Léargas

It’s always good to spark a debate, and my recent column and blog ‘ Planning for Irish Unity’  certainly did that. My core argument was the need to move those parties which aspire to Irish unity beyond their traditional republican rhetoric and to get them involved in the real work of planning for unity. In particular I argued that the Irish government has a duty, a constitutional imperative, to plan for unity now.  Why would a government, any government, not plan for the future? The future is not about a single step-change in which we go to bed one night in a partitioned Ireland and the next morning wake up in a united Ireland. It’s all about process. A process of change. A Process of transition. A process of transformation. It’s about agreeing how we will organize our society. It’s about how we share our future. It’s about all of us having our say and playing our part in this. Can Sinn Féin do this on our own? The answer is obvious – no. The Irish government has a...

I have long had an interest in the Traveller community, in their culture, nomadic life-style and music. The decision to recognise Traveller ethnicity in 2017 finally brought the Irish State into line with recognition already in place in the North, as well as in England, Scotland and Wales. But more is needed. The distinct culture, traditions and ethnicity of the Traveller community need to be cherished and valued. Two weeks ago the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) produced a comprehensive report on the treatment of Travellers, refugees, the Direct Provision system for asylum seekers, anti-racism laws and hate crime. The report is a scathing indictment of the failure of successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil led governments. It identified major legislative and policy failings in relation to hate speech, hate crime, the response of An Garda Síochána to these and the use of ethnic profiling by the Garda. It is especially critical of the disgracef...

  The revision of history, as new facts emerge and details or stories previously unknown are revealed, is a good and a necessary part of learning about the past. But ‘ revisionism ,’ which seeks to perpetuate a particular version of history by distorting, suppressing or ignoring elements of the story, usually only serves the establishment’s interests. So, it has been in Ireland for a very long time. The history of struggle in Ireland, and in particular of the revolutionary period, has been dumbed down and distorted. This has included a significant effort to differentiate between the IRA of 1916-1923 and its actions, and the IRA after that. It also includes the notion that we have won our freedom and that the southern state is the nation and so on. The availability of much new historical and military documents and manuscripts from the revolutionary period has broken down much of this. The digitalisation and wider availability of this new material, and the emergence of ...

The debate about the future, about a new Ireland and the demand for a referendum on Unity is growing. Civic nationalism in the North has found its voice and is energised on the demand for rights and for a Unity referendum. It is not alone in talking about this issue and discussing its implications. Increasingly there are also voices being raised from within unionism on the issue of unity. In part this is because of the shambles that is Brexit and the social, political and economic implications this will have for all of society in the North and across our little island. But demographic and political changes in northern society are also playing an important role in encouraging this debate. The 2011 census in the north was a watershed moment in the North’s political journey. Up to that point the issue of unity was for many – especially within unionism – an academic exercise on an outcome that many never thought would happen. The threat of unity was often used by unionist polit...