Pat Cullen MP -victorious in spite of the BBC – by Joe McVeigh

Pat Cullen MP -victorious in spite of the BBC

The result of the Fermanagh /South Tyrone election showed that Pat Cullen, a newcomer to electoral politics, did very well in spite of the best efforts of the BBC –or maybe because of the best efforts of the BBC. She won by more than 4000 votes.

There was a concerted effort by some in the BBC to undermine and humiliate Pat Cullen during the election campaign in order to promote Ulster Unionist party candidate, Diana Armstrong, the daughter of a one-time unionist leader, who had all unionist parties backing her.

The BBC did not succeed in their attempt. No doubt they will try again.

Pat Cullen from county Tyrone is a formidable woman and will be a brilliant representative. She will bring much knowledge and experience to the job of public representative. She knows her stuff about the Health service which will be of benefit to all citizens.

The remarks of some unionists about her and her success in Fermanagh/South Tyrone are pure begrudgery. The attempt by the BBC to derail her campaign surely back-fired.

After this election and the previous one in the north it is now plain for all to see that the Orange state in northeast Ireland is crumbling. The raison d’etre of the state which was to maintain Orange Unionist supremacy no longer obtains.

The northern 6 county state was engineered by English/Welsh members of the Tory party and the Irish Unionists in the years leading up to the Government of Ireland Act (1920). The electoral areas in the 6 counties were engineered to ensure a permanent unionist majority. The economy was structured to exclude nationalists thus forcing many to emigrate.  But the once strong Unionist majority in the six counties has gone and is not going to return.

The Orange Order has not the political power and influence it once had.  It is now clear that, 26 years after the Good Friday Agreement, the days of Partition are numbered. This was envisaged by those committed to Irish unity who signed up to the Belfast Agreement in 1998. They believed that Irish unity could be achieved by peaceful, political means. They also knew there would be challenges in bringing this about from both the British and Irish establishments.

There are two main challenges to the right of the Irish people to self-determination. Firstly, we still have to contend with the British political and military establishment.  They will not give up their first colony so easily. They will look for ways to maintain a foothold in this part of Ireland. The British do not accept the rules of democratic government and they do not keep their commitments. They have been imperial grandmasters for so long.

We have seen in recent times how the previous British Secretary of state, Heaton-Harris and the Tory party showed their true colours before the return of the DUP to Stormont. They produced a document to reassure the Democratic Unionists that the Union was safe. Their loyalty, as always, is to the Unionists. 

In the 1998 Belfast Agreement, they maintained that they were now neutral and agreed that at a future date a border poll should he held to determine the constitutional future of the six counties. The British will decide when that should be held. They could delay holding the referendum -given their history of bad faith in relation to Ireland.

The second main challenge is the apathy and indifference of the Dublin political establishment towards the notion of Irish reunification. This political establishment has been in power since the State was formed in 1922 and, it would seem, are quite happy to let the political situation drift. They could not be bothered with promoting the right of the Irish people to self-determination. They sometimes offer the excuse that Unionists are not ready to buy into Irish unity. They do not seem to realise that some from the unionist tradition are already convinced that it would be beneficial for all and indeed, that it is now inevitable. Others who are realists in the unionist family are open to persuasion. Some will probably never be persuaded. The task for Dublin and London is to be persuaders.

In order to prevent negative reports about the cost of Irish reunification being circulated in the media a Dublin government should sponsor a group of qualified people to consider the financial implications of Irish unity. This needs to be done sooner rather than later in order to counter the nay-sayers.

Given these two obstacles to the right to self-determination from both London and Dublin, the only way that the democratic wishes of the Irish people will be respected is through the holding of a border referendum as provided for in the Good Friday Agreement. It is clear that the only way that democracy can be advanced in Ireland is when the right to self-determination of the Irish people is recognised in law and in a new constitution for a new Ireland.

It is also becoming clearer since Brexit that the best economic future for all the people on this island is as part of the European Union. Indeed, a majority in the north voted to Remain in the EU.

In preparation for the Border poll the Irish people are going to need support from freedom loving people around the world to help bring about a sovereign democratic republic. The Irish government in Dublin should already be seeking international support for Irish self-determination. Successive Dublin governments have sat on the fence for far too long and paid lip service to Irish re-unification.

It is time for the Dublin government to set up a Citizens assembly to deal with the many issues like Health and Education and the inclusion of unionists that need to be addressed in a new Ireland.

The next generation of Irish people in the six counties deserve better than previous generations who had to live in a one party state with draconian laws and a pro-Unionist police force. It is the only guarantee that young people will enjoy a more prosperous future living and working in their own country which is run by their own elected government for the whole of Ireland.

Such an outcome would not be a victory for any one tradition in Ireland but would be a victory for all citizens and all traditions living on this small island.