Alayta said:
A nice page, Sean.
Can anybody tell me why the british stay in northern ireland? It is not that the englilsh would have to leave or that they would find themselves in some banana-courtry. I keep asking this for years and nobody could tell me.
The British government, I think, won't do it for three reasons
- it would be an unpopular move with a large part of their electorate (even Labour couldn't afford it without clear democratic legitimacy, and the Tories depend on the Ulster Unionist MPs)
- it would be a precedent that other UK areas might wish to exploit (not so pressing an issue any more now that they have devolution, but a going concern in the 80s and 90s)
- it would go against the wishes and interests of many Ulstermen (and they ARE British, which means that has to matter for a self-respecting government).
THere's also the matter of throwing good money after bad, but I think the Troubles are far enough behind for the average Brit not to have too deep an emotional investment in the streets of Belfast.
However, many Ulster Protestants are convinced that any integration of the North with Eire would result in an end to their culture and faith - and not without good reason. Ireland is a Republic, but it has only lately begun to achieve the separation of state and church Western democracies cherish (well, except Germany grumblegrumble). Its constitution is prefaced by a text written not by its framers, but by St Thomas Aquinas. Until recently, Catholic instruction in school was mandatory. EVERY school. Most civic bodies and many sports clubs, even the boy scouts, had Catholic connections and practised Catholic prayer. This is now changing, but let me tell you - I lived in Dublin for about a year (1996-97), and in spite of running with a very progressive and multidenominational crowd (I went to Trinity, not UCD), it was Christian all the way and Catholic most of it. If I were a Protestant faced with living like that, I would fight to stay British. Not that the Ulster Proddies have any business mouthing off about persecution on religious grounds, but still - I can see their point.
The econiomc argument also carried a lot of weight for a long time. Until the 90s, Eire was pretty much dirt poor. Ulster would have turned from a poor region of a rich nation to a rich region of a poor nation, and from a net recipient to a net giver of aid. Of course, unification now would probably trigger a wave of FDI and be a boon to Ulster's economy, but that's not been true for most of its history.
Finally, you have to take into account the memories. The unofficial motto of the IRA, RIRA, PIRA, UDF, UVF and their ilk has long been 'Proudly Keeping the Hatred Alive'. Almost everyone in Ulster has painful memories, and the guilty parties are usually the 'others' (I got nearly blown up myself - ironically, in London, not Ireland - and Irish Catholic 'liberty' has been a very touchy subject for me ever since in spite of the fact that I wasn't seriously hurt). Every time someone gets hurt or killed, every time a Proddie mob pelts Catholic schoolchildren with stones and abuse or a Catholic hooligan firebombs a Protestant business or chapel, more people remember what 'they' did to 'us'. Would you really want to be alone with 'them'? And more to the point, would you allow the two into the same room alone?
So I'd say the current British policy is the best we can salvage - make them work it out under supervision and THEN let the people decide. It's a bit like marriage counselling, only without the option of divorce.
BTW: I'm not sure this is a funny story, but it illustrates the point nicely. Where I lived in Dublin, there was a place called 'Grange Lodge' that took in tourists. They invested in a new sign, dark blue, with gold lettering and lots of curlicues. Unfortunately, one of those curclicues made the capital 'G' look like an 'O'...
That weekend, the front garden was vandalised and the garage firebombed. and that was the suburbs of newly prosperous, cosmopolitan Dublin. We have a LONG way to go till either side can trust the other.