Unity by another name

My last piece on Sinn Fein was timely as this week on TV, two flagship programs from either side of the border, linked up to discuss the findings of a 32-county poll on possible Irish unity.

Eilis O'Hanlon in today's Irish Independent writes a balanced article on it and what struck me and her was the direct question to Southerners on their aspiration to unity in their own lifetime. Two-thirds said they would like to see a United Ireland and that is down from what it once was. But when the proviso was added concerning "Paying" for that unity, the number feel further to one-third in favour.

In Dublin a politician was on the panel and posed with the direct question as to whether the Republic could afford the cost of unity with Northern Ireland he eventually admitted that no, we certainly couldn't. I found myself grinning wryly at this because all the nationalist bullshit aside, ordinary Southerners wouldn't pay a penny for unity if it were offered tomorrow. A separate Northern State suits us, with its British and Irish identity as does the the UK with its sole British identity and our own little country with its sole Irish identity. The similarities between the two islands are greater than any real or perceived differences. Maybe if Northern Ireland were Italian or something else we might just feel stronger about it.

In real terms, both parts of this island are closer to the UK than anywhere else in the world. Falling into conversation with any British visitors over here is effortless, (except perhaps for the Muslim lads of course), and our tastes, perceptions, understanding and even our world views have so much in common. When the guns fell silent north of the border the actual border itself became irrelevant. Sure, there are cultural differences when you go north but they exist too between Dublin and Kerry as well and try making sense of Donegal no matter where you are from.

The one issue that was skirted but centrally important is Brexit or a possible exit by the UK from the EU. Our own spineless leaders in the South of Ireland are scared shitless of that happening and Enda is in the UK today urging decision makers there not to do it. What was missing though was any mention or question of whether the Republic should consider re-joining the Commonwealth. That's a wobbler that would really put the cat among the pigeons on both parts of the island but I for one, would like to hear it explored as another possible option.

What do you think?

In purely economic terms, Ireland does 90 per cent of its imports and exports with the UK and the USA. We export only 10 per cent to the EU and import slightly more. That is why when the euro is in trouble we are usually unaffected.

In the past we have had three economic melt-downs and on each occasion, we devalued the Irish Pound and got on with it for a year or two until things righted themselves. We cannot do that with the euro but the UK can with Sterling.

Socially, we are very similar to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We speak English, (after a fashion), our media influence is mainly British or American and our climate, living standards and diet are similar. We drive on the right for fucks sake.

Culturally, we like much the same things such as writers, painters, poets and music and whether difficult or not at times, we are heavily linked by history and geography too. There are differences of course but there are differences between London and Liverpool.

We have had austerity here since 2008 because we couldn’t de-value. We have suffered the shame of having our annual budget read in the German Parliament to be sanctioned by them before we got a look at it. Much talk has been made of the money Ireland has received for its membership of the EU but at the start, we had to hand over our Atlantic fishing grounds with a value far in excess of anything we got or will get.

The aforementioned austerity has driven a whole generation of educated young to emigration and where did they go? The UK, Australia, Canada and the US, that’s where. If we had had our Irish Pound, (tied to Sterling as before), those kids would still be here. Europe has paid ou farmers NOT to produce and that is on a fertile green land with lots of land available.

The above is probably not the whole story but all I suggested is that the Commonwealth should be on the table for debate as an alternative to the EU, and from your side, Paddy may have a lot to offer.

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Unity by another name — 2 Comments

Jax on November 10, 2015 at 1:12 am said:
Surely, if the UK left the EU, Ireland would simply continue with its own membership (for good or ill – not quite sure how the whole EU thingy is going down there right now) in the same way as all the other remaining EU members would. Why does Ireland need to be scared about this? Might it stir anti-EU “if they can do it, so can we,” feeling? Or would it affect trade, and thus the Irish economy (in which case, surely, the EU would pump plenty of money in to keep things going?). And why on earth would Ireland want to re-join the Commonwealth? Apart from a few diplomatic matters which seem to be slightly easier for Commonwealth countries than non-Commonwealth ones here in the UK, being in the Commonwealth doesn’t seem to have much by way of either major advantages or disadvantages to many of the current countries within it, as far as I can see. I think that the main reason that most of the Commonwealth countries stay in it is because they like the Queen better than they like the idea of having some ghastly, greasy-pole-climbing politician as their Head of State!
Reply ↓
- John Mallon on November 10, 2015 at 11:33 am said:
  In purely economic terms, Ireland does 90 per cent of its imports and exports with the UK and the USA. We export only 10 per cent to the EU and import slightly more. That is why when the euro is in trouble we are usually unaffected.
  In the past we have had three economic melt-downs and on each occasion, we devalued the Irish Pound and got on with it for a year or two until things righted themselves. We cannot do that with the euro but the UK can with Sterling.
  Socially, we are very similar to England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We speak English, (after a fashion), our media influence is mainly British or American and our climate, living standards and diet are similar. We drive on the right for fucks sake.
  Culturally, we like much the same things such as writers, painters, poets and music and whether difficult or not at times, we are heavily linked by history and geography too. There are differences of course but there are differences between London and Liverpool.
  We have had austerity here since 2008 because we couldn’t de-value. We have suffered the shame of having our annual budget read in the German Parliament to be sanctioned by them before we got a look at it. Much talk has been made of the money Ireland has received for its membership of the EU but at the start, we had to hand over our Atlantic fishing grounds with a value far in excess of anything we got or will get.
  The aforementioned austerity has driven a whole generation of educated young to emigration and where did they go? The UK, Australia, Canada and the US, that’s where. If we had had our Irish Pound, (tied to Sterling as before), those kids would still be here. Europe has paid ou farmers NOT to produce and that is on a fertile green land with lots of land available.
  The above is probably not the whole story but all I suggested is that the Commonwealth should be on the table for debate as an alternative to the EU, and from your side, Paddy may have a lot to offer.
  Reply ↓

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Unity by another name

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Unity by another name — 2 Comments

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