Opinion

Tom Collins: Irish unity won’t happen by itself

Tom Collins

Tom Collins

Tom Collins is an Irish News columnist and former editor of the newspaper.

Advocates of Irish reunification should learn lessons from the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014
Advocates of Irish reunification should learn lessons from the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014 Advocates of Irish reunification should learn lessons from the referendum on Scottish independence in 2014

If there is a lesson to be learned from the Scottish independence referendum of 2014, it is that those advocating change need to be able to articulate the benefits and to identify those areas where searching questions will be asked. Then they need sustainable answers to deal with them.

The Yes campaign in Scotland failed to nail uncertainties over the currency and the economy; and those uncertainties were ruthlessly exploited.

The situation is no different for a poll on the future of Ireland – a poll which is as inevitable as night follows day.

The big ticket items are many. What constitutional arrangements will apply to a new Ireland? It will not be business as usual in the Oireachtas. What are the new arrangements for health and social care going to be? What about people’s pensions? How will the economy be reshaped? How will the different education systems be reconciled? What about the rule of law and the administration of justice? And how will unionist culture and traditions be celebrated within a new Ireland?

This list is not exhaustive.

There are those who are trying to start the unity debate – to be fair, there have always been a few trying to get the discussions going – but for too long they have been thwarted by inertia in London and Dublin and by hostility from the unionist political class in Northern Ireland, aided and abetted by a partisan secretary of state (now gone and soon to be forgotten).

To some degree you can understand why London just doesn’t want the bother. Northern Ireland has always been a bit of an embarrassment, and the British ruling class has never really understood Ireland or its needs. And you cannot really fault unionists for not wanting to engage in what they see as an existential threat – though they should.

Unionist politicians may act stupid (I submit in evidence the DUP’s mishandling of Brexit), but in their heart of hearts they know that there are compelling arguments for the reunification of the island. It has worked as a political and economic entity before, and it will work as an economic entity again – an economy enhanced, it must be said, by membership of the European Union.

There is more than enough evidence to demonstrate that Northern Ireland – still one of the most deprived parts of the so-called United Kingdom – has not flourished under British rule. Few in Great Britain regard it as an integral part of the UK – it even comes after an ‘and’ in the country’s title, as if it were an appendage.

As anyone who has moved from Northern Ireland to Great Britain knows, they are regarded - and, if they are honest, they will admit as much - as Irish, not British. London is awash with unionist “Paddys’.

So yes, there are reasons why the British and unionists won’t play ball with a reasoned discussion over Ireland’s future.

But it is much harder to comprehend why the Irish government, which has a moral obligation to advance the best interests of all on this island, should refuse to properly engage in that debate.

If anything, the current government is actively undermining those who want a grown-up discussion about the shape of a new – the word new is important – Ireland.

Part of the reason, I suspect, is a determination to resist what they see as a key objective of Sinn Féin. But Sinn Féin does not have squatters’ rights to Irish unity.

Reunification – the righting of a historic wrong wrought by violence endorsed by the British establishment – is the legitimate aspiration of the vast majority on this island. Though, at times, one suspects, the taoiseach and tánaiste are not among them.

It should be a national priority to prepare for a border poll, but of greater importance is the imperative to prepare for the reunification of this island.

Such an outcome is an inevitability. It will come about either through the positive endorsement of the population of Northern Ireland; or through the collapse of the United Kingdom – an event which becomes more and more likely as each day passes.

The UK has been taken over in an English nationalist coup. And they do not give a fig for the rights and interests of the Scots, Welsh or Irish.

So why is preparation for reunification not a central plank of Irish government policy? Quite simply because it threatens to undermine the status quo, and the cosy world of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael.

Sometimes one suspects the UUP and DUP are not the only unionist parties on this island.