Yes James Craig said Northern Ireland was a "Protestant State", but why do we forget de Valera said that Ireland was "a Catholic nation"

John Draper wrote in History Ireland:

"Did the Unionist leader James Craig really describe Stormont as a ‘Protestant parliament for a Protestant people’, as quoted by Tony Canavan in ‘A papist painting for a Protestant parliament’ (HI 16.1, Jan./Feb. 2008)? This is at variance with the version given by Craig’s biographer, Patrick Buckland (James Craig, Gill and Macmillan, 1980). Citing Northern Ireland House of Commons records, Buckland says that Craig was making a comparison between the north and the south. Craig is recorded as saying that southerners had boasted and ‘. . . still boast of Southern Ireland being a Catholic State. All I boast of is that we are a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State.’ Note that in this version there is no reference to the northern state and parliament being ‘for a Protestant people’. Critics may draw that inference, but that does not mean that the prime minister uttered those words. 

Mr Canavan conjoins his version of that quotation with another comment he says Craig made about his membership of the Orange Order: ‘I am an Orangeman first and a Protestant and a member of parliament afterwards’. There may be a slip of the pen (or typo) here, but, as it stands, this too conflicts with Buckland’s account. Again he quotes Craig from parliamentary records: ‘I am an Orangeman first, and a politician and Member of this Parliament afterwards’ (my italics). Buckland’s highly critical biography generously says that Craig was no bigot and never endorsed the Order’s more extreme sentiments. His controversial remarks about the Protestant nature of the northern state, says his biographer, were made ‘in the heat of debate’ and can be explained as a rhetorical response to events in the south. Nevertheless, Buckland says that these remarks reflect the influence of the Order and the extent to which Craig totally identified with the Protestant/unionist position, and used the power of the state to advance it."

History Ireland noted:

"We are grateful to Graham Walker for pointing out (correctly) that James Craig did not utter his ‘Protestant parliament for a Protestant people’ remarks in the context of the painting controversy and to John Draper for pointing out that he never uttered them at all! Like Humphrey Bogart’s ‘Play it again Sam!’ or Jack Lynch’s ‘standing idly by’, it is an interesting contrast between what we think or assume people said and what’s actually on the record."

Steven King, then an Ulster Unionist Party special adviser, wrote in the Irish Times in July 1999:

"Yes, James Craig did boast that Northern Ireland was "a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State" - not "a Protestant Parliament for a Protestant people" as Haddick-Flynn misquotes - but it was in direct response to de Valera's pretension that Ireland was "a Catholic nation." 

Patricia Craig, editor of the 'Oxford Book of Ireland', wrote in 1999:

"The Irish nationalist perception of bigotry as a Protestant phenomenon has been widely accepted by the world at large, though the Catholic Church was never behindhand when it came to imposing a sectarian outlook... 

No one remembers Edward Carson's advice to the Ulster Unionist Council, after Partition, to make it very clear that "the Catholic minority have nothing to fear from the Protestant majority". Yet everyone remembers Sir James Craig's comment in 1932, defining the North as a Protestant state and a Protestant people -"

And most importantly, she notes:

"but not that it was a riposte to de Valera's boasts about Southern Ireland being a Catholic state for a Catholic people."

She continued:

"Competing bigotries, you might say, shaped the two halves of Ireland in their earliest political incarnations. It's true that the Ulster Unionist Council did not exactly act on Carson's advice, that one-party government was never a recipe for democracy, and that egregious injustices were enacted. But ordinary decent Unionists and Orangemen (no less than ordinary decent nationalists) had no wish to live in anything other than amity with their fellow citizens, and many achieved this desirably undramatic state of affairs."

Writing in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, George Boyce said of James Craig (Lord Craigavon):

"[James Craig’s] statement in 1934 that he stood for ‘a Protestant parliament and a Protestant state’ must be seen in the context of de Valera’s claim that ‘we are a Catholic nation’ (Buckland, Factory of Grievances, 72), and indeed Craig’s whole career can be regarded as reactive, fashioned in opposition to the claims of Irish nationalism. Yet Craig was on good terms with individual nationalists, and he was punctilious in his dealings with the Roman Catholic hierarchy. But he did little to meet Catholic complaints about discrimination, and by the time of his death there were few Catholics in administrative posts, and fewer in the Royal Ulster Constabulary than there had been in 1922."

Jeffrey Dudgeon had a letter published in News Letter, 5 December 2011, 'Setting Craig's words in context of the time':

"Dear Editor, 

Nick Garbutt in his article 'A courageous brand of unionism' (1 December) contrasts Peter Robinson's conference speech with the famous remark of Sir James Craig, "All I boast is that we are a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State." 

