Opinion

Chris Donnelly: The rising tide of constitutional change

King Charles III meets Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey and Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O'Neill at Hillsborough Castle following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II
King Charles III meets Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey and Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O'Neill at Hillsborough Castle following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II King Charles III meets Assembly Speaker Alex Maskey and Sinn Féin vice president Michelle O'Neill at Hillsborough Castle following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II

IT was only because I agreed to my partner’s suggestion to call into an Irish bar just off Sixth Avenue in Manhattan that we ended up getting to experience Lin-Manuel Miranda’s masterpiece Hamilton: The Musical this summer.

An avid Irish News-reading barman from the Red Hand county kindly offered to help source two tickets for that Saturday night, much to our delight.

The show is an unforgettable experience, filled with energy, passion and humour, charting the life of the great American revolutionary figure Alexander Hamilton.

The British King George III is superbly portrayed in the play, with the You’ll Be Back song hilariously betraying the superior and entitled mindset of monarchs throughout history.

Speaking to his ‘favourite’ American subjects, the king declares his enduring love and affection, before warning them that he will send a fully armed battalion and ‘kill your friends and family’ to remind them of his love.

The very idea of monarchy is insane in the 21st century.

To indulge and lend any credence to it during the midst of a cost of living crisis would seem to many to be almost criminally irresponsible, yet the collective leadership of Irish nationalism – led by Sinn Féin – went to extraordinary lengths over the past fortnight to demonstrate a sincere desire to ensure our nearest neighbours in Britain and those with a British identity in Ireland felt a powerful and unwavering message of solidarity in their time of collective mourning following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.

The gracious gestures and comments, not least by First Minister-in-waiting Michelle O’Neill, illustrate just why nationalism finds itself today in pole position in the race to determine the constitutional future for this jurisdiction.

Over the past 20 years we have witnessed republican leaders on many occasions lay wreaths at British war memorials, support loyalist parades processing through the centre of Derry, Newry and elsewhere and now wear black to honour the deceased monarch in her capacity as Britain’s head of state.

The ocean gradually rising in support of Irish unity is a consequence of multiple developments, including Brexit, but also a willingness to step out of the comfort zone and broaden the vision to create space for the others within our society.

Unionism’s advantage has always been that it must merely defend the status quo in a state carved into existence for the singular purpose of creating a perpetual Protestant majority.

The census results released on Thursday confirm that the numbers game no longer favours unionists and is only set to become harder for them in the time ahead.

Demographic change has been tracked by a succession of key nationalist and Alliance election victories over the past two decades, but official confirmation of the unravelling of the Great Gerrymander will sound alarm bells within a unionism rarely far removed from a sense of panic due to the consistently mediocre guidance and direction provided by its leaders.

Demography alone will not wholly determine constitutional destiny, but it is an incontestable reality that religious background has been closely aligned with cultural outlook, national identity and constitutional preference. The ties that bind have loosened over time, not least with regard to religious observance, but cultural identity remains strong, providing more reason for Unionists to despair.

It is rather apt therefore that the most significant gathering to date in support of constitutional change has been organised by the Ireland’s Future organisation for this coming Saturday in Dublin’s 3Arena.

The momentum for change is evident in the key participation on the day of Fianna Fail’s Jim O’Callaghan, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar and Mary Lou McDonald, the latter two of whom are heavily favoured to occupy the office of the Taoiseach between them for the seven or eight years ahead, in which planning will step up several gears as political leaders provide direction to the necessary process of thinking 32 which must predate a border poll.

Every leading political party on the island – barring the unionist parties and, disappointingly, Alliance – will be in attendance, with prominent figures from civic society, business, trade unions and the arts sharing the platform.

The politically diverse nature of the voices increasingly raised in unison in support of a new and shared Ireland provides added strength and vigour to the campaign.

The determination to not be shackled by divisions over the past, nor to limit the scope for changes to build a new Ireland capable of earning the allegiance of those from differing traditions, continues to capture the imaginations of people including many from culturally unionist backgrounds.

In an ever-changing north, the only prospect unionists have of holding back the rising tide of constitutional change is to make peace with Irish cultural and political identity.

That starts with ending the antagonism towards the GAA and Irish language, but must also entail finally acknowledging and respecting the all-Ireland identity of their northern neighbours.

Given that not a single unionist politician has ever even been willing to support the right of Irish citizens in the north to vote in Irish presidential elections, they’ve a lot of ground to cover.