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Volume 1 (1999/2000)
Issue
1 (March 1999)
Issue
2 (Nov. 1999)
Issue 3 (Dec. 1999)
Issue 4 (Feb. 2000)
Issue 5 (March 2000)
Issue 6 (April 2000)
Issue
7 (May 2000)
Volume 2 (2000/2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2000)
Issue 2 (Oct. 2000)
Issue 3 (Jan. 2001)
Issue 4 (March 2001)
Issue 5 (April 2001)
Issue 6 (May 2001)
Volume 3 (2001)
Issue 1 (Sept. 2001)
Issue 2 (Nov. 2001)
Categories
Sport: 1
2 3
Lifestyles: 1 2
3
Commentary: 1 2
3
Review: 1 2
3
Writing: 1 2
3
Event: 1 2
3
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Patrick Nulty
Riverside CC, Dublin
Now that Northern Ireland
appears to have emerged from the worst of the troubles a new battle is
ready to commence. While Nationalist Ireland has accepted the principle
of consent as defined in the Good Friday agreement regarding the sovereignty
of the Northern Ireland, the cultural and social expression of sovereignty
within the state remains unresolved.
For decades Northern Ireland
was a fortress for the preservation of the Ulster-British tradition. Many
Ulster Protestants felt isolated, as they were borded by a state with
a strong Catholic ethos and, what they saw as, an antagonistic claim of
sovereignty over the six northern counties. In addition they may have
felt that the British government wanted to wash its hands of the problems
that it caused in Ireland both north and south. As a result Unionists
have always maintained a strong siege mentality and have perceived honest
compromise as a cloak for surrender.
With the new opportunities
created in the Good Friday agreement and the long overdue changes to the
Irish constitution by replacing the claim of sovereignty over Northern
Ireland (which was irrelevant in practice) with a legitimate aspiration
to unity, great progress has been made. It is now up to Unionism to help
create a state that can attract the support of the overwhelming majority
of all citizens. This is particularly important in areas like policing
and equality in access to state bodies where abuses have clearly taken
place in the past.
It is vital that all cultural
and political identities be respected and that new ones are fostered.
The powers invested in the new assembly ought to lead to a gradual move
away from the sectarian politics of the past into a new political context.
Symbolic gestures such as the flying of the Union Jack and the Irish tricolour,
which have gained a cultural importance in excess of their historical
significance, should cease to be an issue. Instead the debate should move
onto more concrete political issues like housing, health and education.
It is undeniably true that
the war that has gone on for the last thirty years has been a war of the
working classes. It is working class communities of the cities that provide
the paramilitary groups with most new recruits and it is ordinary people
who have suffered the most as a result of the 'troubles'. The reality
is that the working class estates of Belfast and other cities share the
same problems and challenges and have far more in common with each other
than not. It is up to progressive politicians to highlight this and expand
political debate beyond flags and symbols, which bear no relevance to
the problems and difficulties faced by people on a daily basis.
To conclude, the problem in
Northern Ireland has never been partition but the results of partition.
The state became a monolith dedicated to preservation of Unionism and
the subjugation of people from a Nationalist tradition. The new institutions
that have been set up must not be allowed to descend into a sectarian
dogfight for control. Instead politics must move away from the petty and
insular philosophies espoused by Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists and
into a more egalitarian and universal way of conducting affairs. More
emphasis should be placed on improving the quality of life of all citizens.
The old tribal concerns that stifled the political process in Northern
Ireland and on the island, as a whole should be set aside allowing real
political debate about the future of this society.
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