takes the church seriously at all. Still, without those old arguments, there is a subset of modern unionists that remain as loyal as ever, because it was always more about national identity than it was about religion.

Part 3 ????

The Unionists don't come across well here, at all.

It has changed since 1973, bring them back now see how things have changed...

7.17 if ever I saw a knee capping pull of a cigarette that was it

asking a bunch of catholic priests about Birth Control !! .. WTF !!

It would be following up with the people from the North appearing in this video to contrast and compare 49 years later.....

Fascinating

Very interesting . Very charming people and shows how the whole situation might have been dealt with differently if there had been more talk earlier. I think by 1973 Ireland had already started to drift away from the influence of the church. Maynooth was not really representative of Ireland at the time. UCD, UCG or UCC would probably been a better reflection of what was going in in Ireland. Even so the Maynooth girl towards the start seems to be a bit mystified at the notion that the church was still overly influential. Most people in my recollection had by then tolerated the church but didn't take it that seriously. Not may people lived in fear of the clergy. Fintan O'Toole describes this peculiar shadow relationship with the Church very well in his book 'We don't know Ourselves".

Religion makes Faith political despite the fundamental message being the same. Imitate Christ Jesus by loving our neighbour and treat people the way we want to be treated

Interesting how a man in 1973 in his mid twenties looks like a 40+ year old

Part 3?

That’s Father Paddy from Derry

Always the Victims!Intransigence is bred in them.

Is the phrase ethnic cleansing banned in these comments?

My Aunty Norah at 4:49. A great lady.

I'm from a catholic background in the Republic and I'd actually agree with a lot of what the unionists are saying here. The church had too much power down here for too long. Thankfully those days are over. Unfortunately a lot of unionists still seem to have these concerns while we have moved on.

1.49 willy wonka meets woody allen

It’s kind of not a fair set-up, simple people whose education even in their own tradition goes only as far as a few handy slogans up against highly educated nuns and priests. They were naturally rather nervous and defensive come face to face with what they’d been taught to see as archvillains, given that I think they handled it pretty well.

Who will be first to leave the UK Scotland or N Ireland?

Christopher hitchens said he didn't take lectures on family values from people whose church was founded by Henry the 8.

I thought Northern Irish unionists objected to being called Irish .

Before southern ireland was conquered without one shot fired.

The young nun seems to be Sr Briege MCKenna

Is the remainder of this vide available i think its interesting

Responsible parenthood.

Is it just me that thinks the 29 year old guy looks like Donald Trump?

Unionists still seem far more bigoted and prejudiced in the intolerant questioning.

There's only one church and it's not a building made by man. Every knee will bend and every tongue will confess...

Where can I find the whole movie?

The priest with the glasses looks like Joe brolly

I remember a guy in the north (working class loyalist) background he believes the RC Church was a major stumbling block. I reckon he had a point

The lorry driver was also a uvf man he was took out in 1988.