.Listening to last night’s Ireland’s Future contributions from Glenn Bradley, Denzil McDaniel, Claire Mitchell, Lorraine Hall, and Ben Collins, something became extremely clear: more and more Protestants in the North not only see a united Ireland as viable…but see themselves as Irish. Claire Mitchell, in her contributions, said she had spoken with many Protestants from many walks of life who were looking at a united Ireland as a viable alternative to the United Kingdom but they were a quiet bunch who just needed a little poke to get them going and when they did get going, their views and identity came flooding out.
What was very striking was the reason very few would put their head above the parapet to speak their minds and have their views heard. That reason was a fear of their own community, or at least the Unionist Protestant community putting them down and deriding their views as they weren’t ‘Unionist views’. Glenn Bradley said it best when he said there was a difference between being a Protestant and being a Unionist, something Republicans know all too well having had Protestants in the IRA and Sinn Fein, with the forefathers of Irish Republicanism being Irish Presbyterian United Irishmen.
What also became apparent from last night’s contributions, was that stability is very important to ex-Unionists and to Irish Protestants. An all-island healthcare system could be the best in the world claimed Dr Conor Patterson, who said a border should not get in the way of an all-island health service that caters for all our people on an all-island basis rather than on a regional basis.
There was a smattering of Unionist protestors across the road from the venue making a stand for the Union while hundreds and hundreds of event attendees sat inside listening to why a united Ireland would be beneficial to all our people and how Protestants would have their culture and rights preserved. What worries many Protestants who are looking seriously at unity, is the reaction from their own community. For instance, on a Bel Tel piece this morning titled – ‘Political Unionism adopting ‘ostrich approach’ to Irish unity, conference hears’ the very first comment goes as follows, and I quote – “It doesn’t matter what political unionism is doing, the unionist people don’t want Irish unity and never will. Have a nice day.”
The problem with that stance being it is down to democracy whether we have a united Ireland or not, not the say-so of Unionism or whether we have their permission to attain Irish unity and that has always been a problem for Loyalists and Unionists, in that they continue to believe they have the right to walk all over democracy. Indeed Ian Paisley’s ‘Super-majority’ bill was almost an attempt at gerrymandering in a bid to kill off the thought of a border poll or indeed unity.
One of the biggest problems for Unionism is their inability to put forward a viable case for many to stay in a union that is teetering precariously on the edge of oblivion. To date, while Ireland’s Future and other lobbies and interest groups have been growing the conversation around unity, Unionism has carried out precisely zero communication on why we should stay in the Union, and indeed Arlene Fosters new initiative ‘TogetherUK’ was launched in London of all places, not in NEI which is the pivotal point for the conversation which means grassroots Loyalists, Unionists and those of other constitutional preferences would have had to travel to London to have Unionism put their case forward for why NEI should remain in the Union. A united Ireland, to many, is a more enticing alternative to the instability caused by Unionism’s inability to properly and consistently share power with Irish Nationalists. Little of the GFA has actually been delivered for the people here with the biggest roadblock always being the DUP with the backing of political Unionism. However, we will eventually arrive at a point where Unionism will have to engage on unity, and at that point, it may be too late to enshrine their rights and cultures in law. Be it on their own heads.
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