My thanks to the kind person who explained to me I didn’t know my Girvans from my Givans. And my apologies to Paul G 1 for saying he was Paul G 2, and of course vice versa. What follows is the definitive version.
Paul Givan is the former Minister for Culture whose idea of being a Minister for all the people in our little North-East Nest (NEN) is to be pictured, smiling with all his teeth, as he applies a burning brand to the base of a big Eleventh Night bonfire. And he’s the Paul Givan who, in the mouth of Christmas, pulled away the £50,000 grant to needy students wanting to study Irish in the Gaeltacht, ending with his good wishes for the Yuletide season.
Paul Girvan is also a DUP politician and is the MP for South Antrim and who is very annoyed about the way the Kickhams GAC has treated Peadar Heffron. You’ll remember Peadar, a member of Kickhams, became a member of the PSNI and was subsequently injured horribly in an explosion probably caused by dissident republicans.
So what is there to say about these two fine men, Givan and Girvan? Well, Paul Givan appears to think he’s encouraging inclusiveness by lighting, features wreathed in delight, an Eleventh night bonfire. He also appears to think it’s not a good idea to spend money on encouraging children who want to learn Irish, or certainly not encouraging them with bursaries. That said, this Paul has backtracked and reinstated the Liofa bursaries. Maybe like the original Paul, he’s been struck by a bolt on the way to Damascus or is it Doagh, and now sees the error of his ways. Perhaps. Or perhaps he realised that pulling Gaeltacht bursaries just before Christmas makes him look like a grinning Scrooge, and tried to undo the damage he’d done to his acceptance among decent people of all political perspectives.
Paul Girvan on the other hand is feeling very upset on behalf of Peadar Heffron, and is caustic in his criticism of that club for the way they treated Peadar Heffron. In this he is at one with Joe Brolly, who has cut the tripe out of the club and the GAA generally, for being silent on such matters. Paul Girvan is pretty sharp with them too:
“Not one word of the statement issued by the club confers any form of apology to Peadar for any bullying, ostracism and intimidation suffered within the confines of Kickhams Creggan GAC.”
I never knew Paul Girvan was sensitive to the rights and welfare of GAA people. Kind of amazing, considering his history.
Because this is the same Paul Girvan (yes Virginia, I have got it right for once) who declared two years ago “I think they need to issue all the scrap metal dealers with firearms… so they can protect themselves… with gypsies coming in.” And there’s more. In a radio broadcast in 2013 Mr Girvan spoke on the subject of bonfires (and yes, that does link the two Pauls): “I’ve no problem about burning of a tricolour on top of a bonfire – let’s be honest. This is the flag of a foreign country as far as I’m concerned.”
So although more than a decade in age separates the two Pauls, they are united in that impenetrable belief that they can pronounce a unionist line which brooks no contradiction, that hands out insults, in action and/or word, to anyone it sees as being deficient in any way.
What have unionist politicians learned since 1998? Oops sorry. When you’ve such open contempt for those unlike you, you’re learning-proof.
Foot to the floor, driver. Take us towards that handsome cliff-edge.
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