by Joe McVeigh
After listening to Taoiseach Micheál Martin for some years now parroting on about the need for improved community relations in the north before there can be a border poll, it would seem he does not understand the situation in the north or the evil consequences of partition. Of course, it might suit FF and the ‘free staters’ to avoid calling for a border poll for as long as possible.
It seems to me that Micheál Martin does not understand or want to understand that sectarianism was built into the 6 county statelet from the beginning of its existence. The state and the border were created on a sectarian head -count and were maintained by sectarian institutions and laws. Only when partition (the British border) is dismantled will that inbuilt sectarianism begin to be eradicated. And the only way to bring that about is through the referendum provided for in the Good Friday Agreement. Micheal Martin should be preparing for the Border poll and demanding that the British government hold that referendum within a certain time frame.
Only when there is constitutional change and only when the right of the Irish people to self-determination is fully and finally recognised will the root causes of sectarianism and anti-Catholicism be abolished. Micheal Martin resists that call for his own political reasons. He says he wants to promote good relations in the north through his shared island project before there can be a border poll. He is putting the cart before the horse.
Could it be that Micheál Martin is cynically avoiding the issue for party political reasons? The next leader of Fianna Fail will have to do better.
Sectarianism must be banished from this island forever.
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