Opinion

Jim Gibney: 2017 was a year of sorrow and a year of change for republicans

 The early part of the year was dominated by Martin McGuinness’s sudden illness, his equally sudden death and his funeral which was an incredible outpouring of grief and pride
 The early part of the year was dominated by Martin McGuinness’s sudden illness, his equally sudden death and his funeral which was an incredible outpouring of grief and pride  The early part of the year was dominated by Martin McGuinness’s sudden illness, his equally sudden death and his funeral which was an incredible outpouring of grief and pride

At a personal level, 2017 was a difficult year for republicans; yet at a political level it was a remarkable year of change.

The early part of the year was dominated by Martin McGuinness’s sudden illness, his equally sudden death and his funeral which was an incredible outpouring of grief and pride for a leader who helped transform Irish politics, by dint of personality and vision for a better country, for all who live here.

Republicans were and are still at sea, in coming to terms with the loss of Martin. His decades-long experience as an outstanding leader is sorely missed and of course the void in his family is immense.

By the year’s end republicans had more difficult news to absorb when Gerry Adams announced he was standing aside for a new leader. And although Gerry had earlier signalled his intention, the announcement still came as a surprise.

In all walks of life change is not only inevitable, it is also a necessary part of the process of renewal.

The key to making it successful is to plan for it and identify, as republicans have done, a new leadership to carry on the work of Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams.

The new leadership will be inheriting a political culture in Ireland which is unrecognisable from that which existed when Gerry and Martin took over the leadership of Sinn Féin in the 1980s.

The prospect of a new and independent Ireland sits on the political horizon as never before, placed there by a combination of republican persistence and the unforeseen arrival of Brexit and the upheaval and the opportunities presented by it.

On the one hand Brexit and a hard border threatens peace and progress and huge swathes of the economy. Yet, it has also redefined Irish national politics in a positive and unexpected way.

The decision by the people of the north to vote Remain in the EU referendum and the impact of the heating scandal on the DUP resulted in unionists losing their majority in the north’s assembly election in March and the arrival, for the first time since partition, of a progressive majority of MLAs in the assembly.

Unionist parties suffered another blow in the Westminster election in June when less than 50 per cent of unionists turned out to vote.

And although the DUP and the Tories made great play about their ‘coalition of dependency’ it is quite clear that the DUP/Tory deal has exposed the weakness of the DUP as it clings to a party in free fall over Brexit.

Alongside these shifts inside the unionist community many former SDLP voters decisively switched to Sinn Féin with Sinn Féin winning all seven nationalist seats in the Westminster election.

Brexit also put partition centre-stage in the form of the “border” debate.

A debate which lifted the economic and political consequences of partition from here and placed them in the middle of the EU negotiations with the British government over its withdrawal from the EU.

And while the final shape of the deal between the EU and Britain is still being worked out the first phase of it seems to favour the EU and Ireland.

The Brexit “border” debate also marshalled new energy and new ideas about a new and independent Ireland.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney added their voices to this debate with the taoiseach reassuring northern nationalists that the Irish government would not abandon them over Brexit and Coveney declaring his support for a united Ireland in his political life time.

Unfortunately, the leader of Fianna Fáil Micheal Martin ended his political year as he started it with a petty and vindictive attack on Gerry Adams and Sinn Féin in the Dáil in the forlorn hope that it will damage Sinn Féin and help him be elected taoiseach.

Concerns about the commitment of the Irish government and Fianna Fáil to using their influence to end partition and help bring about a united Ireland prompted 200 northern nationalists, from all walks of life, to write an open letter to the taoiseach, which this paper championed.

It was an appeal with huge significance representing nationalism with one voice, a letter which has helped set the national political scene for 2018.