Opinion

Debate about constitutional change in Ireland must get serious now

Remember the Brexit referendum? How could we forget. If my memory serves me right that ballot paper basically posed the following question: ‘Do you want the United Kingdom to leave the European Union? Please answer Yes or No’ It really was as simple as that. In a future referendum to determine the constitutional status of Northern Ireland would the ballot paper be worded similarly? For example: ‘Do you want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom or become part of a United Ireland?’ I wonder. In the run up to the Brexit poll all the cards weren’t on the table, with the result that no-one knew what was at stake – no-one in England to be exact. A majority in Scotland and here in the north voted to stay in the EU. English people got their eye wiped by all the lies they were told by Boris Johnson and far-right English nationalism and voted to leave. Oh, just remembered, the DUP got well shafted by Boris too.

We all know what it means to be part of the UK, what we don’t know is what would it be like in a united Ireland. Would we be better off or worse off? Nobody knows the answer to that question. Since the Brexit debacle, calls for a border poll have intensified. So far all the talk about it has been vague and speculative. What’s the point in calling for a border poll if people don’t know exactly what it is they would be voting for?

Does anybody believe fairy tales anymore? We have been getting shafted for centuries by the English and having our noses rubbed in the dirt by the unionists for decades. We have to ensure we don’t jump out of the frying pan into the fire in the event we did end up in a united Ireland, economically and socially speaking. Just look at the present set up in the 26 counties. Everything is not exactly what you would call hunky dory down there. A united Ireland or a new Ireland, as some are calling it, would have to be a real game changer. That is why the debate about constitutional change in the island of Ireland must get serious now. If we didn’t get it right, we could wake up one morning to find out that the utopia some thought we were living in was really a pipe dream. It could end up the same old, same old – a state where the rich got richer and the poor get poorer.

For the sake of our children and our grandchildren we simply must get this right.

SEAN MASKEY


Belfast BT15

Draconian powers

Cormac Moore’s article on the ‘Draconian Powers’ introduced by the Northern Ireland Government (April 27) is a totally shocking read.

In my opinion I think every unionist/loyalist should be made to read the Special Powers Bill that the Northern Ireland government introduced, for fear they might learn something.

What planet were these people on?

I know many Protestants today would be appalled at the contents of the Bill.

It is an utter disgrace that this was allowed to happen. Between the British and Irish governments of the day this Bill should have been challenged at the beginning or were they all complicit in it? Is there any wonder that the nationalists in the north rose up and started fighting the ‘establishment’?

I have read recently that if the nationalists had been treated as equals from 1922 the majority of Catholics would probably have been happy in the north and there would have been relative peace in the six counties.

The sad fact of life living in the north today is that nothing much has changed. Our unionist and loyalist friends would want this Bill brought back and enforced if the thought they could.

It has been said time and time again that the mentality of our unionist and loyalist friends has to change if we are to move forward.

Their days of being the in charge are over and they are going to have to face up to this fact.

I think the biggest fear that they have being a part of a united Ireland is that the Catholic population will treat them the same way as they treated Catholic when they were in charge.

I personally think we will never see Stormont up and running again, not that it did much at the best of times.

GERRY BLANEY


Cushendall, Co Antrim

Does Alliance Party support rejoining EU?

The EU is much more than the largest and most successful trading bloc in the world and covers not just goods but also services, capital and people. It is also the largest and most successful peace process of modern times. Just imagine what Europe would currently look like if the EU did not exist, with individual countries in open conflict over possible responses to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The humanitarian and refugee responses of the EU and the UK show them to be on very different paths. It would also be interesting to see if the UK would have moved to ship refugees to Rwanda if still in the EU. Northern Ireland was removed from the EU against its wishes. The Alliance Party were strong supporters of the EU and its principles, policies and practices were closely aligned with those of the EU. Post-Brexit the question is does the Alliance Party support rejoining the EU? And if so how does it propose to do that? Extending a Father Ted stance (“that would be an ecumenical matter”) to EU membership would be strange considering its principles and policies are so close to the EU. Of course it will be said that everyday issues need to be addressed but politicians should also be able to develop long-term plans because that is what politics is about.

DAMIEN BENNETT


Belfast BT6

Political charade

Prior to May 5th the electorate was being bombarded with all kinds of fanciful promises by those wishing to be elected, to what has become nothing more than a moribund county council at Stormont.

The time has surely come when the British and Irish governments must come to the electorate’s aid, and remove the millstone placed there in the form of a mandatory coalition. The public perception of the recent so-called democratic election is that never in the field of electoral conflict, has such an array of ineptitude, led by certain leaders with no political vision, presented itself for public office. The factions masquerading as a coalition have nothing in common other than the number of seats they can garner, as they settle down for another long sinecure at the sole discretion of the DUP. Except under the circumstances, both governments intervene, we will never be free of the perverse political charade in which we waste our time participating.

WILSON BURGESS


Derry City