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IN THE FALLOUT from the now postponed RIC commemoration event, Leo Varadkar said that the prospect of a united Ireland was now “further away” due to the animosity generated by the proposal.
The Taoiseach’s argument was that those who were against the event going ahead were failing to acknowledge the “shared history” of our island.
This is nonsense.
It is perfectly possible to respect different traditions in Ireland without enshrining a skewed view of the past that seeks to minimise these differences in the first place.
Are we going to expect unionists to hold events to commemorate the bravery of King James II’s army as part of their Twelfth of July celebrations?
The art of compromise
However, the spirit of what Varadkar is saying is correct in that if a united Ireland is to emerge, compromises between the two traditions will be essential.
In September Hugo MacNeill, the chairman of the British Irish Association, asked what we in the south would be willing to “give up” to accommodate unionists were a united Ireland ever to come into existence.
In the spirit of the new year and new beginnings, we should reflect on what we might be willing to “give” unionists in order to create a truly inclusive state.
At a debate in Belfast in August, Leo Varadkar said that a united Ireland would be a “different state” and that there would need to be a new constitution.
This would be a no-brainer.
In order for the new state to get acceptance on all sides, a new constitution would be absolutely necessary.
However, Bunreacht na hÉireann has numerous admirable qualities, and many of the ideas contained within it could be retained, while also simultaneously dropping some of the parts that have not aged well (Blasphemy, anyone?).
The Taoiseach also suggested that the status of the Irish language as the first official language of the State would have to be reviewed.
As someone who wrote a book calling for the language to be revived, that would be a step too far for me.
Better a 26- county state with a lukewarm attitude to the language than an all-Island polity coldly indifferent.
Yet it is obvious that some unionists have a deep dislike of the language.
Allowing students in the six counties opt out of the study of Irish and only placing bilingual road signs in areas where a majority welcome them would be a reasonable compromise.
The issue of what flag might be used would be sure to attract controversy.
In an online poll on this website in 2018, 59% of people said the Irish tricolour would be a suitable flag for a united Ireland.
Those who support retaining the tricolour point out that it represents both the nationalist and unionist tradition simultaneously and therefore would be completely appropriate.
But if unionists do not feel the flag represents them, then it doesn’t represent them.
After all, Ireland is denoted in the Union Jack by the presence of the cross of Saint Patrick, but few of us would ever feel that flag does or ever could represent us. A new flag would be essential.
But what might that look like? The “four-provinces” flag would be the most straightforward solution, although many would want something entirely new.
However, designing a flag representing both traditions in a way that would win popular support would be no easy task.
It may not be Ireland’s call
Coming up with a representative national anthem would be even more challenging.
If one looks at some of the national anthems around the world that stir great emotion among those who sing them, the songs often allude to some past struggle the people of the nation endured together.
But when unionists and nationalists study Irish history, they find their ancestors were usually on the opposite sides of the various conflicts of our past.
People criticise Phil Coulter’s “Ireland’s Call”, but all things considered it isn’t a bad effort.
Without having a shared historical past to draw upon, it is difficult to craft a song that generates passion and a sense of unity that can bridge contemporary political divides.
An interesting example in this regard was the creation of a new national anthem in South Africa after the fall of apartheid in 1994.
The song is a hybrid of a Xhosa hymn with the old Afrikaans national anthem of Die Stem, and has lyrics in five different languages.
Would it be possible to create a new anthem that is a hybrid of two current songs?
Personally speaking, I would hate to have a national anthem that did not include any Irish. Some kind of bilingual song might be an ideal way to ensure all communities in Ireland feel represented.
Or perhaps the simplest solution would be to have a piece of music with no lyrics at all?
In recent years both Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo have adopted anthems without lyrics. The fact that they did this due to their own divisive pasts is something we should keep in mind.
But the most important thing that nationalists need to consider is what political system we would put in place to offer some level of security to unionists that their rights would not be trampled on.
When the issue of partition was first raised during the home rule debates of the early twentieth century, one suggestion put forward was that north-east Ireland would have home rule within Ireland itself.
During the 1970s, the Provisional IRA’s “Éire Nua” called for a federal Irish state, with each province having its own parliament.
Desmond Boal, one of the founders of the Democratic Unionist Party, had suggested in the early 1970s that such a federal arrangement, what he termed “Amalgamated Ireland”, might offer a possible path to unity.
Meanwhile, the late Taoiseach Albert Reynolds once suggested that 30% of government minister positions could be reserved for unionists.
