Ned McGinley Editorial

A Note from AOH National President Ned McGinley...

The Government of Ireland Must Embrace Joint Stewardship in the Six Counties

National Board, AOH in America. Ned McGinley, President

If the present efforts to form a devolved government founder on the reef of Democratic Unionist Party political intransigence, then The Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom must truly embrace Joint Stewardship as the most democratic method to move the process forward.

The ability to enter political dialogue with those you oppose would seem to be a phase of democratic maturity that has eluded the DUP and their leader, Ian Paisley, in the north of Ireland. They seem to lack the ability to articulate a political philosophy to the six county electorate, if such a message indeed exists, beyond “Ulster says no!” This lack of mature political thought appears to be the major stumbling block to a devolved government in the six counties of the north.

Not entering into a government with political parties that have a demonstrated an electoral mandate in a legally certified democratic election would seem to be the definition of a lack of democracy, yet the DUP continues to trumpet their defense of democracy. It is important that the government of the United Kingdom and the government of Ireland not allow this lack of democracy to freeze progress toward the political settlement embodied in the Good Friday Accords, and that they move to Joint Stewardship as rapidly as possible.

The threat of the loss of their “Protestant State for a Protestant people” if there were a devolved assembly would appear to be the only glue that holds the DUP political philosophy together. Having better education, roads, water rates, or other public services which would be more efficient under a local, devolved assembly does not appear to motivate the Paisleyites to enter the political process.

The sectarian, violent murder of a teenager in the heart of Democratic Unionism, the town of Ballymena north of Belfast, is not seen as a lesson on the need for political dialogue by those cynical politicians who would exploit the split in religions for political purposes. A supposed prayer by Paisley with the grieving family is followed by the remark “Catholics not going to heaven anyway” by another DUP Councilor, with the Reverend then unable to attend the Catholic funeral. Nowhere else in a democratic western democratic society would such blatant sectarian hypocrisy be rewarded by any Government?

The government in London rewards DUP behavior by making biased appointments to the Parades Committee and the Victims Rights Board, which it then defends in court. They convene a farce “talking points” assembly whose best moment for the DUP was a repeat of the old refrain, “Ulster says No!” when a government is offered. Again, the UK government cannot bring itself to carry out the full implementation of the Good Friday Accords because it might hurt the feelings of the DUP, who have no empathy even for the violent murder of a teenager.

It is time that both governments in London and Dublin that signed the Agreement move forward if the DUP refuses to engage in government with the full implementation of the GFA. The governments must stop rewarding the intransigence of the sectarian bigotry that is seemingly the only stock and trade of the Democratic Unionists. If they will not allow “a Catholic about the place,” then it is time that they lose control of the place. When Joint Stewardship is instituted reality will set in for all of Ireland.

Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein have shown the will to navigate every hurdle placed in their way by the DUP and the Ulster Unionist Party previously, as well as the London government, to deliver the assembly for their constituents. The SDLP leader Mark Durkan has voiced the need for a democratic government, the completion of the Good Friday Accords, and a refusal to take part in the assembly if it is a farce. If sectarian unionists, who turn a blind eye to Loyalist violence in their community (some would say they encourage it!) forestall democracy in November or before, then the London and Dublin government must jointly take control to advance real democracy.

It is essential that the Dublin government assert itself as a full partner and add backbone to the London government’s move to reassert democracy in the north of Ireland. If the DUP continues to fail to embrace democracy, then they need to see that there are consequences for intransigence beyond static control from London.

We, the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, who have promoted the Peace Process and the subsequent Good Friday Accords, as well as encouraged the decommissioning of the weapons of the Irish Republican Army, request the immediate and full implementation of the agreement and the Patton Proposals by British and Irish governments. If the sectarian DUP refuse to enter democratic government then Joint Stewardship in November or even before must be seen as the only alternative.

It is time for this macabre dance to end and for real democracy, with the accompanying political dialogue and democracy, to come to the six counties.