Opinion

Patrick Murphy: Nationalist devotion to EU based on faith rather than reason

Patrick Murphy

Patrick Murphy

Patrick Murphy is an Irish News columnist and former director of Belfast Institute for Further and Higher Education.

Minister for foreign affairs Simon Coveney has championed a position of moral superiority on Brexit, supported by Sinn Féin and the SDLP. Julien Behal Photography/PA Wire
Minister for foreign affairs Simon Coveney has championed a position of moral superiority on Brexit, supported by Sinn Féin and the SDLP. Julien Behal Photography/PA Wire Minister for foreign affairs Simon Coveney has championed a position of moral superiority on Brexit, supported by Sinn Féin and the SDLP. Julien Behal Photography/PA Wire

Is Brexit a sin? A ridiculous question, you say, (although it is not meant literally). You would have a point were it not for the religious-style echoes and attitudes which ring through Irish nationalism’s reaction to Britain’s departure from the EU.

While there are rational arguments for and against Brexit, nationalists appear to base their devotion to the EU on faith rather than reason. In that context, it is tempting to conclude that Brexit now resembles the Protestant Reformation of 500 years ago, this time with added economics.

In 1517 the Catholic Church was rocked to its foundations when Martin Luther challenged it as Europe’s undisputed authority in beliefs and behaviour, by establishing a rival religion. England’s Henry VIII also broke away, establishing the Church of England to compete with the Church of Rome.

In 2016 the European Union was rocked when Britain broke away from the Treaty of Rome, the EU’s foundation stone, and formed a rival power-bloc. (While some may seek similarities between Henry VIII and Boris Johnson, it must be said in Mr Johnson’s defence that he has not beheaded his wife nor destroyed any monasteries. Well, not yet, anyway.)

After the Reformation, Ireland stuck to European Catholicism. After Brexit, Ireland rallied to the EU, with a fervour it previously reserved for the Catholic Church. The EU became Ireland’s new moral authority (despite having bankrupted the country in 2008).

A whimsical way of looking at the world, you say, and you might be right. But the significance of the religious comparison is its analysis of human behaviour. Following the Brexit referendum, this column suggested that Dublin should open talks with the unionists and Britain to minimise Brexit’s impact on the north.

Instead, Irish nationalism launched a prolonged attack on Britain (“little Englanders”) rather than treating Brexit as a democratic decision requiring renewed UK-EU co-operation. It is hard to understand nationalists’ attitude. Presumably they saw Brexit as morally wrong, thereby requiring both punishment and penance.

Simon Coveney championed this moral superiority, supported by Sinn Féin and the SDLP. Like the Catholic Church in 1545, they began a counter-reformation to undermine Brexit. They demanded a second referendum and, with EU backing, punished Britain by making Brexit needlessly difficult. (Mind you, King Boris was less than helpful by making and breaking agreements with royal regularity.)

Now the penance has arrived in the form of the Northern Ireland Protocol. Those suffering include garden centre owners, Lough Neagh eel fishermen, health shops, woodland conservationists and pet owners. From next year, health professionals will be unable to access anti-Covid vaccines from the UK, as Robin Swann announced this week, with no nationalist outcry.

About 20 per cent of customs checks in the EU now occur here, an area with less than half a per cent of the EU population. If that’s not punishment, what is it?

In response to unionists' complaints, SF, the SDLP and Fine Gael tell them that they created the problem and must suffer the consequences. Their sin must be atoned by penance. Just as Pope Clement excommunicated Henry VIII, Simon Coveney effectively excommunicated northern Protestants, apparently on the basis of the EU’s infallibility.

Ireland now contributes more to the EU than it receives, but the EU has failed to supply sufficient vaccines. Neither the Dublin media nor Sinn Féin has criticised the EU. Is that faith or reason?

Nationalists might remember that the radical Presbyterianism created by the Reformation ultimately inspired the 1798 Rebellion. It was later undone by the Catholic nationalism of Daniel O’Connell, who died travelling to Rome, where his heart was buried. Nationalist Ireland’s heart remains buried in the Treaty of Rome, leading them to castigate their Protestant neighbours (while advocating a united Ireland).

The sad reality is that Brexit’s religious overtones have a hard resonance on the north’s sectarian streets. Following the Reformation, sectarianism turned faith into bigotry, particularly here. We need more reason and less faith to prevent Brexit from making that problem significantly worse.