It is a sad reflection on modern Ireland that there is significantly more interest in the Wolfe Tones than there is in Wolfe Tone himself.
Of course, Tone’s sentiments about uniting Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter were largely killed off by the Good Friday Agreement, which labelled us as two sectarian tribes and a huge majority here were delighted to agree.
As a result, one of northern nationalism’s two core beliefs is now based more on the ballad group than the patriot. (The other core belief is that the DUP are a right shower; 4,000 people dead and sectarianism was never more entrenched.)
Much of the comment on the Wolfe Tones centres around their Celtic Symphony which includes the mantra: “Ooh ah up the Ra, say ooh ah up the Ra”.
There is an annual outburst of indignation when young people join in those lyrics at Féile An Phobail.
You might suggest that the chanting represents youthful exuberance and an overall ignorance of the horrors of violence. Maybe they do not know that the IRA’s war included a litany of war crimes: Bloody Friday, Kingsmill, Claudy, Birmingham and La Mon, among many.
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Perhaps a similar justification could be made for Sinn Féin TD David Cullinane. He is reported to have shouted “Up the Ra” in an election victory speech in 2020 and praised hunger striker Kevin Lynch. (Kevin Lynch was not in the IRA.)
Party leader, Mary Lou McDonald, said it was just “a throwaway remark”, presumably the result of adult exuberance. That same exuberance extends to the SF leadership, many of whom describe the IRA’s war as “inevitable” and/or “justified”. Mary Lou says it was a war against British imperialism.
It is hard to see how killing an eight-year-old girl cleaning her windows in Claudy was a strike against the Empire, especially since SF now lays wreaths to commemorate the Empire’s soldiers (who shot the 1916 leaders) and attends the coronation of the head of what’s left of that Empire.
It looks like the Empire won, so we might reasonably suggest that chanting “Ooh ah” is part denial of defeat in the war and part diversion from the social and economic conditions in which we now find ourselves. It is occupational therapy for the unthinking.
Of course, the British army and British-backed loyalist murder gangs also committed atrocities, but were IRA atrocities somehow less atrocious than Britain’s? Have we a hierarchy of savagery?
Despite (or maybe because of) SF’s support for IRA violence, it is now the most popular party in Ireland. With about 36 per cent support of the electorate both north and south, there are close to two million people who have either voted, or intend to vote, for SF.
They presumably support the party’s attitude on IRA violence, or at least they do not significantly object to it. So, is there a difference between shouting "Ooh ah up the Ra” and voting for SF? If so, what is it?
If not, imagine how unionists might view the idea of a united Ireland containing two million people who effectively support “Ooh ah up the Ra”. The IRA campaign delayed a united Ireland by at least a century (we are 54 years into that century from 1969) and every chant puts it back another year.
Of course, if Wolfe Tone were alive today he too would be chanting. But his chants would be “Ooh ah, Stormont is a sectarian shambles... Ooh ah, half a million on the NHS waiting list. Ooh ah, why do thousands need food banks to fend off hunger?”
If you think a united Ireland means re-arranging flags, then keep chanting at a Wolfe Tones concert and you will never achieve unity.
However, if you believe it means a people united in non-sectarianism, tolerance and shared values about the common good, stick to Wolfe Tone.
I am not sure if he could sing, but he certainly wrote very good lyrics.
