On a trip to Galway 17 years ago with friends from Portadown we were puzzled by small banners hanging from lampposts in the city centre, bearing an unfamiliar emblem comprising the flags of England, Scotland and Wales.
Being from Portadown, we thought we knew every such emblem that might adorn a lamppost. Closer inspection revealed it was to welcome the Great Britain Special Olympics Team, which the city was hosting that summer. Although the team uses the UK’s Union flag, it seemed Galway could not bear to display it.
I have been unable to establish how this decision was arrived at or which organisations were involved. But a number of adults must have held a number of meetings to discuss in all seriousness how much historical neuralgia could be set aside for a couple of weeks, before reaching the extraordinary conclusion they would have to redesign their honoured guests’ national flag.
No doubt an argument was put forward that Northern Ireland competes with Ireland in the Special Olympics. However, there was no sign 17 years ago of the Irish flag being redesigned to incorporate the Union flag. That would have been ridiculous.
Unionists do not commemorate that we used to be Irish. Do the Irish commemorate that they used to be British?
I have recalled my trip to Galway this week as the Republic disputes commemorating the Royal Irish Constabulary. From my unionist perspective, it appears British people have once again been invited in as bystanders, whether we like it or not, while the Irish have a historical debate about how much of a welcome they can bear to give us. The event has now been postponed, presumably pending redesign along the lines of a Galway Union flag.
‘Respect’
That the RIC commemoration is about unionists has been clear from numerous Irish Government statements referring to "respect for all traditions on our island", to quote Taoiseach Leo Varadkar.
This respect did not extend to consulting unionists, or sending unionists any invitations to events, but it was clearly intended we should pick up a message of reconciliation. Instead, we are detecting huge waves of anti-British sentiment, accompanied by claims this is not aimed at us, which can come across as a further insult.
Some unionists are responding with a cynical “I told you so”. Others are genuinely offended and alarmed. However, the default unionist position should have been that this was none of our business. If the Republic wants to examine its difficult relationship with Irish police officers in the context of Irish independence, unionists had no grounds to comment until they were dragged into it.
You can see this reticence at work in a statement from the Ulster Unionist Party after Dublin announced the postponement.
“[The UUP] has refrained from commentating on this issue until now but it is very disappointing . . . We, like all those who want respectful commemorations, have drawn our own conclusions.”
The basis of this reticence is that the Republic is a foreign country, or at least another country, and what its government is seeking to commemorate did not involve us or occur on what remains British soil. Although there was violence in the North during the War of Independence, unionists see this purely in terms of internal sectarian strife and external IRA incursion.
Shared history
The RIC existed across the whole of pre-partition Ireland, which we are told makes it part of our shared history, but this is the greatest Irish misunderstanding of all.
The point of events a century ago, for unionists, is that Ireland split into two peoples with separate histories. Once this division occurred it was projected backwards into the past, until all that had gone before led up to separation. Concepts of nationhood and destiny demand nothing less. Naturally, unionists do not commemorate that we used to be Irish. Do the Irish commemorate that they used to be British?
If Ireland wants to involve us in its commemorations of independence, respect is not about associating unionists with the losing side
Attempts to respect a shared history are almost always well intentioned, yet they can still be aggressive when what is needed, certainly in the first instance, is respect for two different views of history.
To take an only slightly mischievous example, the past week has seen the RIC widely denounced as a “colonial” police force. Irish people from all backgrounds served the British Empire across the world, saw themselves as part of the imperial centre and wanted to remain in the empire after independence.
What would be the reaction if the UK held a commemoration of that shared history?
Respect requires us to accept Ireland’s projection backwards of having only been British as a colony. We could have an academic debate about it, but having a political row about it ahead of an event aimed at reconciliation would obviously be a fiasco.
If Ireland wants to involve us in its commemorations of independence, as appears to be the case, respect is not about associating unionists with the losing side. It is about accepting the creation of Northern Ireland as an act of national self-determination, every bit as valued by unionists as Ireland’s own.