Opinion

Martin O'Brien: Make Stormont work in the interests of the common good

Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast
Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast

There has not been much of a build-up to next Monday, May 3, 2021.

The pandemic has played its part but there is more to it, suggesting that lessons have been learnt in the light of how things turned out over the past century.

There is no escaping the historical significance of what happened amid years of terrible violence almost exactly 100 years ago, on Tuesday May 3, 1921 when the Government of Ireland Act (1920) came into operation, partitioning Ireland against the will of its people and creating the contrivance of Northern Ireland.

Successive generations have contended with the consequences of partition and Northern Ireland remains a contested place with an uncertain constitutional future just when – thanks to Brexit - the United Kingdom itself looks increasingly shaky. It may be even shakier when the votes for the pro-independence parties are counted after Thursday’s elections in Scotland.

No one should be surprised that unionists and nationalists view this 100th birthday very differently.

The former seeing cause for celebration of their dearly cherished Britishness and the link with London. The latter viewing partition and its aftermath as a national and local calamity, sentiments that would have been shared by the betrayed Protestants of Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan.

What should be surprising and unwelcome in any decent society is pettiness of the kind Sinn Féin displayed in vetoing a unionist proposal to erect a stone – at no public expense – to mark the centenary at Stormont. Is it too much to hope that SF will reverse that decision, thus building on the better atmosphere engendered by their and the SDLP’s gracious tributes to Prince Philip?

The centenary of such a seminal moment in Irish and British history offers an opportunity for honest reflection.

The Good Friday Agreement (1998) replaced the Government of Ireland Act (1920) as the Constitution of Northern Ireland.

Despite the poison of Brexit, and the mendacity, dangerous lack of interest and engagement of Boris Johnson, this most delicately balanced agreement remains the best and only available modus vivendi for running Northern Ireland and managing the legitimate constitutional objectives of unionists and nationalists, and Irish-British relations.

The agreement has kept the peace for nearly a quarter of a century - no mean achievement - and is rightly lauded worldwide.

The great disappointment has been the absence of much growth in trust between the main Stormont parties who should be leading in statecraft and in fostering common ground and mutual respect.

This was always going to be tough given the legacy of bloodshed and diametrically opposed constitutional objectives.

The overall situation has been exacerbated by Brexit and its inevitable triggering of discussion about a united Ireland.

Advocates of a premature referendum on Irish unity overlook two important considerations resulting from the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.

First, the condition for calling a poll has not been met and does not appear likely to be met very soon. (The agreement says the secretary of state “shall” order a poll “if at any time it appears likely to him” that a majority here would “express a wish” to depart the UK and “form part of a united Ireland.”)

Second, if the principle of consent – enshrined in the agreement – is to mean anything it must mean that unionists have the right to say ‘no thanks’ and should not, therefore, be made to feel pressurised.

However, a referendum looks inevitable further ahead, requiring honest debate and the most careful, open-minded and respectful preparation.

Its timing will be influenced by inter alia developments in Scotland, opinion in the Republic and not least the growing new minority of unaligned others, including the Alliance Party, and young outward-looking Europhiles, since unionists have lost their majority in the state created 100 years ago to give them a permanent majority.

In the meantime, all the Stormont parties and the rest of us should concentrate on trying to make Northern Ireland work in the interests of the common good.