A possible way forward
To these proposals, I offer my own.
Unionists could be guaranteed that their political voice would carry weight if Stormont was retained, not as a home rule parliament within Ireland, but as a second house of the Irish government.
No laws could be ratified in Ireland unless they were passed in both houses, and legislation could be introduced in either house.
By controlling a large share of the votes in the north, it would ensure that unionist concerns could not simply be ignored by politicians in the south.
Stormont would replace the Seanad as the second house of the Irish government.
This would effectively kill two birds with one stone, as the fact that many Irish people don’t have a vote in the Seanad and it includes members who are simply appointed by the government means it is something of a problematic institution from a democratic view in the first place.
While we are not at a stage where any of these decisions will have to be taken in the near future, now is certainly the time for people in the south to weigh up whether we want a united Ireland, and if so, in what ways we can ensure the success of our new state.
Caoimhín De Barra is an assistant professor of history at Gonzaga University, Washington.
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Would we expect the Unionists to commemorate the Provisional IRA, not a chance, in a United Ireland it’ll be brushed under the carpet, the RIC fall into the same category.
FG, Leo, Simon, Charlie, the lot of them have no grasp of the normal people.
Charlie and Leo trying to normalise the RIC like some misunderstood police force in Ireland, and trying to distance the Tans from them as a “completely separate entity”
This is far from the truth, firstly the black and tans were ushered in to SUPPORT the RIC as a sub division, and the black and Tans uniform only differed because of a British govt cash flow issue.
Secondly, the RIC were a British State police force instilled with preventing the very state we live in being formed.
When you invade another country and attack it’s native people, you’re NOT defending YOUR COUNTRY – in fact you’re ATTACKING those people who are DEFENDING theirs.
FG need booted from power, and quickly.
@Ebeneezer Goode: Sure she’s a unionist…
@Todd: Fine Gael are Unionists at heart. They secretly and sometimes overtly, yearn for the trappings of things British. Remember that eejit of a Fine Gael Taoiseach, John Bruton, braying like an ass at some asinine remark that an English “Prince” made at a big dinner in his honour in Dublin Castle. The British Viceroy of Ireland , Bruton and the Prince of Wales, all together and cosy in that symbol of British rule in Ireland , Dublin Castle. Viceroy Bruton never looked more satisfied or at home.in this glorious Imperial moment.
@Gino Brancato: That’s an interesting argument you make. Do you think that one half of Sinn Fein (1918) now FG were really unionists all along. There is a thesis published called the Irish counter revolution which I would highly recommend.
What’s the bets in a United Ireland where British culture is promoted and celebrated 50/50 with Irish culture that more unionists in the 26 will come out of the long grass. The 26 may gain the 6 county field in a United Ireland but Irish culture will be diluted as a result to give the Orange equal billing with Green. How many would rather a green 26 than a green/orange 32 when push comes to shove.
@Paddy J: Fine Gael did not exist in 1918. Fine Gael hijacked a broken vulnerable Ireland, kept the British built and prejudiced Civil Service in place. The same with the British appointed judiciary and system of law, which favoured British interests in Ireland. I could go on but check it out for yourself, Fine Gael largely absorbed the British institutions and trappings as much as they could and used British based Irish law to continue to protect the interests of the landed gentry and the big farmers and British owned business interests. In short, Fine Gael were , and still are, puppets and proxies safeguarding the backs of British interests in Ireland.
@Gino Brancato: Technically FG didn’t exist in 1918 or indeed in 1921/22, however I am not clear why you are blaming FG for keeping British institutions and interests in Ireland unless you believe that Pro Treaty Sinn Fein are the direct ancestor of FG via Cumann na nGaedheal, which they are of course.
@Finbar:
FG need booted from power, and quickly. YES!
Especially Charlie “Poppy” Flanagan.
And what about the economic implications. Northern Ireland costs the British taxpayer the equivalent of the entire tax take of the greater Manchester area. Who is going to pay for Northern Ireland? A United Ireland would be economically disastrous for Southern Ireland. It would be the equivalent of a quarter of the bank bailout going up north each year. No thanks.
@Big Red: Most economic studies say otherwise. The north isn’t what it used to be economically, but it’s been suppressed by London for over a century. The Norths economy has the ability to prosper, much more so as a valued and supported part of an all island economy. Wheeling out the subsistence figure excuse is just short sighted.
@Big Red: As an ulster man I have much sympathy for the arguments re the adverse impacts to Ireland as a whole upon UI.
