A Protestant Paper for a Protestant People: The Irish Times and the Southern Irish Minority

We Irish Protestants have always had a reputation for appreciating the minutiae of social distinction. Often invisible to the outsider, this extended to such as our dogs, our yachts and, of course, our newspapers. My paternal grandmother was no exception. Her take on the relative pecking order of the Irish dailies was that one got one’s news and views from the Irish Times, one lit the fire with the Irish Independent, and as for the Irish Press – ah! Delicacy forbids me to go into details, but suffice it to say that it involved cutting it into appropriate squares, and hanging these in the smallest room of the house!