Opinion

Brian Feeney: Wave of sentiment won't herald political deal

Brian Feeney

Brian Feeney

Historian and political commentator Brian Feeney has been a columnist with The Irish News for three decades. He is a former SDLP councillor in Belfast and co-author of the award-winning book Lost Lives

Tánaiste Simon Coveney and secretary of state Karen Bradley hold a press conference at Stormont last Friday, as they make an announcement about a fresh bid to restore powersharing. Picture by Brian Lawless/PA Wire
Tánaiste Simon Coveney and secretary of state Karen Bradley hold a press conference at Stormont last Friday, as they make an announcement about a fresh bid to restore powersharing. Picture by Brian Lawless/PA Wire Tánaiste Simon Coveney and secretary of state Karen Bradley hold a press conference at Stormont last Friday, as they make an announcement about a fresh bid to restore powersharing. Picture by Brian Lawless/PA Wire

THE point has already been well made by others, including Fionnuala O Connor here, that Fr Magill’s remarks last Thursday were a classic example of the injunction, “first cast the beam out of your own eye and then you will see clearly to cast the mote out of your brother’s eye”.

Fr Magill did not publicly reflect on why he was not saying Requiem Mass in a Catholic church.

The answer, as Susan McKay, a friend and mentor of Lyra McKee, told RTÉ, is that the Catholic Church had rejected Lyra and made her life as a teenager a misery.

As McKay said: “If there’s going to be room for change in the politicians who are stuck in their trenches, then there has to be room for change within the churches – and in particular, the Catholic Church.”

Fr Magill preferred to point the finger at politicians and carry the day on a wave of emotion and sentiment. That spurred hasty opportunism in the two governments to announce talks with no preparations whatsoever.

Nevertheless, the cold political reality remains. The omens are not good. The two main protagonists, Sinn Féin and the DUP, remain as far apart as ever. There will be no deal, nor can there be, before the European elections. Dublin and London have already admitted that by saying they will review progress at the end of May. 

So what chance do you think there is in June as the marching season fast approaches? Arlene Foster keeps repeating that she’s willing to return to Stormont immediately.

However, no-one seems to point out that’s because she is quite happy with the arrangements which led to the collapse of the executive. The truth is that neither she nor anyone else in the DUP has been able to think of any proposals that Sinn Féin must offer concessions on.

On the contrary, the DUP position, as articulated by Foster, is that while she has no proposals to make, all Sinn Féin’s proposals are unacceptable. She says the DUP will not be defeated 5-0 in talks, though where she dreamed up the numbers is a mystery. That’s intransigence-speak for, ‘We’re not asking for anything because we’re happy with what we’ve got, and you’re not getting anything because that would make us unhappy.’ No sign of change there.

As for Sinn Féin, they can’t accept less than Foster and the DUP ratted on in 2018. That was a bad deal, especially for the Irish language, because progress there would have remained in the DUP’s gift. Otherwise, nothing was nailed down. There was no timetable. Sinn Féin have to gain more this time but the DUP repeat their refusal to give anything.

One hopeful straw in the wind is the convening of the British-Irish Intergovernmental Conference (BIIGC) next Wednesday.

That’s a calculated poke in the eye for the DUP who have done their best since 2017 to prevent it happening. Last time, in London, was a studied insult to the Irish government: no joint press conference, not even a room for Coveney to hold his own press conference. Instead, out on the grass at Westminster – a disgrace.

This time the announcement pointedly says all three strands will be discussed, an important step away from the mistaken DUP line that the BIIGC can’t discuss strand one – internal affairs in the north. In fact, under the 1998 British-Irish agreement the Irish government can make views and proposals about any matter.

On this occasion, let’s hope Dublin raises the failure of successive British governments to legislate for the provision in the Good Friday Agreement that people in the north can be Irish or British, or both.

Let’s hope also that the two governments use the BIIGC to supervise the progress of any talks to put pressure on the DUP to move. That seems possible at long last, now that the DUP have overplayed their hand in opposing Theresa May’s Brexit deal and revealed themselves to be what we knew all along, fair-weather friends.

On the other hand, bear in mind that what Seamus Mallon called “a DUP secretary of state” is chairing the talks.