and Thursday
I would like to thank Jude Collins for allowing me space to tell you about an historical Mecca that exists on the south coast of our island. The place is called Cobh, a very historic and beautiful town situated along the mouth of Cork harbour. Perhaps when this current Lockdown comes to an end and people start thinking about getting into their cars to do a bit of staycationing and visiting the many beautiful and historical sites on our island this summer, they could do a lot worse than to visit Cobh.
But before I tease you with a taster of some of the historical gems on offer in my home town in Cork, let me first refer to a development which to took place last week when our Tánaiste Leo Varadkar attempted to write, or should I say, rewrite history himself. Leo got himself into a tangle during one of his many anti republican rants in the Dail, when he neglected to first fact check something he willy-nilly threw out to the public about his political rivals in Sinn Fein.
The foot-in-mouth moment happened when a journalist asked the Tánaiste what he thought of the move by the Friends of Sinn Fein in the US, who had that day placed advertisements in all of the major U’S newspapers asking people to support calls for the Irish government to begin preparing for Irish reunification. Instead of explaining what his government intends to do about Irish unification or indeed if it had a policy about ending partition and all the preparation work that would have to precede a border poll, Leo instead launched into a tirade against Sinn Fein. The Tánaiste said Sinn Fein was an obstacle to unification as it was sectarian and hated the DUP and everything British and then, as if he couldn’t help himself, he blurted out that Sinn Fein doesn’t have protestant TD’s. I think what Leo did in that brief moment was to put on display the Fine Gael inner mindset with its filter switched off for all to see.
The Tánaiste was quickly corrected about his remarks by a protestant Sinn Fein TD from Co. Clare, leading to his later apology on Twitter. One wonders however, what Leo and his DIY version of history would have come up with next if he thought he’d get away with it. Would he tell us that everyone looking to join Sinn Fein must first hand over their baptismal certs to the party head office for checking to ensure no proddies would get through under the radar? So, let’s look a bit closer at what Leo said there. ‘Sinn Fein is sectarian and an obstacle to Irish unification because it hates the DUP and everything British’. What he really seems to be saying to Sinn Fein and others, is to stop calling for a border poll as that is a sectarian act. Note, Leo has never stated in public that the DUP hates Sinn Fein, maybe because he knows it to be not true. Yes, Sinn Fein and the DUP are at the opposite ends of the political spectrum with the regards to the constitutional question and they may each at times get animated about it, but it hardly means they hate each other. I don’t think anyone really believes Sinn Fein hates everything British. It simply wants full Irish independence from Britain. One might well ask while we are at it, does Leo and Fine Gael hate Sinn Fein?
I’m old enough to remember a time when Leo’s and Micheal Martin’s parties used to regularly lecture republicans about giving up the gun and to alternatively seek a united Ireland through peaceful means. Today those same parties now seem to be telling republicans to not seek unification by any means, because that is sectarian in their view. One question that largely comes to mind when listening to Leo and Micheal attack their main opposition party, is if Sinn Fein is so wrong about how it is striving for Irish unity, what is the Dublin government doing to show it has a better plan? It will be most interesting in thirty or so years’ time, when they become available to the public, to read the minutes of Leo’s cabinet papers for any sign or mention of the words ‘border poll’ or ‘Irish unification’, because its patently obvious that Dublin doesn’t have a policy on unification, even one that seeks to explore and prepare for a future referendum. What Leo’s government is not lacking in though, is its willingness to attack and undermine every effort by Sinn Fein to move on the issue. Unfortunately for this Fine Gael/Fianna Fail administration, Sinn Fein is but one of many voices calling on Dublin to prepare for the inevitable poll that’s coming.
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