Crossbarry yesterday
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It’s getting as bad as who killed JR
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I’d say the northern crowd would eat you without salt!
Good article
A united Ireland is a shared island
By Professor Colin Harvey for Éire Nua
Something odd is happening to discussions of a united Ireland. You hear it in talk of the Good Friday Agreement and references to a shared island. A subtle attempt to airbrush constitutional change from the picture. Even worse, some think they are different things. Here is the difficulty: Calling for full implementation of the Agreement includes, guess what? A border poll. Work the Agreement, they say – that’s exactly what we’re doing, we say. The compromise at the core of our peace process recognises a fundamental choice: Our collective right to self determination. The same with a shared island. Language from Article 3 Bunreacht na hÉireann, now regularly pitted against reunification. Strange times indeed.
How to respond? One way forward is to play along and promote a separate dialogue about Irish unity.
But why should we do that? An alternative is to reject false and unhelpful divisions: A united Ireland is a shared island, the choice at the heart of everything. Implementing the Agreement and giving us a say about our future, these are the same things.
Don’t make distinctions that are not there. Beyond the words, there are practical consequences.
The Irish government’s Programme for Government drops the modest provision on future constitutional arrangements that was in Fianna Fáil’s own manifesto. A weird omission. A shared island dominates the field. It will attract funding, with initiatives completed, ongoing and planned. Worth watching to see what is supported. And time to insist a bit more assertively that unity not be excluded. If your focus is on governmental action, then the above is sensible.
People are right to insist that the Irish State does more. Planning responsibly for the future of your own country should be a priority for any government. That said, consider how much we have achieved without them. The work of political parties and civil society remains magnificent.
With limited resources genuine progress is being made. That must continue. It will only ever take preparations so far though. Hard also to see Westminster triggering a referendum without the question being posed by the Irish Government. They really must stop walking away. What should be done? Continue to build a broad and inclusive coalition for change. Encourage all political parties working for unity to use the legal and policy tools at their disposal. Take every opportunity to press the case, in Ireland and elsewhere. Try to work together if possible, acknowledging the value of diversity and pluralism. Explore the best case for a new and united Ireland.
Consider substance and messaging. What will work, North and South? The shared island initiative needs to lose its narrow focus and face the future. We’re going to inhabit this space in a new way reasonably soon, get used to thinking about it. We know enough to commence intergovernmental, political and civic negotiations on a timetable. The lack of clarity and ongoing uncertainty are destabilising. And this is where a hardening of position is required. A choice is being denied, there should be polite but firm insistence on establishing the parameters now.
Everyone knows we’re heading towards a border poll. With that in mind, a practical exercise for you. The next time an establishment figure jets in and gets misty eyed about our shared island and our peace agreement, do not forget to remind them: We really want to have our say soon.
Colin Harvey is a Professor in the School of Law, Queen’s University Belfast
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I didn’t find it any good.
Not one practice suggestion to overcome the problems that he didn’t list.
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That’s what makes it a good idea for those lads.
Its coming Tim…
North behind South on quality of life metrics
MARK HENNESSY Ireland and Britain Editor
The gaps in earnings, economic prosperity and nearly every measure of people’s health and wellbeing between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are widening every year, according to new research.Disposable income in the Republic was 36 per cent higher than in Northern Ireland in 2022 on the back of substantially higher wages, the report, Comparative Analysis of Economies of Ireland and Northern Ireland, from think tank, the Economic and Social Research Institute, shows.
The income gaps are “certainly worrying” for Northern Ireland, since there is a now a 40 per cent gulf because productivity in the Republic has grown by 0.2 per cent annually since 2000, but has fallen by 1.1 per cent a year in Northern Ireland.
The study also found that hospital treatment delays were similar on both sides of the Border for those up to six months on waiting lists, but they worsen dramatically and quickly thereafter.
Eighty-six in every 1,000 people in Northern Ireland have been left waiting for hospital procedures for more than 18 months, compared to just 12 per 1,000 people in the Republic, according to the analysis.
The report finds that infant mortality is rising in Northern Ireland, even though rates in both jurisdictions were equal in 2009. Today, the rate in the Republic stands at 2.8, compared with 4.8 in Northern Ireland.
Life expectancy in Northern Ireland is worse, too. In 2000, life expectancy in the Republic was about one year lower than that in the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland, but they had converged by 2006.
Today, a child born in 2021 in the Republic can expect to live for 82.4 years compared to 80.4 years in Northern Ireland and an average across the United Kingdom of 80.7 years.
The creation of the “relatively rapid” gap in life expectancy “largely reflects a growing divergence in key issues”, such as living standards, education and healthcare, the report goes on.
The number of children leaving school early in Northern Ireland is “two to three times” the number in the Republic, while just a tenth earn postsecondary qualifications, compared with nearly a third in the Republic.
Nearly a third of all Northern Ireland’s young people aged between 15 and 19 are not enrolled in education – a finding which the report, funded by the Irish Government’s Shared Island Unit, found to be “alarming”.
Early school leaving “continued to fall” in the Republic between 2018 and 2022 from 5 per cent to 2.7 per cent, despite the difficulties caused for some students by the Covid pandemic, yet the number in Northern Ireland rose from 9.4 to 10 per cent.
SF will both simultaneously blame power sharing / Westminster whilst also denying the costs of bridging these gaps. Although the Irish NHS will remain on the website and they’ll still call the south a kip.