Opinion

Jim Gibney: Brexit and DeSouza case remind us that independence is the only solution for Ireland

Emma DeSouza, pictured with her husband Jake, has been fighting the Home Office's refusal to recognise her Irish citizenship. Picture by Liam McBurney/PA Wire
Emma DeSouza, pictured with her husband Jake, has been fighting the Home Office's refusal to recognise her Irish citizenship. Picture by Liam McBurney/PA Wire Emma DeSouza, pictured with her husband Jake, has been fighting the Home Office's refusal to recognise her Irish citizenship. Picture by Liam McBurney/PA Wire

THE EU, the Irish government and pro-Remain parties north and south, as well as the people of the north who voted to Remain in the Brexit referendum of 2016, are entitled to commend their efforts given the deal now struck between the EU and the British government.

I think the efforts of Michel Barnier, Simon Coveney and Martina Anderson are worthy of particular note.

On two significant fronts the deal has achieved what they sought - no borders in Ireland and the north of Ireland remaining inside the EU in terms of the single market and customs union.

I am mindful as I write this of the concerns for businesses, of layers of bureaucracy in terms of the fluency of trade from Britain to Ireland.

I am also mindful of the criticism by the British Labour Party of the deal in terms of workers' rights, deregulation of financial institutions and human rights.

But in terms of the immediate concerns to the people of Ireland, no borders and continuing membership of the single market and customs union is very positive.

As we know there is no good Brexit deal.

And Johnson's deal could yet follow the fate of Theresa May's.

As I watched the DUP sitting on the benches at Westminster in a forlorn state, and not for the first time, I wondered will they ever accept the reality of these times - that Ireland is an afterthought in British politics and they are willing pawns, to be used and abused, as and when, it suits a particular British prime minister.

Perhaps they should reflect on the observations of the 19th century Lord Palmerston, who was twice British prime minister and foreign secretary for 25 years.

He said of the British government, then at the height of its imperial power: "In international relations, there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies, only permanent interests."

That dictum should be ringing in the ears of the DUP as their most recent recruit to the unionist cause, Boris Johnson, fulfilled to the letter and the spirit Palmerston's adage.

The 'permanent interests' of the British government trumped all other considerations including Theresa May's 'precious union' when the British government signed up to a deal with the EU which saw the north of Ireland treated differently and remain inside the EU with the rest of Ireland.

The pledge by Johnson that this would not happen followed an earlier pledge by May, before both set off on their journey to EU 'permanent interests' land.

Johnson's deal is the latest in a long line of British government decisions, stretching back to the early 1970s, which saw unionist parties humiliated because they failed the pragmatic test of the times.

The fall of Stormont and the disbandment of the B Specials come to mind. This was followed up with the Sunningdale Agreement, the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the disbandment of the UDR and the plethora of changes post the ceasefires including the Good Friday Agreement.

At no stage in this long history of denuding unionist parties of their privileged status and power, granted to them by successive British governments since partition, have unionist parties initiated change.

Whether or not Johnson's deal gets through Westminster it will not alter the historical course the British state has set in relation to the north of Ireland, which is to minimise its influence and interests there.

Johnson's deal confirms the direction travelled so far.

But as the decision in the Emma DeSouza case last week shows, the British government's malign influence remains in very powerful places.

Not least in its failure to fully and legally implement the Good Friday Agreement, and in particular its crucial citizenship clause which accepts the right of people in the north to claim Irish, British or joint citizenship.

Ms DeSouza and her husband Jake are a young married couple whose lives have been in turmoil for several years since they challenged the refusal of the British Home Office to recognise her legitimate claim to Irish citizenship.

The people of Ireland are indebted to them for their courageous stance.

The judgment in Emma's case that 'she' - and that means 'we' - are British citizens is an affront to the Good Friday Agreement and several hundred years of conflict where Irish citizenship was a central issue.

Brexit and Emma's case remind us that independence is the only solution for Ireland.