Taking a stand on a united Ireland

COMMENT

One does not have to be a Sinn Féiner to support the notion that Irish citizens living in the North of Ireland should have the right to vote in presidential elections here.
The fact that Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness made the proposal this week should not be enough to dismiss the idea out of hand. In fact, I believe the idea should be supported by all the parties down here, including Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Labour, the Greens – as well as Sinn Féin.
Mary McAleese is not the President of the Republic of Ireland or of the Free State or of the 26 Counties. She is Uachtarán na hÉireann or President of Ireland and that is her official title. Yet Irish citizens living in six of the 32 counties of Ireland have no vote in presidential elections.
Tyrone and Belfast are as much a part of Ireland as are Donegal and Ennis but the people of Donegal and Ennis are entitled to vote on who is to be President of Ireland.
But we do have a problem in this State when we come to talk about Ireland. We are not sure whether we are talking about the whole island of Ireland or just about the Republic of Ireland, which covers only the 26 counties.
According to Article Two of the Constitution of Ireland, “It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish Nation”.
What does this mean? Is this merely a pious aspiration or is it expressing a real entitlement. What does it mean to be “part of the Irish Nation”? The very least they should be entitled to, you would imagine, would be the right to vote in elections. It might not be practical to allow them vote in Dáil elections. How could the people of Armagh, for example, vote for candidates from Clare? But perhaps the people of Armagh should be allowed vote for candidates from Armagh to sit in Dáil Éireann. However, we should take one step at a time and allow them to vote for the President of Ireland as a start.
Article Three states, “It is the firm will of the Irish Nation, in harmony and friendship, to unite all the people who share the territory of the island of Ireland in all the diversity of their identities and traditions, recognising that a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people democratically expressed in both jurisdictions in the island”.
The Constitution was enacted more than 70 years ago but I think it can be truthfully stated that despite power sharing, we are no closer to uniting the people of Ireland today than we were all those years ago.
The vast majority of us have accepted that we cannot unite the people of Ireland other than by peaceful means.
It might be possible for us – although I doubt it – to persuade by force of arms the British Army to evacuate the North. But the people of Ireland would remain divided. Even Sinn Féin has in recent years accepted that the Unionist population cannot be forced into a united Ireland.
But Sinn Féin alone among all the parties has kept the goal of a united Ireland to the forefront. The other parties – reflecting the views of the majority in the Republic – also support the concept of a united Ireland. But they are not going to go out of their way to bring it about.
They have other priorities – like ending the recession and finding jobs for the people. And getting re-elected.
It can be said that Sinn Féin spokespersons in the South seldom talk nowadays about a united Ireland. Sinn Féiners – like other party members – know what side their bread is buttered on. They know they are not going to get many votes in the Republic if they keep on about a united Ireland while the people have little or no bread, not to mention butter.
But it is only right that Martin McGuinness, who comes from the North of Ireland, should remind us that there are a lot of Irish people living in a part of Ireland who have no right to vote in Irish elections.
He points out that the current Uachtarán na hÉireann is a native of Belfast but if she had still lived there at the time of her election, she would not have been able to vote for herself.
I agree with McGuinness when he says provision should be made for such voting rights, not only for Irish citizens within the North, but also for Irish citizens living abroad.
There was a suggestion some years ago that Irish immigrants should be entitled to elect a member or members to Seanad Éireann. But nothing came of that. While I support the abolition of the Seanad, I might support its retention if Irish citizens living in the North and abroad had a right to vote in elections for that institution.
It might be no harm – as suggested by McGuinness at the MacGill Summer School in Donegal at the weekend – to have an All-Ireland debate, including unionists, on the whole question of a united Ireland and what it might mean to all of us.