If Northern Ireland cannot make decisions for itself, then it will to have to be done for it at Westminster. Northern Ireland is a region of the UK with no regional assembly unlike other parts of the UK – which is abnormal. No say over local matters, no say over funding, no say over historical inquiries, no say over justice, no say about where taxpayers’ money should be spent, no diplomatic status to usher in new investment and keep jobs. No real say while the farce at Stormont goes on and on. Northern Ireland is in a very precarious situation with the politics of attrition as strong and zealous as it ever was, with the recent failed, but commendable effort to get Stormont restarted. It is in a very lonely place at the moment as the UK struggles desperately to leave the EU. And lonelier it will get as it wrangles with the past, present and future if it has one. Northern Ireland must consider its future urgently or waste away to a skeleton. Nothing seems to be working, politics has failed, representation has failed. It would also be advisable for Northern Ireland to park the nasty abortion debate as it took up too much public time in the Republic and created enormous division. People were foaming at the mouth, until those who wanted abortion were allowed to and those who opposed did not have to go against their beliefs. This issue has great potential to sideline every other issue imaginable with something so personal and very private. The Republic had a 2:1 landslide in favour of abortion and got sick of out-of-date rhetoric which seemed to be coming from staunch Catholic sources, more than the public at large. A massive 66.4 per cent voted for the removal of the Eight Amendment.
It is important that Northern Ireland does not get carried away with an extremely divisive issue and let it take over every square inch of the media. It is important too that people who are pro-choice not be brow-beaten by fanatical anti-abortionists.
Northern Ireland should be worried about the big picture which is the future. It lost a lot of jobs recently with investors wary of political instability. If Northern Ireland has no future with a disastrous crash out, it can never hope to deal with legacy issues, as it will exert no influence over central government or funding. Northern Ireland is heading into wilderness, hopelessly adrift and going from one hopeless dispute to the next. Culture is of little value without effective government and decision making. Northern Ireland’s days could soon be numbered as a part of the UK with a disastrous Brexit on the way. It is fused to bi-cultural nightmare with no way out. What an irony it is for unionists to say in the Commons “the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement is threatened by a EU deal”, when the centre piece of the peace Agreement, which is Stormont, is absent and defunct? What agreement?
MAURICE FITZGERALD
Shanbally, Co Cork
How students get a kick from racist abuse defies belief
I read with disgust the report regarding the ongoing harassment of a Syrian family in the Holylands (October 16). For a family trying to build a new life for themselves after fleeing war-torn Syria only to be attacked in their homes is shocking.
Living in a foreign country, with a different language and culture is daunting enough without the fear of attack in their own homes. The local residents spokesperson is convinced the attacks are carried out by students. Most of the students living in the Holylands come from across the north attending the local universities and colleges hoping to become future engineers, teachers, NHS staff, IT programmers etc and how they get a kick from this racist abuse defies belief. I have met several Syrian families in my job and you could not meet more decent people. Leaving the death, destruction and mayhem of Syria for the betterment of their families only to be met by racism here in Belfast should be a source of student shame. The article quotes Ulster University on how the university does not tolerate this behaviour and I’m sure Queen’s and all the further education colleges agree with this position. I would also call on the other students who witness this racism to call it out and stand up to the bullies. Respect and decency goes a long way both now and in the future. Do the right thing.
SIMON ATHERTON
Strangford Co. Down
Sinn Féin has tried to make Good Friday Agreement work
REGARDING the letter – Mr Gibney, like others, placing trust in legally observe ‘British border poll’ from P Nugent (October 1), his central point appears to be around the calls
for a border poll and that poll date to be decided by the British.
I do not entirely disagree with this point. Where I do have a problem is that P Nugent appears, like others, to be very single minded. His phraseology “former republicans… newly found political carpet baggers” informs me that alternate courses are anathema. And the ritual citing of “countries of persecution”, quite familiar.
It is his right to disagree.
The Good Friday Agreement was roundly approved by the Irish people. The outworking of it has been disappointing. London and Dublin have not lived up to their responsibilities which they signed up to.
The DUP never supported the Goood Friday Agreement.
I think Sinn Féin have tried (maybe too patiently) to make it work. And this may be a key issue in the near future.
But the thought that the only republicans are those that are anti-Good Friday Agreement and have no alternative to offer than bile and rhetoric is insular.
MANUS McDAID
Derry City
North slow to move beyond xenophobia
The latest census reveals that a mere 7 per cent of Northern Ireland’s population speak a language other than English in their homes. This is a far lower figure than any other part of the UK.
Northern Ireland has been slow to move beyond xenophobia towards any kind of tolerance.
In every land, of course, you’ll find groups of people unhappy with immigrants, since that’s the tribal nature of human psychology. But this strain of nativism is particularly strong among populations which have themselves developed a siege mentality towards the wider population in the same land.
Prior to the mid-20th century the presence of minority languages in a country was interpreted as a reflection of a weak sense of national integration and a sign of backwardness.
Today, however, acceptance of minority religious and linguistic rights is seen as evidence of a country’s political maturity and openness to diversity.
Here in Northern Ireland, the DUP is perceived by most immigrants, myself included, as the party of intolerance which still clings to this outdated model.
GEORGE TZAMOURANIS
Belfast BT13
