l was invited by text this morning to take part in a poll/survey by ‘Ireland Thinks’ on behalf of the BBC and the Mail on Sunday. Some of the questions varied from who l will vote for in the next election, and how do l feel the various party leaders (in the south) are performing, to my opinions around the government’s record and handling of the Covid pandemic.
However, by far the more prominent and numerical set of questions in the survey were asked at the beginning and were focussed on a United Ireland and the if and when’s of a border poll. l won’t repeat all the questions here, but they didn’t include anything that hadn’t been raised during discussions on the same topic on this and other forums previously. But two things did cross my mind at the outset. The fact that one of the parties commissioning the poll was the BBC, might suggest the views of people on both sides of the border were being sought. Secondly, the timing of the poll coming so soon after recent loyalist rioting might suggest the poll had been planned to elicit a somewhat skewed response from southern respondents. There has been no shortage of people offering their opinions recently as to why angry loyalist teenagers took to the streets in protest. We heard them all, from the Storey funeral to the Protocol and Brexit, and loudest of all “No one is listening to unionist concerns and what they have to say”.
Now l must put my hand up and admit that as a republican, l have over the last couple of years noticed my opinions evolve and change with regards to unionism and what it must be like to be unionist in these uncertain times. And why wouldn’t unionists not have cause for concern, as only this very morning there were two more large opinion pieces in the Irish Times about a future united Ireland and border poll. Ya, that very topic that just refuses to go away. One column was by a nationalist, the other by a unionist and l have to say l found the latter one more interesting as it genuinely attempted to explain unionist fears, while the former article by a southern nationalist and former government minister was at best patronising and weak and showed that the writer understood republicanism even less than he did unionism.
The unionist writer, however, went to great pains to explain what scares his people and advised those seeking change on this island to understand how unionists think and feel before expecting them to join talks on Ireland’s future. The message here seems to be, we must all be prepared to listen to what unionists have to say. The problem with that, however, is apart from the usual word NO, we have no idea what unionist might have to say because they refuse to talk about the future while they insist it simply is not up for discussion. Unionists can’t have it both ways, complaining that everyone is acting and making decisions behind them and without them, while at the same time insisting they will have no part in the decision-making process. Do they still believe they hold a permanent veto against change? Has Brexit and the protocol not taught them that there can be as much dire consequence resulting from inaction as there is from wrong action?
For what it’s worth and it’s just my opinion of course, the real reason for the recently orchestrated loyalist rioting had little or nothing to do with the Storey funeral, the Protocol, Brexit or the PSNI, but had everything to do with a future border poll, which to the horror of political unionism and loyalism was brought storming into their homes recently by RTE’s Claire Byrne live show as the main party leaders in the south were found to be more or less singing from the same hymn sheet about a united Ireland. Even the DUP’s Gregory Campbell was forced to admit on the same show that a border poll was coming. Even the violent teenage wing of loyalism/DUP knows it’s all about the border poll stupid!
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