The framework document for government, concerning which Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have launched a support-hunt among smaller-party TDs, has been dissed big time in The Irish Times in recent days. Columnist Una Mullally has declared that the plan is “intellectually dead.” Columnist Fintan O’Toole has dismissed it as “a colouring book”. But this morning, Newton Emerson brings his intellect to bear on the subject and notes that “the eight actions the framework document lists to build consensus do not include a Border poll.” Maybe this is why the DUP says it believes in a “shared island” and is in favour of “co-operation for mutual benefit.”
You’d think that such a self-evident point – it’s good to do things that benefit north and south – is so mild, nobody even in the DUP could disagree with it. And at first, Emerson seems to be suggesting the UUP see things in a similar light. But he quotes the UUP leader from earlier this month: “Nobody from the Ulster Unionist Party is going to be involved in any conversation about a united Ireland – not now, not ever.”
Maybe I’m being unfair to Steve. As Emerson notes, he has said he’s all for strengthening north-south and east-west links. But the thing he’s most emphatic about is the united Ireland thing, even though Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael never got round to even using the phrase “united Ireland” in their framework document.
It’s really odd. If you were a Martian, you might find it hard to understand Steve’s stance, since there’s a thing called the Good Friday Agreement which David Trimble, a former leader of the UUP, helped negotiate. That document makes clear that, when and if there are signs that most people in our tormented green corner want constitutional change, the British Secretary of State will call a bordeer poll. And if/when that poll is won by those favouring a united Ireland, there’ll have to be lots of talking and planning about how the new Ireland is going to work. In fact, most sane people believe now is the time for talking and planning, rather than blundering into a border poll with no clear idea what saying Yes or No means. The obvious example to be avoided is that of the Brexit referendum, which meant different things to different people.
So who does Steve Aitken remind you of with that “not now, not ever” bit? Ah yes, the late Ian Paisley and his “Never, never, never, never!” That worked out well, didn’t it?
Emerson does make one important point in his column: “There can be talks on various degrees of Irish unity but there are no plausible conversations to be had on reuniting the British Isles.”
That’s merely to underscore what most of us know:this thing is going one way only and will end with major change in Ireland. Steve Aitken and the DUP would do well to talk while time remains. You don’t want to face a border poll with nothing to say for yourself.
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