THERE is something ironic about the timing of Sinn Féin’s charm offensive in London this week, with Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O’Neill cutting a dash as Taoiseach-in-waiting and First Minister designate while the mighty edifice of the British government creaks under the weight of monumental incompetence and the whiff of corruption.
It has been a long journey for Sinn Féin. It’s not that long ago that its leaders were deemed so toxic to the public good that actors voiced their words on television, and they were pilloried in the media.
But times have changed. McDonald was even given a fair hearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain and the pair have been welcomed by mainstream politicians.
xIt took courage to call time on the notion that political ends can best be pursued by violent means. The phrase ‘ballot box in one hand and Armalite in the other’ was clever, but it was also cynical.
The Good Friday Agreement redressed that, underscoring the ballot box’s primacy, and Sinn Féin has benefited from its commitment to change through peaceful means.
Progress has been slow, I grant you. Other so-called democrats have not lived up to their obligations. Much needs to be done on human rights, respect for cultural traditions, and ensuring a level playing field for all our children, regardless of which denomination they have been ‘assigned’ to.
But the fact that the road is bumpy does not make the journey any less important.
Despite attempts to marginalise them, Sinn Féin is now challenging the Fianna Fail-Fine Gael duopoly in the Republic. They have done so by focusing on bread-and-butter issues, and by challenging the blinkered complacency of two ruling parties who have carved the state up for themselves.
The real challenge for Sinn Féin will come if they get power. Opposition is easy, but government entails making tough choices.
In Northern Ireland (O’Neill used the phrase and the world did not end), it has a government record of sorts to defend. But the Executive has never functioned in the way envisioned, and it doesn’t look likely to any time soon.
In the meantime, people are facing crippling poverty, the health service is a shambles, and the education system is letting too many down. And into that void we have a malignant British government pursuing its own agenda to erode people’s rights and undermine the justice system.
The party has been criticised for talking about the need for a border poll. It is a legitimate ambition, shared by many in other parties and in civil society.
The simple fact is that reunification would solve many of the problems currently besetting us. No-one can argue that Northern Ireland has flourished under British rule. It is a welfare state, with poverty levels which do not reflect its governance by one of the world’s so-called economic powers.
For all the protections of the protocol, the north is hitched to a sinking ship because of Brexit. Political stability has been undermined by a mendacious government, which plays the ‘Northern Ireland card’ only to satisfy its selfish needs in Westminster.
As Sinn Féin looks to the next decade – one which could conceivably see it in government north and south – it needs to build on its visit to London this week, and its links with the Scottish and Welsh, to create the climate in Britain for Irish unity. That’s not so difficult as people might think.
And the party needs to intensify work on building a broader constituency in Northern Ireland for Irish unity – specifically engaging those who are currently in favour of the link with Britain.
This is where the case for unity will be won; for this is where the difficult questions will be surfaced, and (with luck) solutions found.
And now we come to elephant in the room – the continued hurt caused by the IRA’s campaign, and the victims and their families who cannot and will not forgive and forget.
No community has a monopoly on pain from the Troubles. And as a society we will not move on unless that pain is addressed.
Sinn Féin does not have sole responsibility for dealing with it. Its voters were victims too. But a party fit for government must find a way to show leadership and along the way create the climate for a successful outcome to a border poll.
The UK government – with its so-called legacy and reconciliation bill – is incapable of bringing people here together.
We must do it ourselves, alone.