It is unfair to Craig not to put his somewhat contradictory, and unfortunate phrasing in the context of the time. Here are the full set of remarks he made in a Stormont debate of 24 April 1934 on the rights of the minority, and how Catholics had fared since partition. 

Craig denied their conditions had deteriorated, ending his speech, "Since we took up office we have tried to be absolutely fair towards all the citizens of Northern Ireland. Actually, on an Orange platform, I, myself, laid down the principle, to which I still adhere, that I was Prime Minister not of one section of the community but of all, and that as far as I possibly could I was going to see that fair play was meted out to all classes and creeds without any favour whatever on my part." 

A nationalist MP interjected  "What about your Protestant Parliament?", to which Sir James replied, "The hon. Member must remember that in the South they boasted of a Catholic State. They still boast of Southern Ireland being a Catholic State. All I boast of is that we are a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State. It would be rather interesting for historians of the future to compare a Catholic State launched in the South with a Protestant State launched in the North and to see which gets on the better and prospers the more. It is most interesting for me at the moment to watch how they are progressing. I am doing my best always to top the bill and to be ahead of the South." 

Another contextual aspect is Eamon de Valera’s statement in 1932 welcoming the Papal Legate, "It is most fitting that the Irish Government should not only assist in every way the great and solemn function of the Eucharistic Congress here in Ireland, but also should take their due part and place in its proceedings", and his later remarks: "Since the coming of St Patrick 1500 years ago Ireland has been a Christian and a Catholic nation. She remains a Catholic nation."

Ian Adamson wrote in 2010:

"De Valera’s basic Catholic Nationalism was highlighted at a Dublin election meeting in February 1932, when he said:”The majority of the people of Ireland are Catholic and we believe in Catholic principles. And as the majority are Catholics it is right and natural that the principles to be applied by us will be principles consistent with Catholicity.” In October 1933 his deputy premier, Sean T O’Kelly declared that “the Free State Government was inspired in its every administrative action by Catholic principles and doctrine”. 

Unfortunately Craigavon allowed himself to be affected by these statements when he should have ignored them and he said in parliament in April 1934: “In the South, they boast of a Catholic state. They still boast of southern Ireland being a Catholic state. All I boast is that we are a Protestant parliament and a Protestant state”. And this is the statement which is remembered most today, as the recent rancorous debate in the Northern Ireland Assembly demonstrated. It was also particularly unfortunate that Craigavon, who was first and foremost an Orangeman, failed to obtain from the lesser men who were subordinate to him that conciliatory and understanding attitude towards the new Catholic minority in Northern Ireland which was natural to him. If he had done so, he would have better served the Protestants of Ulster by leaving them a State fortified with a lasting spirit of tolerance and social justice. 

De Valera’s basic Catholic nationalism was further highlighted by a radio broadcast on St Patrick’s Day 1935 when he said “since the coming of St Patrick, Ireland has been a Christian and a Catholic nation, she remains a Catholic nation.” This statement demonstrates, according to Conor Cruise O’Brien the peculiar nature of Irish Nationalism, as it is actually felt, not as it is rhetorically expressed. The nation is felt to be the Gaelic nation, Catholic in religion. Protestants are welcome to join this nation. If they do, they may or may not retain their religious profession, but they become as it were, Catholic by nationality. In 1937, de Valera was thus able to produce a new constitution, which was in essence a documentation of contemporary Roman Catholic social theory."

The Ulster-Scots Agency noted:

"This extract is frequently cited to Craig disadvantage. The passage was immediately preceded by Craig asking Northern Ireland's critics to 'remember that in the South they boasted of a Catholic state'. Craig was specifically referring to Eamon de Valera's assertion that Ireland was a 'Catholic nation'. De Valera is rarely quoted to his disadvantage."

Craig's full statement uttered in a 1934 Stormont debate on the rights of the Catholic minority:

"Since we took up office we have tried to be absolutely fair towards all the citizens of Northern Ireland. Actually, on an Orange platform, I, myself, laid down the principle, to which I still adhere, that I was prime minister not of one section of the community but of all, and that as far as I possibly could I was going to see that fair play was meted out to all classes and creeds without any favour whatever on my part."

 Another politician said: "What about your Protestant Parliament?" Craig replied:

"The hon. Member must remember that in the South they boasted of a Catholic State. They still boast of Southern Ireland being a Catholic State. All I boast of is that we are a Protestant Parliament and a Protestant State."

Taoiseach Éamon de Valera said in 1951:

"I am an Irishman second: I am a Catholic first and I accept without qualification in all respects the teaching of the hierarchy and the church to which I belong."