Dr John Coulter argues the case for Northern Unionism to look south and organise on an all-Ireland basis as the only way to combat the electoral forward march of Sinn Fein. His first piece elicited a lively discussion which is still rumbing on.
By Dr John Coulter
Unionism needs to copy its Sinn Fein opponents and organise on an all-Ireland basis with the republican movement winning European seats on both sides of the Irish border.
Just as Sinn Fein has built itself electorally from its reputation in the late Sixties as an aging fan club for the failed revolutionaries of 1916, so too must unionism form a party structure in the Republic capable of winning seats at local government, Dail, and even European levels.
Primarily, this represents an opportunity for unionism to put right one of its greatest political sins of the 20th century – its abandoning of the Southern Irish Protestant population after partition.
As the European Union continues to grow, it is only a matter of years before current Member State borders – including the notorious Irish border – are wiped away in a totally federalised United States of Europe.
In the months leading up to partition, the Southern Protestant population hovered around the 20 per cent mark in the 26 counties. It would be a fitting memorial to their sacrifice and religious determination if the Ulster Unionist Council celebrated its centenary next year by formally organising in the Republic.
There are enough Protestant voters in the South to get at least six or seven strategically elected TDs to Leinster House – enough to hold the balance of power in a future coalition Fianna Fail government.
To read some histories of the Home Rule crisis in 1912-14 shortly before the outbreak of the Great War, you would think the entire resistance came from unionists in the six counties which now comprise Northern Ireland.
Many Southern unionists played a valiant role in combating not just the spread of the Home Rule movement, but also the growth of militant republicanism as represented by James Connolly, Michael Collins and Eamonn de Valera.
And what thanks did these unionists get for their loyalty from the so-called heroes of Northern Protestantism, namely Messrs Edward Carson and James Craig? They were stabbed in the back and left to rot politically.
Those that did not jump ship to the new Ulster or the British mainland had no option but to keep their heads down and integrate quietly into the fledgling Southern political structures, with most Protestants teaming up with Fine Gael.
Northern unionism of the new millennium needs to undo the political betrayal and cultural treason of Carson and Craig. The reformation of an Irish Unionist Party should not be reduced to a public relations gimmick at Southern universities which happen to have a few dozen Northern Protestant students.
Nor will Southern Protestant voters tolerate the bitter internecine conflicts which have bedeviled Northern unionism since the emerging Protestant fundamentalist champion Rev Ian Paisley clashed with the then Northern Premier Terence O’Neill in the late 1960s. The IUP will have to be a joint, united venture between the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionists.
If the growth in the Sinn Fein vote can be maintained, the movement will eclipse the Progressive Democrats, the Greens and even the broad Irish Left as potential government partners for Fianna Fail.
Fianna Fail fears the prospect of a coalition with the Sinn Fein whilst the IRA Army Council maintains the existence of the Provisionals. But given the increasingly genuine warmth between Fianna Fail and Northern unionists, there is no reason why Bertie Ahern’s boys wouldn’t hop into bed politically with a revamped, united IUP.
There is realistically little prospect of a ‘rainbow coalition’ of Fine Gael, the Greens, Labour and the Progressive Democrats being able to outgun a combined Fianna Fail/Sinn Fein republican front in the next Dail elections.
The Southern constitution gives recognition to only one army in the Republic – the legitimate Irish Defence Forces. How could Fianna Fail morally form a partnership pan-republican front with Sinn Fein whilst the latter is still the puppet of the Army Council?
For the first time since the Republican hunger strike of 1981, unionism has the opportunity to politically out flank Sinn Fein. Indeed, Revolutionary Unionism as an Irish political ideology has much to offer an increasingly pluralist-leaning Republic.
Revolutionary Unionism is certainly not the liberal, defeatist ecumenism its opponents perceive it to be. It is a radical Right-wing new millennium thinking which can offer Southern voters a tough stance on abortion and divorce.
Unionism generally has more to gain from contesting elections in the South than Fianna Fail has to gain from a merger with the SDLP in the North to save constitutional nationalism from oblivion at the next Westminster General Election.
A platform already exists in the South to form such an Irish Unionist Party. The Orange Order and Paisley’s Free Presbyterian Church are very active south of the border.
All it will take is the blessing of the mainstream Protestant denominations, such as the Church of Ireland, Presbyterians and Methodists and the IUP is back in business.
Mick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
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