Irish Unity has been the foremost issue in my mind since becoming even primitively politically literate.
Browsing maps to find the Union Jack emblazoned over the north eastern corner of the proud & ever emerging island nation of Ireland, seemed both jarring & absurd to my young mind, particularly when juxtaposed against the Irish tricolour spread over the rest of Ireland. Further browsing toward central & Eastern Europe only served to reinforce that jarring feeling. France, Italy, Spain and so forth, all had their respective flags spread across the entirety of their respective territories. Why then, I wondered, was Ireland’s landmass overlaid with two separate flags on what is a relatively small territorial body. These colourfully laid out geographical illustrations served to pique my interest in Irish Unity.
Delving & reading more into Irish/British history, I tried to get to the crux of the matter & found that in the Acts of Union (1800). Those acts tied the Kingdom of Britain to the Kingdom of Ireland & created The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland. Upon first reading of the Acts of Union, I experienced a further jolt of Irish Nationalist radicalisation when the information began to seep into my mind that only Anglicans were allowed to be MP’s, and thus, only they decided Ireland’s future. Ireland’s Catholics, despite constituting the great majority of the population, were excluded from Parliament and therefore had precisely 0.0% say or sway in their nation’s political future. To bring Ireland into union with Great Britain without consultation or indeed consent of Ireland’s people, is to most rational minds, a wholly unjust act & makes any grounds for political union both wobbly & fractious.
So, how did Ireland fare in this union, you may ask. A range of discriminatory penal laws rife throughout the 18th century & particularly pervasive against Ireland’s Catholics persisted in this Union, and as the Union persisted, so to did Ireland’s plight within it. An Gorta Mór and the extremely contemptible Trevelyan central response to it, all served as iron-clad reasons for Ireland to secede from this evidently unhealthy Union.
The 1918 general election concluded that of 1,515,864 votes cast in Ireland, 1,207,151 votes were in favour of a form of self determination, namely Home Rule, or an outright Irish Republic; hardly an emphatic endorsement of the Union & Ireland’s place within it.
All of these policy disasters combine to convey that Ireland’s interests lay within Ireland & amongst its people.
Irish Unity has a plethora of positive possibilities to explore and fulfil, not least, the reconciliation of all of our people, Nationalist, Unionist & all other cohorts. Prior political arrangements including the current one have a track record of nurturing division. Whilst personally of the view that some division would persist in a United Ireland in its embryonic stages, after such times I believe our people will be more at peace than ever. I believe as such, because a United Ireland underpinned by true equality & concerted, meaningful reconciliation could & should usher in a new wave of friendly co-operation & a resetting of mindsets amongst all of our people. If we cast our minds a generation post – reunification, those newborns will be born into a state rid of its sectarian shackles & they will all to a man, woman & child be able to avail of that enshrined ethos of equality. If all of the above were to come to fruition, then we as a country will have formed the most successful of societal mergers, and we will have done so for the infinite betterment of everyone who will share our new nation. Other benefits include the poignancy of witnessing two tribalistic traditions burying the metaphorical hatchet & instead brainstorming together to co-design our new Ireland. What would they be co-designing? Health, education & public transport, all streamlined, would serve our nation much better than a physically & psychologically segregated system. Common sense dictates that co-operation outweighs segregation in the reconciliation stakes.
In conclusion, I am of the firm belief that Irish Unity must now be seriously sought. The undertaking should be transparent, friendly & as competently handled as is possible. Cohesion amongst all pro-UI parties should be a demanded prerequisite amongst the pro-UI population & we must endeavour to not shirk our responsibilities in anyway as it pertains to Irish Unity, after all, we are of a privileged generation who can actually bring about the reunification of Ireland, this assertion should not be lost on our people & should be used as further inspiration to enshrine & boost morale.
Finally, outreach to unionism should come from all strands of pro-unity people, civic and political. Outreach efforts of the concerted & sincere kind may not earn their Irish Unity vote, but it will demonstrate a spirit of reconciliation & therefore is a win-win effort for all of Ireland.
So, reader, it is indeed crystal clear:
IRELAND UNITED > IRELAND DIVIDED.
