Opinion

Patrick Murphy: Why do we think Dublin would be any better than London in running the north?

Patrick Murphy

Patrick Murphy

Patrick Murphy is an Irish News columnist and former director of Belfast Institute for Further and Higher Education.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar meeting British Prime Minister Theresa May last month in London
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar meeting British Prime Minister Theresa May last month in London Taoiseach Leo Varadkar meeting British Prime Minister Theresa May last month in London

If talks about an Irish language act are not completed soon, the British secretary of state will legislate for a budget in Stormont's absence. That will effectively mean the introduction of a form of direct rule from London.

Nationalists suggest that London rule should balanced with an input from Dublin. (I have no idea what an "input" is, but never mind for now.) This view has been confirmed by Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney's assertion that there can be no British-only direct rule.

Hurrah, you say, that will show the Brits and it may even offer some slight revenge for Skibbereen. (If you feel the urge to sing a Wolfe Tones-style ballad in support of Dublin's involvement, perhaps you could leave it until later.)

So what exactly is the case for Dublin having a role in the north's governance and what would that role be? It is a view which will not please everyone, but it is tempting to suggest that in terms of social and economic policy we would be no worse off without Dublin's involvement and its "input" will shed little light on northern sectarian politics.

This is not to suggest that London rule is somehow more acceptable than Dublin rule. The point is that the social and economic policies of both governments are so similar that we would be hard pushed to tell which government was ruling us.

Three quarters of a million people in the south (16 per cent) live below the poverty line. Of these, a quarter of a million are children. There are 3,000 homeless children in the 26 counties, while the government refuses to collect €13 billion in taxes owed by the Apple corporation.

Almost two thirds of homeless families are headed by young, lone mothers, who have been evicted from privately rented housing. Women account for 42 per cent of the homeless, the highest figure in Europe.

There are 570,000 people on hospital waiting lists, an increase of 58,000 in the past year and rural Ireland is in terminal decline with the government's closure of post offices and Garda stations.

We in the north are familiar with the scale of human deprivation which lies behind those figures. If Fine Gael cannot solve the south's social and economic problems, why should we expect it to solve ours? In advocating Dublin's involvement in government here, we risk adopting de Valera's inference that Irish poverty is somehow more wholesome that the British variety.

Dublin's role in the north may be seen by some as safeguarding Catholic values. However, the Dublin government is planning a referendum on liberalising its abortion legislation next summer (just before the Pope is due to arrive). Current opinion polls suggest a majority for change, which means that the north's legislation will more closely mirror Catholic Church teaching than the south's.

Ah but, you say, Dublin's northern role will be purely political. Good. So what exactly are they planning to do and will it be for everyone, or just nationalists?

Their political input will presumably be a large helping of what can only be described as Irishness. In the context of nationalism's current fetish for the two nations approach, large amounts of Irishness are necessary to counter-balance the huge mass of Britishness.

This might involve Simon Coveney waving a tricolour on our behalf (oh, and an EU flag which now has equal status with our national flag) or perhaps his intentions are more cultural.

Maybe he will give every nationalist a copy of Brian O'Nolan's An Béal Bocht? (Sinn Féin and the SDLP say unionists are British, so only nationalists will get one.) Or maybe he will hold talks in the style of Synge: "Go on now, Brokenshire, isn't there the light of seven heavens in your heart alone and I abroad in the darkness?"

Perhaps Dublin will create a new political atmosphere - possibly consisting of nitrogen, oxygen and Irishness, a harmless gas which will eventually disperse.

Look, you say, this is all getting a bit silly.

You are right. But is it any more daft than the nationalist belief that Dublin's "input" (and we still do not know what that means) will somehow improve our lives or make society here more tolerant, more prosperous, more equitable or more anything other than more sectarian?

Of course, that attitude might be too harsh and maybe we should give Simon Coveney a chance to prove himself. Good point. So perhaps he could begin by explaining what he will do here that the British have not already done. Everyone in the north has a right to know.