Opinion

Martin O'Brien: It has to be asked if Northern Ireland is simply ungovernable

As Northern Ireland nears its centenary, is it simply ungovernable by politicians at Parliament Buildings at Stormont - or elsewhere?
As Northern Ireland nears its centenary, is it simply ungovernable by politicians at Parliament Buildings at Stormont - or elsewhere? As Northern Ireland nears its centenary, is it simply ungovernable by politicians at Parliament Buildings at Stormont - or elsewhere?

It is a deeply troubling question but it must be posed after yesterday's failure at Stormont.

Is Northern Ireland just ungovernable by its own leaders as it approaches the 100th anniversary of its unfortunate birth?

And would it be any more governable if a referendum on Irish unity was passed by a small majority post-Brexit?

Are the leaderships of our respective tribes just so pig-headed and the unquenched bitterness of the past 50 - or is it 100 years - so great that the will is just not there for a workable compromise to enable our own politicians, as opposed to direct rule ministers even with inevitably greater input from Dublin, to get on with fixing our health services and the crisis in our schools etc.?

Such important remedial action will be assisted by that welcome £1bn the DUP has so skilfully wrenched from the Treasury in return for propping up the minority government, however unedifying that deal may be - and however unhelpful possible related side-deals may turn out to be - notwithstanding how at a human level we may express generous satisfaction at the likes of Jeffrey Donaldson and Nigel Dodds, parliamentarians of some note with 36 years' service between them at Westminster, enjoying their place in the sun at the heart of power.

Honourable compromise is always possible when leaders are prepared to liberate themselves of their pride, move forward from silly absolutism and self-defeating 'red lines' and show some badly needed forbearance in the interest of the common good.

In practical terms that would mean, for example, the DUP giving their blessing to an emblematic free standing Irish Language Act with no ifs and buts and Sinn Féin being prepared to embrace Arlene Foster as first minister, mindful that Judge Coghlin’s RHI inquiry may either exonerate her or make her position untenable.

It is hard to see a way back for the SDLP, or for that matter the Ulster Unionists, to anything like their former strength

Of course the issues that divide our politicians are very great, mirroring as they do the different national identities and aspirations of our main communities but a return of a reformed executive and a dynamic functioning North-South Ministerial Council – so vital in the context of Brexit - would at least provide an opportunity for the building up of some trust between the parties, a virtue whose absence lies at the heart of our collective failure to realise the promise of “a truly historic opportunity for a new beginning” in the Good Friday Agreement nearly 20 years ago.

When the Queen’s Speech was debated this week and when James Brokenshire took Northern Ireland questions on Wednesday there was, alas, no Irish nationalist voice to be heard in the House of Commons, following the defeat of all three SDLP MPs, Mark Durkan, Alasdair McDonnell and Margaret Ritchie whose more than thirty years of committed service may have been ended, in part, by ill-judged apparently off the cuff comments about a unity referendum by their leader, Colum Eastwood, that frightened off unionist voters who previously voted tactically for the party.

It is hard to see a way back for the SDLP, or for that matter the Ulster Unionists, to anything like their former strength and one can foresee the Alliance Party overtaking both, although one cannot rule out a figure of the calibre of, for example, Claire Hanna garnering sufficient support to regain a constituency such as South Belfast.

That moderate, authentic Irish nationalist voice, in the tradition of O’Connell, Parnell, 'Wee Joe' Devlin, Fitt, Hume, Mallon, McGrady etc. is still needed at Westminster, in the Commons, (and yes, in the influential House of Lords also), particularly in the light of Sinn Féin’s abstentionism, a policy that is not supported by anything like all Sinn Féin voters.

Acceptance of the doctrine of consent, a central tenet of the Good Friday Agreement that is enshrined in the Constitution of Ireland, means acceptance of the north’s current status within the UK and should, therefore, mean discharging the responsibility of fully representing citizens in the House of Commons.

One suspects that many SDLP supporters and 'soft' SF voters may be wondering if the time has now come for Fianna Fáil, an all-Ireland party with a more constructive and realistic approach to reunification and with potentially broader appeal, one that has already reportedly signalled its intention to stand in council elections here in 2019, to set its sights on Westminster as well.

This would present the opportunity for a voice and effective representation for those whose voice is no longer heard in the place that has – until people here decide otherwise - ultimate responsibility for the affairs of Northern Ireland.