The Irish Times used to have a weekly column by the (very) left-wing journalist Eamonn McCann. When Eamonn was elected to the Assembly, the column was assigned to the Times’s tame unionist (TTU). He has a column in the IT this morning snappily titled ‘Irish Government is obsessed with Brexit Britain despite the risks this brings’.
The column argues that the Irish government opened its doors to Ukrainian refugees, which then allowed it to draw “pious comparisons” with the UK’s Rwanda-deportation policy. And he seems to suggest that Micheál Martin blames the UK’s Rwanda policy for the increased number of immigrants applying to the south of Ireland.
Did you read or hear reports of Martin blaming the UK for the flood of migrants to the south of Ireland? Me neither, but the TTU appears to have a source denied to the rest of us.
The TTU then goes on to comment on the Americans-retiring-in-Ireland scheme that Leo Varadkar announced recently. This, the TTU asserts, “reveals a complete disconnection between the fixations of the [Irish] Government and the priorities of the population”. EH? I suspect there are many in the Irish population who would welcome retiring Yanks into Ireland: they might have a substantial retirement wad to spend and they might even be relatives of people in the south. The TTU dismisses such talk. You begin to wonder who has the fixation.
What’s more, the TTU tells us, the Irish government keeps going on about the success of its Brexit policy. “while its support plummets”. Post hoc propter hoc, TTU: because one event follows another doesn’t mean the second is caused by the first. There are lots of reasons for the unpopularity of the south’s government. Know what the main reason is, TTU? I’ll give you a hint: it doesn’t begin with B for Brexit but H for …Now you’ve got it. Of course. Housing. Maybe the TTU will correct himself in next week’s column. Or maybe not.
He concludes by announcing that the south of Ireland’s government is suffering from ‘Anglomania, an obsession with Brexit Britain.’ I don’t know I’d call it mania – more a deep worry that the British tearing up of its own protocol agreement will wreak havoc on the Irish economy north and south.
If an arsonist appeared at your door with a burning brand, would you describe your negative reaction to his obvious intentions as a mania? Me neither.
But the TTU still is convinced that the Irish government must be a bit mad to be opposed to Britain’s Brexit and the repercussions that just go on and on.
Here, Eamonn. Come back, come back, would you? All is forgiven. Replace the TTU’s confused crazy talk with your witty informed analysis. Before he drives us all mad.
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