Irish Unity has been the foremost issue in my mind since becoming even primitively politically literate.
Browsing maps to find the Union Jack emblazoned over the north eastern corner of the proud & ever emerging island nation of Ireland, seemed both jarring & absurd to my young mind, particularly when juxtaposed against the Irish tricolour spread over the rest of Ireland. Further browsing toward central & Eastern Europe only served to reinforce that jarring feeling. France, Italy, Spain and so forth, all had their respective flags spread across the entirety of their respective territories. Why then, I wondered, was Ireland’s landmass overlaid with two separate flags on what is a relatively small territorial body. These colourfully laid out geographical illustrations served to pique my interest in Irish Unity.
Delving & reading more into Irish/British history, I tried to get to the crux of the matter & found that in the Acts of Union (1800). Those acts tied the Kingdom of Britain to the Kingdom of Ireland & created The United Kingdom of Great Britain & Ireland. Upon first reading of the Acts of Union, I experienced a further jolt of Irish Nationalist radicalisation when the information began to seep into my mind that only Anglicans were allowed to be MP’s, and thus, only they decided Ireland’s future. Ireland’s Catholics, despite constituting the great majority of the population, were excluded from Parliament and therefore had precisely 0.0% say or sway in their nation’s political future. To bring Ireland into union with Great Britain without consultation or indeed consent of Ireland’s people, is to most rational minds, a wholly unjust act & makes any grounds for political union both wobbly & fractious.
So, how did Ireland fare in this union, you may ask. A range of discriminatory penal laws rife throughout the 18th century & particularly pervasive against Ireland’s Catholics persisted in this Union, and as the Union persisted, so to did Ireland’s plight within it. An Gorta Mór and the extremely contemptible Trevelyan central response to it, all served as iron-clad reasons for Ireland to secede from this evidently unhealthy Union.
The 1918 general election concluded that of 1,515,864 votes cast in Ireland, 1,207,151 votes were in favour of a form of self determination, namely Home Rule, or an outright Irish Republic; hardly an emphatic endorsement of the Union & Ireland’s place within it.
All of these policy disasters combine to convey that Ireland’s interests lay within Ireland & amongst its people.
Irish Unity has a plethora of positive possibilities to explore and fulfil, not least, the reconciliation of all of our people, Nationalist, Unionist & all other cohorts. Prior political arrangements including the current one have a track record of nurturing division. Whilst personally of the view that some division would persist in a United Ireland in its embryonic stages, after such times I believe our people will be more at peace than ever. I believe as such, because a United Ireland underpinned by true equality & concerted, meaningful reconciliation could & should usher in a new wave of friendly co-operation & a resetting of mindsets amongst all of our people. If we cast our minds a generation post – reunification, those newborns will be born into a state rid of its sectarian shackles & they will all to a man, woman & child be able to avail of that enshrined ethos of equality. If all of the above were to come to fruition, then we as a country will have formed the most successful of societal mergers, and we will have done so for the infinite betterment of everyone who will share our new nation. Other benefits include the poignancy of witnessing two tribalistic traditions burying the metaphorical hatchet & instead brainstorming together to co-design our new Ireland. What would they be co-designing? Health, education & public transport, all streamlined, would serve our nation much better than a physically & psychologically segregated system. Common sense dictates that co-operation outweighs segregation in the reconciliation stakes.
In conclusion, I am of the firm belief that Irish Unity must now be seriously sought. The undertaking should be transparent, friendly & as competently handled as is possible. Cohesion amongst all pro-UI parties should be a demanded prerequisite amongst the pro-UI population & we must endeavour to not shirk our responsibilities in anyway as it pertains to Irish Unity, after all, we are of a privileged generation who can actually bring about the reunification of Ireland, this assertion should not be lost on our people & should be used as further inspiration to enshrine & boost morale.
Finally, outreach to unionism should come from all strands of pro-unity people, civic and political. Outreach efforts of the concerted & sincere kind may not earn their Irish Unity vote, but it will demonstrate a spirit of reconciliation & therefore is a win-win effort for all of Ireland.
So, reader, it is indeed crystal clear:
IRELAND UNITED > IRELAND DIVIDED.