Northern Catholics are being deprived ‘fair and adequate representation’, Derry priests claim

Derry, 1 October 1923 - A meeting of priests in Co. Derry has registered a protest at what it considers the gerrymandering of electoral boundaries to disadvantaged Catholics.

At a conference of priests of the diocese of Derry, held in Derry, Dungiven and Strabane, resolutions were passed arising out of the recent re-division of the rural electoral districts of Tyrone which is part of the Derry diocese, the ‘transparent object of which’ one resolution suggested’ ‘is to deprive Catholics, who are in the majority of the people of Tyrone, of fair and adequate representation on public boards of the county.’

The priests of the diocese also recorded their objection to utterances delivered by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland, Mr. Richard Best, at Portadown on August 25th, which were described as a ‘violation of the proprieties of official life’ and an ‘insult to every Catholic, not alone in Northern Ireland, but throughout the British Empire, and deserving the censure of the British parliament.’

Copies of the resolution are to be sent to the British Prime Minister, to the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and to the President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State. 

A further cause of concern for the northern Catholic minority will be reports that the Belfast government, having already abolished the Proportional Representation voting system for local elections, is planning to do the same for parliamentary elections. According to the Belfast Correspondent of the Daily Herald, a Bill is to be introduced early next year which will introduce single member constituencies in Belfast with two-member divisions in some of the county constituencies.

[Editor's note: This is an article from Century Ireland, a fortnightly online newspaper, written from the perspective of a journalist 100 years ago, based on news reports of the time.]