Opinion

John Manley: Centenary celebrations were muted metaphor for contested entity

Dame Mary Peters at the 1972 Munich Olympics was used in the centenary branding
Dame Mary Peters at the 1972 Munich Olympics was used in the centenary branding Dame Mary Peters at the 1972 Munich Olympics was used in the centenary branding

THE IMPLEMENTATION of the protocol, the implosion of the region’s largest political party and continued growth in the conversation about a united Ireland provided the colourful backdrop to the north’s centenary year.

Like wedding anniversary celebrations for the loveless couple at the head of a dysfunctional family, marking the milestone that was the creation of Northern Ireland – and the corresponding partition of the island – was always going to be contentious, and therefore futile.

Nationalists took a dim view of the British government-led plans, while the growing middle ground appeared disinclined to get involved in something that could easily descend into jingoism or a distortion of history.

Political unionism – now a minority in the statelet its forbears engineered through a gerrymander – did its best to create some sense of occasion but in-fighting and uncertainty about the future cast a shadow over the celebrations.

The one idea the three largest unionist parties united behind – plans for a ‘teddy bear’s head’-shaped granite slab in the grounds of the Stormont estate – were “vetoed by Sinn Féin”.

The official celebrations were no better. From the cack-handed appropriation of Seamus Heaney’s portrait through to the “cynical” use of centenary cash for October’s concert to say ‘thank you’ to NHS workers, very little about this year’s series of events can be deemed a success.

Even the inter-denominational church service in Armagh, the one element of the centenary celebrations that managed not to have the Northern Ireland Office’s fingerprints all over it, became mired in controversy, with the ordinarily measured President Michael D Higgins deciding the event’s title meant it had been politicised.

Everything about the centenary appeared a metaphor for Northern Ireland itself, a contested entity imposed on a large section of the population against their will.

Like the final episode of the Northern Ireland-made fantasy drama Game Of Thrones, the closing chapter in the decade of centenaries turned out to be a shambolic anti-climax that is best forgotten.