Our NI family were stranded in a sectarian state upon the establishment of our state. They were subjected to military backed sectarianism that exceeded what the 26 counties experienced.
So no. Our Nordie brethren deserve what we enjoy. We have no right to deny them that if that’s what they choose.
If forgoing our language to bring freedom to family is the price, so be it.
@Big Red: Another true Irish patriot, can’t see passed his own pocket. Our government should be calculating the figures to stop the constant use of costs as an excuse not to reunite.
@Big Red: “Northern Ireland would cost less than 4 per cent of the Irish Republic’s GDP annually. Of course, even this manageable figure would end up lower because the combined Irish GDP of the Republic combined with the North would be well over €300 billion, reducing the subvention as a percentage of income yet more. In pure budgetary terms, there is little doubt that the Republic’s economy could absorb the North and this is before the commercial dynamism of unification kicks in.” Economist, David McWilliams
@ObsidianShine: Stop speaking sense Mr Shine.
@ObsidianShine:
McWilliams did that article in the Irish times a while back. It wasn’t an economic study, just a newspaper article. He specifically used the word “absorb”. Not “afford” but “absorb”
John Fitzgerald and Edgar Morgenroth two respected Irish Economists did a detailed study which found that The standard of living in Ireland would drop by 5 to 10% in the case of a united Ireland
If you can “absorb” a 10% reduction in your standard of living that’s fine. Most Irish people cannot and should not have to.
Its also very likely that in the case of a very close vote in favour of NI leaving the UK, significant violence would occur. This would seriously delay the time before the so called “commercial dynamism of unification kicks in”
Unification nearly bankrupt Germany. That was without any threat of violence. What chance would we have.
@Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: What would you say to your fellow Irish national trapped in the north, who’s been crying out for your support for decades, sorry I’ve done the maths and you’re just not worth it. Your attitude is appalling.
@Big Red: There is no way that Northern Ireland can just retain the ‘status quo’ of a hugely dependent / inefficient public sector bankrolled if there was to be a United Ireland—— We would of course take our own inefficient bloated public sector and expand that too to accommodate the new unified Ireland and completely bankrupt the whole island – look what we did when the Troika were called in – bailed out the bankers and developers . bondholders , and lumped the hundreds of billions for the bill to taxpayer – and now we can see that the health services ( and all public bodies) are legacy institutions not fit for 21st century – and we go off on tangents about the North when our own country taxation to the hilt /administration and public services need complete reform- we are shambolic – classic Ireland.
@Conan Campbell:
“trapped in the north”. Are people being held in cages up there?
If the people of Northern Ireland want to leave the UK and create some political union with Ireland, then great, but let them pay their way.
If Sinn Féin spent half as much time helping develop Northern Ireland into a progressive state as they do crying about a border poll, then Northern Ireland would be a far better place for all its people.
The people of Ireland do not owe anything to anyone in Northern Ireland. Those that think we do, need to grow up and take some responsibility for their own actions.
@Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: Wrong again. But no surprise. Your true colours shining through. Total me feiner. For generations Irish people in the north have been absolutely trapped in a sectarian state they never wanted anything to do with. And before you go giving me the GFA vote again, remember that no historic majority vote in the north is relevant because they were completed on the basis of a manufactured majority in favour of a minority. I’ve come to the conclusion that you are a unionist masquerading as Irish in the comments section. And while thats fine, I just wish you could be honest about it.
@Conan Campbell: Do you think the 500,000 non native Irish living here will agree with you?
@ObsidianShine: Williams is some sort of economists. He is akin to a prophet. He is a crystalball gazer. Sometimes his type makes the right call , most times they do not. But what economists will NOT take into account is the human element to any of this. That is not their field and if a nuclear war were to be the obvious outcome of the economic models they would insist on push the best model and let the war be the business of someone else. In other words, the economics involved in Irish Unity is the least of the hurdles.
@Conan Campbell: I am not a unionist of any description. I am an Irishman born and bred in this country, Ireland. I have nothing to do with any unions. You are clearly incapable of listening to logical argument and have to make stuff up to justify to yourself your clearly ridiculous assertions.
This is 2020. Northern Ireland is part of the UK. The UK is a free and democratic country, People in Northern Ireland have the same rights and privileges as anywhere else in the UK and they have the additional right to Irish citizenship. No one is trapped anywhere.
When I was growing up we had many very stupid people who blamed all the ills of Ireland on “what the British did to us.” As they died out and people became more educated and took responsibility for our own country, only then did this country started to thrive.
