Opinion

Deaglán de Bréadún: Sinn Féin taking Westminster seats could be a game changer

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said her party will not be taking their seats at Westminster
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said her party will not be taking their seats at Westminster Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said her party will not be taking their seats at Westminster

AS A small boy I lived on the same street as James Anthony Roche, in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, close to the 1798 battlefield at Vinegar Hill. Due to an age-gap I did not make his acquaintance at the time: that came much later in Dublin, where he was known as Frank or, more often, “Butch”.

Butch Roche made history of a kind when, on July 23 1970, he lobbed two CS gas canisters from the public gallery of the House of Commons onto the mottled green carpet in the chamber, filling the place with thick white smoke. Proceedings were suspended for two hours, three persons were taken to hospital and the Speaker, Dr Horace King, was temporarily overcome by fumes, but there were no reports of serious injuries.

Roche’s action was a protest against the use of CS gas by the British Army in the northern part of his native island and he reportedly shouted: “Here’s a present from the Falls!” and “How do you like that, you b**tards?”

Incidentally, British efforts to join the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union, were the item of business at that moment. Butch was sentenced to 12 months in prison but it was said the use of CS gas was later significantly reduced.

Sadly, Butch Roche died in 1993, so I cannot discuss with him the Sinn Féín policy of abstentionism, in this Age of Brexit. My guess is he would be wary of change but, nevertheless, his 1970 protest comes to mind in the current scenario. It wouldn’t be too easy to bring a gas canister into the Commons these days, much less toss it onto the floor, but republicans could well carry out the equivalent in political terms.

Westminster is a platform and republicans could inspire the Irish nation and give resounding leadership by muttering the oath of allegiance ‘as Gaeilge’ and heading into the chamber to make life hell for the ‘British imperialists’. However, the reality is that a change of policy is unlikely to happen as long as the oath remains.

But since the prospect of Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister now looks distinctly less remote than previously, it is time for Labour to make a serious push for a neutral pledge similar to the one applying in the Stormont Assembly. It would mark the most significant contribution to the peace process by a Labour Party leader since the days of Tony Blair.

As well as getting world headlines, the presence of Sinn Féin in the Commons chamber could increase their chances of ousting the DUP as the northern party with the largest representation at Westminster. The score at present is a tantalising 10-7 MPs.

Achieving that goal could take some time but it would be a significant step towards achieving the cherished aim of a united Ireland, on the basis that: “We are the biggest party here from the north of Ireland and we demand our freedom!”

Another step on the road to unity would be Sinn Féín in government, north and south. Despite a poor showing in the recent presidential election, the party still has a decent chance of becoming part of a ruling coalition in Dáil Éireann after the next general election, or the subsequent one, assuming the prospect of office will induce either Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil to overcome their distaste for the ‘Shinners’.

In the north, meanwhile, it must now be clear to many nationalists that pulling down the power-sharing administration and the Assembly was a serious mistake. The side-line is not the ideal place to be when an All-Ireland Final is underway. A serious effort was made to restore the executive last February when we are told that Sinn Féin put forward quite a moderate position – as Peter Robinson recently noted – but the more nervous and less-informed elements in the DUP camp blocked an agreement.

Like Butch Roche, Martin McGuinness is sadly no longer with us, so we cannot say with complete certainty where he would stand on abstentionism. In a 2015 interview for a book on Sinn Féin I put it to him that Scottish nationalists seemed to be using Westminster to promote their country’s independence, so why couldn’t his party do the same?

He responded that there were far more Scottish MPs, adding that “anybody who harbours the notion that any of the parties in the North of Ireland are going to be kingmakers in relation to the next British government is living in cloud cuckoo land”. (NOTE: How times change.)

McGuinness went on to point out that his party’s MPs were elected on the basis of abstentionism, but I found it interesting that his initial response focused on the issue of numbers, influence and power. His emphasis was correct because, let’s face it, power is what politics is all about.

Ddebre1@aol.com