There was, once upon a time, a sense among the political elite in the South that the reunification of Ireland was a notion accredited to Sinn Fein alone. To an extent, initially they may have been right as Sinn Fein have never once shied away from the fact their end goal was the reunification of Ireland but to refer to that alone is simplistic in the extreme. A single party cannot bring about a united Ireland. That is not and never has been possible nor is it so much as reasonable to suggest such a thing, though Sinn Fein were the most prominent Irish unity party, something the establishment both North and South used, ironically, as a stick to beat them with for decades.
It is true that Sinn Fein kept the concept of a united Ireland at the forefront of their politics and were staunch in their views, more often than not vociferously so. Some would go so far as to suggest, if it weren’t for Sinn Fein, Irish unity and debates surrounding reunification would have been few and far between if they ever took place at all, relegated to bars and homes in all but the most Republican orientated communities. Sinn Fein brought the notion of a realisable united Ireland to the masses even if their own voices weren’t heard on the airwaves in England, Scotland, Wales and the North Eastern six thanks to Douglas Herd’s Broadcast Ban enacted on the 19th October 1988. The same was enacted by Fianna Fail Minister for Posts and Telegraphs Gerry Collins in 1971 under the title ‘Section 31’. The voice of the late Martin McGuinness was the first Sinn Fein voice to be heard on the Irish airwaves in 1994. The British Broadcasting Ban was lifted the same year.
That Unionists in the North portrayed Sinn Fein as the big bad wolf, attempting to blow their Unionist house down by discussing a reunited Ireland. That was a natural reaction. The fact Unionism had Catholics and Nationalists under control thanks to their Unionist Government, made Sinn Fein a very real threat to the status quo of overall Unionist power. They feared Sinn Fein as a more aggressive party, consolidating the Nationalist vote and giving them a real voice in the face of overwhelming Unionism. The Southern establishment within Government and the media used Sinn Fein’s links to the IRA and its ultimate goal of a united Ireland almost as a form of reverse psychology on Irish citizens. They literally told the Irish electorate, “if you vote for Sinn Fein you get the IRA and their ultimate goal of a united Ireland, and sure who would want that?”
However, all of a sudden, right before the very eyes of both the Northern Unionists and the Southern establishment, the reins of unity were handed to their rightful owners, the people of Ireland through the Good Friday Agreement. Anti-unity elements could no longer realistically blame Sinn Fein for the run-away train that is the Irish unity debate. The same tired old assertions such as “talk of a unity poll in unhelpful” still pop up from time to time…ironically from some political parties, both North and South who label themselves Republican and Nationalist. People don’t care anymore, it is discussed and debated literally every single day, openly and without fear. Sinn Fein may have kept Irish unity within the public domain, in the faces of both the UK and Irish Governments, no matter how uncomfortable that may have been for detractors. Irish unity always belonged to the people of Ireland but we were always dissuaded away from having a stake in it by the likes of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael, the Unionist Stormont Government or Westminster.
Now is the time to strike, as it were. Not militarily but most definitely electorally and strategically for a united Ireland. Nationalists no longer have to “physically fight” (thank David Campbell for that line) for a united Ireland, that hard work has been done and it has cost hundreds of lives. At some point the people of Ireland must stop worrying about Unionists, no matter how much they and some within the Southern establishment attempt to install a veto for Northern Irish Unionists within the discourse. Statistics dictate a majority of both Southern and Northern voters would vote to reunite both parts of this island as one nation, given the chance. Many say the Secretary of State for ‘Northern Ireland’ should have already called a border poll and they would be right. The momentum in the unity debate cannot be stopped, that is a fact, so Unionists can either get onboard and get involved or be dragged along in the wake of this exciting time for Ireland. That choice is theirs, but at some point, Irish citizens must move toward the inevitable, and we have every right to do so.
“In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland, through us, summons her children to her flag and strikes for her freedom.” – Proclamation of the Irish Republic.
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