People with views like yours would bring Ireland back into the dark ages. Your views really do the nationalist cause no favours. Grow up and take responsibility for yourself. Nobody owes you anything.
@Big Red: yes, I suppose if you repeat a falsehood often enough, people might start believing it Mr Gobbles.
try a wee be of research before making such statements.
@Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: Nearly bankrupted Germany the biggest economy in the EU. Ya – so answer this Mister. If the German people were to hold another referendum on German unification tomorrow, which way do you think they would vote – repartition or remain united?
@Conan Campbell: Ive been thinking the same about them for weeks now – they are either a closet unionist or a free-state FG/FF me feiner.
I hope a unionist because at least then we could have a serious grown up conversation about things. Something tells me they wont man-up though and will deny and continue the charade.
@Conan Campbell: If my fellow Irish people in the North really want my support they can show that they don’t support paramilitaries and terrorists . I dont want my fellow Irish if they insist on voting for so called “Republicans” who are just as malevolent and hell bent on terrorizing their local communities their loyalist/unionist counterparts.
@Gino Brancato: My concern is for my fellow Irish people. Once the majority (51%) in the north votes for reunification I’d be delighted to accommodate unionists, but that’s secondary to reuniting Irish people both sides of the border.
@Angela McCarthy: Either way Angela I wouldn’t like to be associated with them. They have absolutely no honour or sense of justice. Their relatives spinning in their graves.
@Angela McCarthy: It appears that many posters on here are incapable of normal discourse, you included. If you have a counter argument then make it, but trying to brand me with false anti Irish insults is just a bullyboy tactic to attempt to close the discussion.
You didn’t have even have the common decency to address the insult to me directly. Instead you use a snide remark to another poster. It speaks volumes for your nasty character. You do genuine nationalists a disservice.
You arguments just do not hold up. and the fact that you can’t even attempt to discuss them shows you that you actually know that.
The German people didn’t have a referendum on reunification. Yes it almost bankrupt the richest country in Europe. We would have no hope of financially supporting Northern Ireland without severe economic disruption. It would be much worse that what happened in the banking collapse.
@Gino Brancato: You must be very young. Firstly, nationalists vote for SF and the SDLP. Neither has an active paramilitary group associated with them. Secondly, if Irish people in the south hadn’t abandoned them after partition they wouldn’t have had to organise along paramilitary lines to fight the sectarian state backed by the British war machine.
@Conan Campbell: What about your fellow Irish who want to remain in the Union with Britain. How do you class them? Unionists?
@Conan Campbell:
You have no concern for your fellow Irish people.
If a vote for Northern Ireland to leave the UK passed by a 2% margin. There would be civil war and economic chaos. Is that what you want for the Irish people. Your comments are dangerous, foolish and deluded.
I would guess that not too many people take you seriously in the real world either
@Conan Campbell: I never mentioned nationalists. I referred to your phrase “fellow Irish people”. I am am acquainted with Irish people in the North who vote right across the board and they all come from different religious and political traditions. But dont make the mistake of thinking that voting in Northern elections would be mirrored in a border poll. There will no doubt that nationalists and even some republicans will vote to remain in the Union. There may also be a Unionist element in favour, depending on the deal.It remains to be seen how many will swing that way but you are mistaken to think that there will be 100% so called Nationalist/Republican vote in favour of Unity and there Unity is a given.
As a matter of interest. Will those currently non Unionist people who currently vote ,say, SDLP or Sinn Fein, who might vote for to remain in the union with Britain, will you class them as Unionists?
@Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: I appreciate this might be difficult for you. I’d imagine it must be what it’s like to come out of the closet. You tick all the boxes of a unionist. That is undeniable. Your political leanings, lack of empathy for Irish self determination, your belligerence. Sorry to be the one to tell you Feardorcha, but you are a unionist.
@Gino Brancato: Yes, they are unionists. What’s your point?
@Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: Here we go. A majority is not good enough now. Where does it end. Your comment re the threat of violence is astonishing. So you are going to play to the loyalist terrorists tune.
@Conan Campbell:
You do realise that Campbell is a Scottish name , don’t you. The majority of Campbells came to Ireland in the early 1600s as part of the plantations. You really should have a little more empathy with your Northern Irish unionist cousins, considering your shared heritage.
@Conan Campbell: You have just made it.
@Conan Campbell:
“Your comment re the threat of violence is astonishing.”: If you even had a basic understanding of Irish history you would know that unfortunately it’s not.
“So you are going to play to the loyalist terrorists tune.” I would be more concerned about Nationalist violence, when Ireland would reject a united Ireland based on a fractional majority in Northern Ireland.
