IN normal times, an alcohol-enhanced Christmas quiz would be a fairly common occurrence. Presumably such events are taking place online this year, so here’s a question. Who wrote: “Is this a dagger which I see before me?” Yes, you’ve nailed it: William Shakespeare in ‘Macbeth’.
Let’s move on to Question Two. Who described the Northern Ireland protocol, which emerged from the Brexit negotiations, as “a dagger pointed at the heart of the union”? The answer: Reg Empey, also known as Baron Empey, speaking in the House of Lords last week. The former Ulster Unionist Party leader added that, by agreeing the protocol, the British government had turned Northern Ireland “into virtually an overseas territory of the European Union”.
Under the protocol’s terms, certain goods moving from Britain to Northern Ireland as of January 1, 2021 are intended to be subject to customs checks and controls, with charges imposed on items that might be transported to the Republic or any other part of the EU. The purpose is to avoid customs posts at the dividing-line between the two parts of the island of Ireland, amounting to a “hard border” that could jeopardise the peace process and even become subject to violent attack. The British government’s controversial Internal Market Bill is intended to set aside certain provisions of the protocol.
Meanwhile at Stormont, Jim Allister of Traditional Unionist Voice has sought information regarding “the infrastructure for an Irish Sea border” to be established at ports in the north, describing it as “the gallows for the Union at Larne”. He meant, of course, the union with Britain and not the European Union.
Another aspect of Brexit was covered by the perceptive BBC journalist John Campbell on ‘The View’ last week, where he said: “As things stand at the moment, it is going to be a matter of fact that, come the first of January, it is going to be easier for businesses in Northern Ireland to buy products in the Republic of Ireland than it is to buy them from Great Britain.”
Campbell was mainly referring to the daunting paperwork involved as well as the potential for a cultural shift in the north’s business community, away from the UK and towards Dublin and the EU when, for example, Brussels regulations become more important than rules made in London.
In a new collection of essays entitled ‘The Northern Ireland Question: Perspectives on Nationalism and Unionism’, edited by Patrick J. Roche and Brian Barton and published by Wordzworth (with a ‘z’), Dennis Kennedy describes Brexit as “the prime example of how London can overlook the impact on Northern Ireland when taking major policy decisions”.
Kennedy points out that the Catholic population of the north has been growing steadily and, if this pattern is sustained, then Catholics will become the majority – by next year, according to one estimate. A 2018 survey by the Economic and Social Research Council found that, in the event of a “soft” Brexit, 33.4 per cent of Catholics would vote for a united Ireland in a border poll, but the figure increased to 52.7 per cent if there was a “hard’ Brexit.
Unionists worry about daggers and gallows, but there’s been good polling news for Sinn Féin south of the border. The latest survey in the ‘Business Post’ shows the party hitting 30 per cent, its highest-ever rating with the Red C polling company. Fine Gael are still ahead at 33 per cent, but down four points from last time. Fianna Fáil are up only one point to 12 per cent while the Greens, third leg of the governing coalition, are down one, from six to five per cent. An Ireland Thinks/Irish Mail on Sunday poll has FG down five points to 28 per cent, level with Sinn Féin who are down one point. There’s better news for Fianna Fáil, up three points to 17 per cent and the Greens are up one, to four per cent.
Meanwhile, Dublin TD Jim O’Callaghan, seen as a potential future leader of Fianna Fáil, said in a ‘Sunday Independent’ interview that coalition with Sinn Féin or any other party should not be ruled “in or out” after the next general election in the Republic, despite the fact that he has “serious issues” with Mary Lou McDonald’s party.
We certainly live in interesting times.
Email: Ddebre1@aol.com; Twitter: @DdeBreadun
