Lest there’s doubt – Irish unity will happen.
But not before there’s reconciliation between the two main traditions in Ireland. The Hume principle stands – before geographical union, there must be unity of purpose between people. Groundwork before grandstanding.
Ireland is a shared space which has still has not achieved the goal of the Proclamation to “cherish all the children of the nation equally”.
Partition was a blunt instrument creating artificial political, economic and social borders. This fostered (and as evidenced by the Brexit fallout) divisions, stirred up old enmities and dug deep mental trenches between unionists and nationalists
Membership of the EU paved the way for the north and south to develop organically as good neighbours through pragmatic partnerships and the stewardship of mutual limited resources.
The DUP and their madcap Little Englander travellers smashed the equilibrium and stability of Northern Ireland with all the foresight of Lot’s wife.
These actions were not only politically foolish and economically self-harming, they were reckless and shortsighted.
The DUP has done more to foster the advancement of a united Ireland than the IRA with all its bullets, bombs and beatings could ever have imagined. The Sinn Féin leadership must offer up nightly thanks that the DUP never find out about St Jude...
Now some in the DUP want to change the rules about the democratic process through which a united Ireland could take place.
This is unsurprising. Northern Ireland was a political basket case when unionists ran the roost. They mastered the art of gerrymandering but were found out by Dr and Mrs McCloskey, John Hume, Austin Currie and others. They were not so much caught with their hands in the till of gerrymandering – they stole the till.
The academic misnomer of ‘losers' consent’ did not apply then and a loaded version will not apply in the future.
As someone who worked with the late Seamus Mallon and campaigned from for him from 1985 until his retirement, I find it stomach churning to listen to the DUP and fringe loyalists misuse his hopes for a future settlement on the unity of Ireland.
Mallon was a committed Irishman and understood the difference between hollow nationalism and self-sacrificing patriotism.
Mallon came down on the side of the latter; patriotism expressed through goodwill and a generous heart.
The formula he propagated in his biography about a weighted majority in a unity plebiscite was misguided. But anyone of his stature and gravitas won the right to say what he thought.
Mallon would never have claimed infallibility. He retired to give way to a new generation so they “may write their own history”. This generation will.
The fact that unity will come to fruition isn’t in doubt but the how, when and in what format has not yet evolved. And let’s be honest – there is no magic formula.
Recalcitrant loyalists don’t get to re-write the rules of democracy. There will be no supermajority required in a referendum. The notion that any unity plebiscite should be UK-wide is about as well thought out as their support for Brexit.
Number-crunching militant republicans can’t be sure of the future either through crude calculations and conclusions about religion and identity in a divided and conflicted society like the north.
Seamus Mallon understood that and therefore was looking for a safe landing space for all who want to call here home.
Sinn Féin historically have offered both a dual monarchy (Griffiths in 1904) and a federal island (Eire Nua of the 1970s/80s). Their overtures through gestures like the condolences to the late Queen Elizabeth and attendance at the recent coronation are hugely positive. The DUP still struggles to reciprocate with any meaningful magnanimity.
Legislative rights for minority languages, equal marriage and women’s rights are universal – not the prerogative of any single political party.
Political unionism doesn’t need a Craig for the 21st century; it needs a Lemass: a pragmatic, realist driven by economic and political foresight.