You clearly do not have an adult perspective on Northern Ireland. Your only arguments are jingoism, insults and references to 1918. Luckily the majority in Northern Ireland and Ireland have a more mature view than the extremist republican drivel that gets posted on here.
@Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: Agreed.
@Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: To be fair, his other name is Angela MCCarthy so that sort of makes it legit.
@Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: If I have come to the same conclusion or opinion as other posters on here about you or anyone else, its probably because of what you post on here yourself. You have just expressed an opinion about me. I don’t take that as bullying or insulting, so why would you say that or you were insulted. If you keep saying the same things and making the same points – do you think my opinion of you or the politics of what you say will change? Or do you think I should censor my opinions?
there are many reports about the economics of what a united Ireland will cost – probably about six in all over the last 5 years, only one of which was negative, all the others were positive – yet you either didn’t research or read them, or you chose to opt for the negative one. That’s your right – as its my right to call you out on it.
as for German Unity – my question still stands – how do you feel the German people would vote if they were given a choice for Unity or repartition tomorrow?
@Gino Brancato: There are a lot of posters on here pushing a radical republican agenda. Whether they are the same people or not I don’t know, but they all use the same argumentative techniques, bullying, name calling, and the tried and trusted “if you say that, you must hate Irish people”
I think they are singing off the same hymn sheet alright. The pertinent question is, who’s hymn sheet is it?
@Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: Ha, got you now. I have my family tree. I even have my genetic heritage. I’m mostly from Tyrone. Belonging to the Gaelic Mac Caithmhaoil clan who had their name anglicised to Campbell following the plantations. I accept your apology.
@Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: You know the reference to 1918 was in respect of a conversation about the origins of the British border – therefore you are disingenuous. You are not a true democrat – a 51% majority is not acceptable to you. You give credence terrorist threats – under no circumstances should terrorist threats be factored into the democratic process and you don’t believe in future proofing our country – you don’t agree to a forum on a reunited Ireland to assess the options. I believe in all of the above and yet I’m a radical republican. Jesus wept. Campbell out.
@Gino Brancato: Gino, you’re all over the place on these comments. I don’t where your allegiances lie.
@Gino Brancato: If they vote to stay in the UK, they are unionists.
Anyway, if there is a border poll and NI votes to remain in the UK, then surely we in the Rep should be given a vote to remove their rights to Irish citizenship and passports.
That’s a lot of soul searching. Something we are more than capable of. The worst thing about this country is its politics. The best thing is its people. We can move forward and deliver this to both communities.
Like the idea of abolishing the seanad and replacing stormont as the second house. Both democratically voted in place.
He cant even run properly the country as it is! Never mind taking in Northern Ireland. Man is delusional.
@Shane De Paor: Do you really think Leo varadkar will still be Taoiseach when a reunited Ireland comes about?
@Leadóg: obviously not point being is we cannot afford it
@Shane De Paor: Show us the figures that support your point please?
@Leadóg: he won’t be Taoiseach in a months time!
@Seamus Murphy: Hopefully Seamus.
@Leadóg: If he lives for another 500 years I suppose it is a possibility.
The RIC was a British police force. The British should commemorate them if they want. Irish men that supported the forces of independence within the RIC should be commemorated by the political parties aligned with the IRA of the time. While there remains a British police force on this island (whose history is littered with collusion with loyalist terrorists) there should never be a commemoration by the Irish state. When Ireland is reunited and a new true police force for all the people is created under one government, then by all means commemorate the forces of the past.
The subvention money pays a contribution towards the British armed forces including maintenance of Trident nuclear submarines. It also pays for a contribution towards British overseas territories and for military, public and civil servant Pensions .
This wouldn’t be payable in a reunified Ireland. The cost myth has been debunked a few years at this stage.
There would be synergies to reunification.
The RIC debacle set that agenda back!
@Dom Layzell: No it didn’t. As much as I dislike the politics of unionists I have enough respect for them to know that some sort of phony commemoration of a police force that was effectively a military wing of the crown wasn’t going to change their attitude towards a united Ireland. It will take more that laying wreaths at the foot of memorials to get unionists to see a future for them in a united Ireland. We have to try harder and more honestly.
@Manbackonboard: Agreed! We have to try harder and more honesty!
@Manbackonboard: Trying harder woud just read to the erosion of Ireand and everything we hold dear.
@Teresa Ryan: what do we hold dear that we would erode?
