If Sinn Féin is the delivery driver for a united Ireland, its performance in the Republic’s general election suggests that we may have to wait a while for the parcel to arrive. The party’s claim that everyone is talking about a united Ireland proved to be predictably delusional, since no party made it an election issue – not even Sinn Féin.
Of course, all the political parties included Irish unity in their manifestoes, but it was rather like the way the British monarch’s speech in parliament makes an obligatory nod towards us with a, “Hello, Northern Ireland” sentence in the script.
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Similarly, the north has now become a sort of religious icon towards which the Republic’s parties feel obliged to genuflect before getting on with the real world of everyday life.
So after a century of discrimination, rebellion, gerrymandering, protest, more rebellion, sectarian violence, bigotry and bluster, how much closer are we to a united Ireland now than in 1922?
The answer is not very. And the reason? It is because of what Liam Mellows predicted before his execution in 1922. He took part in the 1916 Rising and later fought on the Republican side in the Civil War. He said that if partition happened, there would emerge establishments in both states who would depend on the border to retain power.
Thus the three main parties in the south have advocated a united Ireland with century-old enthusiasm, confident in the knowledge that it will not arrive any time soon.
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Its most vociferous supporter, Sinn Féin, would suffer most through Irish unity, because on its current electoral strength, it would have to give up permanent power in Belfast to sit on the opposition benches in Dublin.
That explains why the crusade for a united Ireland has yet to even define what exactly a united Ireland would look like.
Welcome to Ireland, where everyone has an opinion on a concept which no-one has defined, but which nationalists insist we should plan for.
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So, let’s define it. A united Ireland means a single sovereign nation, governed from Dublin through a common system of administration across the island. Oh, hang on a minute. The Good Friday Agreement is based on the idea of two nations here, so we can’t have a single nation.
Since nationalists want a united Ireland within the European Union, sovereignty will rest in Brussels and not Dublin. We can’t have a sovereign nation either.
The continued vagueness over a united Ireland confirms what Liam Mellows predicted. Unionism held power for 50 years by supporting the border. Sinn Féin has retained power in Stormont for 25 years by opposing it and Fianna Fáil topped the polls last week with its Shared Island initiative
So the Provisional IRA’s type of united Ireland cannot be achieved unless Ireland leaves the EU and abandons the Good Friday Agreement. Since Sinn Féin would oppose both conditions, it has effectively neutered the IRA’s objectives and rendered its military campaign rather pointless.
Even though nationalists have yet to define a united Ireland, their immediate aim is to abolish the border – all 310 miles of it along a twisted line of seughs, streams, rivers and hedges.
What they do not realise, however, is that the real border is not on the ground, it is in the minds of people. The real border is the peace lines in Belfast and Stormont’s institutionalised sectarianism.
It can be seen, not in the Irish landscape, but in the north’s segregated housing, tribal marches, parades, posturing, flag waving, murals and the sectarian madness which marks our everyday lives – all of which are intensified by talk of a border poll, which is portrayed as the road to unity.
In any case, what would a border poll ask? Might it be, “Would you like a united Ireland? Please tick yes, no, or maybe.” Or perhaps voters will be asked to write a 500-word essay on what they think a united Ireland means.
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The continued vagueness over a united Ireland confirms what Mellows predicted. Unionism held power for 50 years by supporting the border. Sinn Féin has retained power in Stormont for 25 years by opposing it and Fianna Fáil topped the polls last week with its Shared Island initiative.
Indeed, SF holds power in the north while defying SF policy in the south. The northern party’s record on housing, welfare and health breaches the southern party’s policies on those same issues. Northern SF is little different from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, but thanks to partition, few in the south realise that. God bless the border.
To paraphrase St Augustine: Lord, grant us a united Ireland, but not just yet. So the message to the delivery van driver is, “Take your time – we don’t need that parcel right now.”
