YOU probably remember that in April last year, the SDLP MLA Cara Hunter caused a bit of a stir when she posted on X about unionists: “The coloniser mindset runs deep. I literally cannot fathom hating the Irish culture/heritage/language this much when your own reps stood proudly wearing a shamrock a fortnight ago.”

She wasn’t calling unionists colonists, as some of them claimed when they demanded an apology. In fact some other unionists agreed with her.

Wallace Thompson, founder member of the DUP, who knows a thing or two about unionism, said: “Cara Hunter is quite right. Unionism often does display a coloniser mindset towards the Irish language. Patronising and disrespectful. Crocodiles, yogurts and all that.”

It hasn’t always been like that.

Brian Feeney: What is the point of the DUP’s self-defeating war on all things Irish?

Alex Kane: Unionists don’t hate Irish culture, but many fear the change it represents

The Coloniser mindset runs deep.

I literally cannot fathom hating the Irish culture/heritage/language this much when your own reps stood proudly wearing shamrocks a fortnight ago?

Make it make sense! https://t.co/7TY6HEkbxB

You may be familiar with the photo of the 1892 Ulster Unionist Convention with ‘God Save the Queen’ alongside ‘Erin Go Bragh’,........

© The Irish News