@Ronan Fahy: well whatever it is, the sooner the better for a 32 County! Hurry up!
@Ronan Fahy: Diluting of Green culture and the promotion of Orange culture in the 26 counties until there have equal billing per our flag. People in the 26 are going to have to swallow a lot of changes. The simpler alternative is a two state federation.
@Manbackonboard: Great.
@Teresa Ryan: Ireland is eroding anyway, have you seen the major demolition of our east coast beaches.? If this keeps up we might have Six counties North and South.
We don’t have to commemorate the black and tans to have a united Ireland. Germany didn’t have to commemorate the nazis to get their country unified. We just have to acknowledge that they existed and we have done that. Leo is once again trying to drive a wedge into politics and keep people fighting among themselves.
Irish has to remain as first official language
Having read this by someone who has thought about it, I realise I really dont want a United Ireland like the one he describes.
He write “Better a 26- county state with a lukewarm attitude to the language than an all-Island polity coldly indifferent”
We dont need a United Ireland to be coldly indifferent to the Irish language. We have achieved this ourselves. The people to blame are the little Irelanders who bundled it up with the GAA and The Catholic Church. The great Irish myth has always been that these institutions enjoy popular support and refine the Irish people. They dont. Ireland’s great literary achievements have all been written in English. Ireland’s greatest sporting achievements have all been on the international stage, not on the wet and windy fields of Skibereen.
To be Irish means understanding the truth about Ireland, not puffing it up with grotesque mythology. Why anyone who knows this truth would want neanderthal Unionists included in an national makeover is completely beyond me.
@Misty Eyed Mutton: does anybody even have to be ‘Irish’? In a genuinely pluralist Ireland it seems pointless to retain this notion. We need to rethink all this national identity stuff. I’m not even sure people either know or care what it means anymore. Personally, it doesn’t mean a thing to me or most people I know. We create our own identities as we see fit and they have nothing to do with anything like being ‘Irish’
@alan: He is not leader of Fine Gael for nothing.
@Misty Eyed Mutton: The only bit of that absolute load of schoolboy tripe is you reference to Neanderthal Unionists.
So according to Varadkar, in order to achieve a United Ireland we will have to satisfy every whim of the Unionists. Anytime we say no or express an opinion that Unionists do not agree with the Unionists will pull back. According to Varadkar if we are to achieve a United Ireland we will have to accept the Unionist version of history or they will pull back. Well Mr Varadkar, everything has a price and a United Ireland which carries the price tag of Unionist domination is a price to big to pay. The world knows all about Unionist domination and how they used that domination.
here’s a short guide on 20 Unionist objections to Re-Unification and how to refute them
https://eurofree3.wordpress.com/2019/11/16/20-unionist-objections-to-a-united-ireland/
Why is nobody asking the Unionists what concessions they would be willing to make?
I don’t see articles similar to this in the Belfast Telegraph or other Unionst newspapers.
You know why? The won’t make any, they say NO to everything. Always have and always will.
And making concessions BEFORE negotiations even begin is madness. You keep all your cards until you negotiate.
There will never be a better Ireland or a United Ireland with Leo at the helm.
Leo lives in a different universe to the ordinary people of Ireland and the more he keeps putting his foot in his mouth they more the Irish People see what this privileged little man thinks of the ordinary Irish People
Go away Lieo. You Black and Tan Sympathizer…
Absolutely not
I am surprised that Sinn Fein does not have a 20 year economic plan for a United Ireland to indicate how those south and north of the border will economically benefit.
Such a plan should give guidelines on :
-restore some of the Six Counties’ engineering & manufacturing expertise
-an extended Agri business network & farm development program
-relocate some government departments to Belfast, Cork & Galway
-change in constitution to replace Co Councils with strong well resources 4 provincinal
system of Government similar to Canada or Australia’s State system.
-rural community industrial program to stem the flight from the country regions
-secularise health & education and transfer admin to the Provinces
-clean up and develop the Erne River and lakes for quality “green” tourism
-rationalise all roads in border areas
-Rejig the Senate with 12 members from each provence to review legislation and ensure
fair and equitable treatment of all 4 provinces.( Senate=Provincinal House)
etc.
Northern Ireland has 26% illiteracy, 30% of workforce out of work, highest suicide rate in the world, ditto for drug and alcohol abuse, and then there is the sectarianism and the paramilitary drug dealers. Those pose the real problems, not what happened one hundred years ago, nor what happened over three hundred years ago. The challenge is mighty and it is not history that poses the challenge but the present…
have your say