Poor Micheál, who may have expected it from Joe Biden – that 20th-century Irish catholic. Of course a president prone to quoting Heaney and Yeats might display some favouritism to the Republic of Ireland. And there it was in 2020, hard proof: if Westminster screws up the invisible Irish border, Biden said, the Anglo-American trade deal is off. Chalk it up to the misty-eyed, Hibernian nostalgia of those East Coast, establishment Democrats. At least they remember the Good Friday Agreement.
But who could have seen any of this coming from a Republican Presbyterian Scot? Donald Trump’s factory setting ought to be Ulster Says No. Why, then, did he spend the best part of his weekend making the case for Irish unification? (Or a “unified” Ireland in Trumpian malapropism). “You have Northern Ireland and you have Ireland – it would seem to me one of the naturals of all time is to put them together,” he said. In fact, it would be “very cool”.
Some departure! Trump is the first visitor this century to offer anything other than GFA-compliant bromides on the constitutional status of the island. Joe Biden looks like a friend to the DUP in contrast. And Taoiseach Micheál Martin – a nominal heir to Irish republicanism, but a man more famous for prudence and moderation – squirmed as he sat with the President in Phoenix Park. He stares into the middle distance: this guy is making me look like a Tory, you could hear his inner-monologue panicking.
Pity the Unionists too, who have one fewer friend than they thought. Even Trump let the nationalists get their way – unable to get past the glib geographic logic of the island. “One of the naturals of all time,” Sinn Fein ought to add to their lexicon.
A cynic might say that Trump has an election to win at home – the midterms are approaching, and the Irish-American vote (once purely Democrat, now more diffuse) should not be underestimated. It’s a plausible explanation for the President’s directionless Fenian turn. Or, maybe this is just evidence of Trump’s need to be liked, and instinct for making it happen. It worked – there were not many complaints in the Republic on his departure (see also: the decision to remove tariffs on Irish whiskey).
Whatever it is, it is proof that the era of GFA reverence is over. American Democrats once held onto that sacred document as a keystone in their legacy. Biden was always cautious to speak of democratic consent, the need to respect the catholic and protestant traditions, and all those other shibboleths encoded in the post-ceasefire culture. That was Northern Ireland: a region only just at peace, and far from reconciliation, loaded with rhetorical trip wires.
Now? Donald Trump smashes through them gladly – and to not much objection from Ireland’s moderate establishment. Unification makes sense, it is his preference, it is inevitable, it would be a “feather in everyone’s hat” he says.
Andy Burnham didn’t get it quite right on his recent trip to Belfast either. A border poll in the North? Totally off the table, he said. It was a minor gaffe (it’s not for him to decide, it depends on the democratic consent of those who live in the six counties, yada yada) – but not evidence of a Prime Minister with a huge grasp on the details, or much of an interest to learn. It is more surprising from Burnham: a catholic from England’s North West, with living memory of the Troubles, and Irish heritage.
Maybe Keir Starmer was the last of his kind: a politician whose instincts were forged in the north (as an advisor to the PSNI between 2003 to 2008). No, there is not much of that left. The rhetorical caution forced by the GFA may have long exceeded its usefulness. And Trump’s intervention won’t mean anything in reality. But it reveals something simple: a feeling of historical distance does not require very much distance at all.
[Further reading: Dancing at the epicentre of Irish suffering]
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Subscribe here to commentThey are not ‘catholic and protestant’ traditions rather they are ‘nationalist and unionist’ traditions. Some of the most ardent Irish nationalists were not catholic e.g Wolfe Tone, Charles Stewart Parnell and Douglas Hyde!
Appreciate the earnest defense of democratic consent in the North, Richard – but I suspect that Finn is just making the point that the realpolitik of any Border Poll is it will need to have the UK Govt. on board to happen without a struggle.
Hmm. The key provision of the GFA that a border poll depends on democratic consent is just “yada yada” eh Finn? Grow up. And if you’re going to make a smartarse comment about the OM not being across the details, then I’d just like to point out that he’s from the North WEST of England, not the North East. Geographical matters, as I’m sure Ireland would concur.
So in short, Harry, you want a law to ban your political opponents from receiving large donations, while the Labour carries on receiving millions from the Unions. Got it.
Northern Ireland being the kid that always gets left behind at the pub for UK national politicians is part of the reason why a united Ireland has momentum. Why bet against future unification when metaphorical bridges between the UK and NI don’t exist and nobody has any plans for them. And I know Westminster should be all the bridge that is needed, but Westminster only seems to deal honestly/effectively with NI when at least one other government is watching them.
Consent should be paramount for anyone wanting to keep NI where it is. The consent of the Unionist-Loyalist community being the key obstacle to any change no matter a majority. For a future Mr Burham to be arguing against a border poll result he really should have been treating the principal of consent seriously from day one.
And for the record Mo Mowlam was the last UK politician to “get” Northern Ireland, and sadly one of the few. Starmer as a minimum should have stopped annual racism being added to the annual sectarianism, but it could have been worse so a D+ grade for him.