Republican News · Thursday 7 March 2002

Unionism and Irish unity

A Chairde,

I am a 35-year-old middle class Protestant, living in East Belfast, who favours a united Ireland (not as rare a bird as you might think). I have read the article titled "Republicans and unionists must engage on Irish unity' in the 14 February edition of An Phoblacht and would like to raise a number of points/questions:

1. "...making sure that we don't do onto others what was done onto us..." This is central to any argument you hope to win. Not only have you got to convince unionists this is not going to happen you also need to address the perfectly natural desire for revenge in your own community. It would be great to think that Catholics are morally superior to Protestants and would not abuse power. Unfortunately, we are all too human. A position of power and a desire to "set scores straight" could be a powerful combination for abuse.

2. "...beginning the process of persuasion now..." I totally agree with this comment; social change is awake and kicking in northern Protestant thinking, but takes time to manifest itself.

3. "...provides unionism with a veto..." You can argue about this forever, however, I feel it completely misses the bigger issue - without a widespread degree of agreement in the north I can't see voters in the south agreeing to a united Ireland

4. "...dealing with a chasm of distrust and suspicion..." Again a totally valid point. My concern here is that republicans need to ask "What are we going to do?" NOT "What are you going to ask others for us?"

5. "...onus on republicans to spell out to unionists...". This is absolutely the key point I would like to make. You must avoid wooly adjectives which just come across as waffle. Waffle is great if your audience is Americans or voters in the south and your objective is to set better mood music. If your audience are northern Prods you need to be concrete in terms of what a "new Ireland" would look like. The flag, the national anthem, the commonwealth and many other issues need to be talked about in clear, unambiguous terms.

6. "The challenge to unionists should not be underestimated..." This is the central common sense message and appeal of a united Ireland, when combined with the prosperity and more liberal social development in the south. It may not appeal to your socialist perspective but economics is the biggest driver maker northern Prods look south and think "we could do worse".

7. "Our goal as Irish republicans... persuade unionists that they should not be afraid of taking a leap of imagination..." Indeed a valid point, being concrete in terms of a united Ireland will make this less a leap and more of an informed step. I would ask, however, are your current voters capable of making the leap of imagination? Any "united Ireland" would be very different than perhaps they imagine it.

8. "Britishness". By placing this in parenthesis you appear to be indicating that it is not real or imagined. Clearly not to you, but even someone like me sees a lot to be proud of in Britishness (WW2, sport, popular culture, and so on) and adopting a dismissive approach/language is not helpful.

9. "Unionists should be prepared to put forward their vision..." By definition, unionist politicians are not going to do this. You need to find a way to talk to ordinary Prods. Perhaps Sinn Féin is not the best party to really advance this. Again, a question arises to me - Are you doing this to improve the party image or are you serious? If you are serious you may not be the party/group who can best lead this debate? Perhaps you are indeed the very people, I'm just not sure.

I hope the above is not seen as nitpicking or negative. I welcome the debate and hope it grows to, eventually, create a united Ireland. I feel that perhaps a bigger challenge than building a majority in the north is convincing a majority in the south to accept us, but that as someone once say is another debate.

Northern Protestant
(Contact details with editor)

Election observers for Ireland?

A Chairde,

In light of the Attoney General's suggestion that Sinn Féin should not be allowed to stand for election, the arrest of Sinn Féin's Director of Elections in North Kerry and the proposed attempt to censure (censor?) Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghíin Ó Caoláin, should the EU, and possibly the Zimbabwean government, be asked to send election observers to Ireland to ensure free and fair elections?

Mick Finnegan,
Cabra,
Dublin 7