Reasons, Causes, Explanations and Excuses

Readers who have followed this blog for a number of years may remember times when I have expressed feelings about the island of Ireland, its people and its history.  As I ponder these feelings and their roots, I think one of their origins dates back to a visit my wife and I made to an exhibition about the Great Famine of the 1840s-50s ... possibly to mark the 150th anniversary.  I can't recall where it was, but the pictures of the suffering have remained with me.  Then, when I discovered that the radio in my van could pick up RTÉ, I learned a lot about modern Ireland and its present culture and electoral systems.  Time knits all these things together.

I recall one particular post in which I drew a comparison between the news coverage here in England of affairs in Scotland and Wales on one hand and affairs in Northern Ireland on the other.  It seemed to me - and still does - that events on this island of Great(er) Britain were far more likely to make the news than anything happening on the island that, by default, could be described as Lesser Britain.  Less in size, means less in importance, one could imply.

It is little wonder, I feel, that some people there fear that they are 'second-class citizens' because of where they live, that they must constantly remind the authorities of their existence, their rights and the problems that are peculiar to them as a result of their location.  And yet, as the travels of the King and Queen Consort this week have underlined, Northern Ireland is just as much part of the United Kingdom as Scotland or Wales.

During all the time Brexit was being discussed, planned and negotiated, I had the feeling that the problems resulting from the land border between the UK and the remainder of the EU were being largely ignored.  One morning, I listened to a BBC news bulletin as I drove through the streets of Dublin to catch my ferry back to the UK; I shouted to the radio "But that won't work!"  I won't delve further into the specific difficulties of squaring the circle and the protestations that were made about there not being a border down the Irish Sea.

And so we are where we are today.  Here in Great Britain, there are protests - with good reason - about the lack of even the announcement of a date until after the late Queen's funeral, for a statement on the planned financial assistance regarding the energy pricing crisis.  That's a two week wait at most.  Just consider for a moment, what outcry there would be if Parliament were not to sit for six months!

And yet, that is the situation in Northern Ireland.  Since the elections earlier this year - that's one-third of a year! - the Northern Ireland Assembly has not sat.  The DUP, in its wisdom, has declared that it will not take part in the country's government until that circle has been squared, pointing out that the fact that Northern Ireland is being treated differently from the rest of the UK is an unfair discrimination between equal parts of the United Kingdom.  

In a way, their action (or, more realistically, inaction!) is little different from the striking railwaymen I wrote about last week.  It's a way of bringing their legitimate concerns to the attention of those in authority.  The difference is that while, in one case, (only) those who rely on the trains are inconvenienced, and that only for a few days and, meanwhile, other - albeit slower or more awkward or expensive - alternatives are available; in the other case, (all of) the people of Northern Ireland are being deprived of the functions of a legitimately elected devolved government.  

In each case it's not the people who have the solution in their hands who suffer the consequences.  But I leave it to you, dear reader, to decide who ought to resolve the problems, and how!