Opinion

Deaglán de Bréadún: Brendan Behan would have had a field day with Brexit, the backstop and Boris Johnson

Deaglán de Bréadún
Deaglán de Bréadún Deaglán de Bréadún

What a pity the legendary Brendan Behan isn’t around to distract us from our worries at this difficult time. The raucously eloquent playwright and raconteur could apply his acerbic wit to the current shemozzle over the Three B’s: Brexit, Boris and the Backstop.

Thanks to The Brendan Behan Quotation Book compiled by Andrew Russell (Somerville Press, 2015) we can access many of the pronouncements by the Dublin-born writer prior to his untimely death in 1964 at the age of 41. Along with literary talent, his name is associated with enthusiastic alcohol consumption although Behan himself insisted: “I am a drinker with writing problems.” On another occasion, he declared: “I only take drink on two occasions – when I’m thirsty and when I’m not.”

The border was an issue in Behan’s day also and, as a teenager, he even loaded cans of petrol onto lorries that were used in attacks on customs posts. There is an item on YouTube called “Brendan Behan: Bonfire on the Border” where the author of Borstal Boy and The Hostage sings a ballad about this episode. King George VI was visiting Belfast at the time and the IRA also tried to assassinate him.

Attacks on customs posts continued in the 1950s and more recently during the Troubles. Behan might have found a humorous aspect to it all but, for most of us, the prospect of violence returning to the border area as a result of Brexit is an alarming prospect. The days when we were afraid to switch on the news in the morning could be on the way back.

Politics is supposed to be the art of the possible, so how did we get into this mess? Partly it is because London was never comfortable with the concept of European integration. If Behan was around he might say: “Long-term relationships sometimes work better on an extramarital basis.“

The UK may be finally about to leave the EU but there could still be a chance to minimise the negative effects, particularly the return of a hard border on this island. The only hope seems to be a compromise on the backstop. The term comes originally from baseball where it is applied to a wall or fence that keeps the ball in play. In a Brexit context it means primarily that there should be no physical checkpoints on the border, after the UK leaves the EU.

However, the prospect that the UK will depart without a deal has created a great deal of uncertainty. Last week, Irish minister for foreign affairs Simon Coveney said “some action, somewhere” would have to be taken to ensure that EU rules and regulations were applied to goods arriving from the north, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, although he pledged there would be no infrastructure on or near the border itself. He gave no detail on where the checks might take place but ruled out having designated zones because that would amount to creating new borders. However, this was the first time the Dublin government conceded publicly that some checks may be required.

The DUP’s Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has called for a time-limit to the backstop. But speaking in Brussels last month, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said: “The absolute position of the EU is that the Withdrawal Agreement – including the backstop – is not going to be reopening.” He went on to say that “a deal without a backstop is effectively no deal”.

I can’t help thinking of the way Irish politicians in former times regularly proclaimed the demand for a united Ireland with the result that unionist opposition became even more entrenched. The constructive compromise in the Good Friday Agreement recognising the need for majority consent in each jurisdiction has actually brought us much closer to a united Ireland, on an agreed basis, than all the booming rhetoric down through the years.

There is a strong view in the hard-line Brexit camp that when, as expected, Boris Johnson becomes prime minister he will capitulate and cut a deal with Brussels “because he has no principles”. Remainers will find that perspective encouraging but, even if Boris does compromise, he cannot leave the table without some concession to wave in front of his followers. Otherwise we’ll have a situation where, as Brendan Behan said about the republican movement: “The first item on the agenda is the split.”

Ddebre1@aol.com