On Irish unity

Creating a new Ireland that is more British than the current State.

The issue of Irish unity was back on the news after the Irish Times carried out a survey on Irish unification. Support for Irish unification is growing but it is still some way off. In addition, most people in the South want unification on their own terms.

Pat Leahy in the Irish Times points out, “The South has no hesitation saying yes to unity – but on our terms. As long as it doesn’t cost any money. Oh, and maybe not with a different flag or anthem or constitution or political arrangements or membership of the Commonwealth or Nato or anything at all that might involve changing the Republic that we have built in order to accommodate unionists.”

Leahy believes that a united Ireland will involve having an Ireland that is a bit more British than the current State. If it ever came to pass it would mean accommodating another one million people who identify as British.

Leahy, “The shorthand for a united Ireland that is more accommodating of unionists is creating a new Ireland that is more British than the current State. It would recognise the British identity of a substantial chunk of its population; it would recognise (as the new Northern state certainly did not do for its nationalist citizens a century ago) the legitimacy of that identity and honour it in its symbols and iconography, its flags and its anthem(s). It would recognise British identity in its constitutional and political arrangements and include it in its national expression.

Don’t like the sound of any of that? Don’t fancy a State that’s a bit more British? Figure that we fought a war to get rid of the British (two wars, the Provisional IRA might say) and to hell with the idea of changing the Irish identity of the Republic in order to accommodate unionists? That unionists can like it or lump it and if they don’t like it, well, they know where the door is? You’re not alone. A lot of your compatriots feel the same way.”

Well, I just want to say right now that I am not one of these compatriots that feel the same way. I am not in the “like it or lump” category. No, when I hear that a united Ireland would result in a “new Ireland that is more British than the current State” my reply is – is that a promise? Yes please. But I only want the good bits. I don’t want the national debt or it’s out of control immigration numbers.