Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has again suggested that a Border poll on the constitutional future of this island would be defeated, adding that a vote should be held “when we’ve worked out the proposal as to what’s being put to the people”.
But he simultaneously refuses to do anything at all to develop those proposals. He went to say that “the difficulty with the Border poll is it would certainly be divisive in Northern Ireland”, and added that such a vote would “probably be defeated in Northern Ireland”.
Using the divisions in Northern Ireland to derail meaningful conversations on our shared future is nothing new, but when our lived reality in Northern Ireland is reflected with all the accuracy of a funhouse mirror, this kind of politicking is equal parts regressive and destructive.
Yes, there are of course divisions in Northern Ireland, but politics and the people who engage in it are not the same thing. There are almost half a million registered voters who do not vote in Northern Ireland elections, many of whom are disenfranchised by the divided political system, but who most certainly will be active and engaged in a vote on the constitutional question.
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You would be forgiven for assuming the North remains a deeply divided society by the assertions often deployed by the ruling parties in Dublin. In truth, the people are largely reconciled, and the North is blossoming into a diverse multicultural society, seeking to further distance itself from the divisions of generations past, but unwillingly restrained by outdated policies and inherently flawed systems which segregate education, housing, and communities.
People in the North want a better, more prosperous future as much as anyone in the South.
If you were to take the Taoiseach’s logic – that we can’t have this conversation because it is “divisive” and might fail – and apply it to the peace process, then we would never have even had a Belfast Agreement. It was widely considered at the time that the referendum would pass it the Republic, but there were serious concerns that it could fail in Northern Ireland. Yet political leaders led, taking far greater risks in a political landscape that was, at the time, potentially lethal.
This is the kind of bold political leadership this process deserves. There have always been those opposed to the peace process. Their existence is no reason to stifle democracy.
All referendums, by their nature, are divisive. There will be a ‘yes’ and ‘no’ campaign, and many unionists will support the ‘no’ campaign. This reality should not be feared, but instead respected as a fundamental component of the democratic process that people voted for in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
In response to Varadkar’s comments, Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O’Neill called on him to “roll up his sleeves and get to work around the preparation and planning for constitutional change.”
Undoubtedly, there is a constitutional imperative on the Irish Government to prepare for the reunification of this island as outlined in the Irish Constitution.
But as the party that defines itself as the United Ireland party, just what is Sinn Féin’s vision? Is it a federal or confederal arrangement? Continued devolution? A unitary state? A 2016 party paper titled ‘Towards a New Ireland’ listed all three as possibilities without offering any indication of the party’s preference. Herein lies the fundamental problem with advancing this conversation: no pro-unity party has staked their flag. They appear unable or unwilling to put forward a vision with any depth.
It has been seven years since the Brexit referendum. Following Northern Ireland’s vote to remain in the European Union, Sinn Féin began calling for a Border poll. In 2017, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said he expected a poll after the Brexit negotiations concluded. Yet policy documents and clear proposals have yet to materialise.
Varadkar states that he supports a United Ireland. As the leader of Fine Gael, why then is his party so averse to planning for it? Fianna Fáil styles itself as the republican party dedicated to securing “the unity of Ireland and its people” – how exactly does it plan to achieve that outcome?
For many, constitutional change represents opportunity. A return to the European Union, a free at the point of access health service, a chance to renew investment in rural Ireland, to decentralise our governance, to have our say on creating a new, inclusive, modern Irish society. But change is also scary – it’s the unknown, and there exists across the island of Ireland hundreds of thousands of people waiting for something they can believe in. To ignore the path that this island is on is reckless in the extreme. Demographics are shifting, the tide is turning. Have we learned nothing from Brexit?
Society consists of 50 per cent women; one in every five people in Ireland belong to an ethnic minority; and almost one in five people in Northern Ireland have a disability. If we are to create a new Ireland, it has to be one for all, and that necessitates the inclusion of all communities representative of society in conversations and debates.
Pro-unity parties need to move beyond slogans and begin tackling the issues. How are we going to merge two widely divergent education systems? Will schools remain under Catholic patronage? Will Irish language be mandatory? Will children sit leaving certs or GCSEs? This is one of many complex areas rife with questions that need to be answered, and there’s a responsibility not just on the Government, but all those advocating for a new Ireland, to answer them.