In the Irish Independent, Maurice Hayes revisits a topic that he was much more candid about previously.. But he does end on an equally candid view of another recent kerfuffle.
In the middle of all this, in a farcical sideshow, the DUP is infuriated by the actions of a Sinn Fein Minister in making textual changes to an agreed Executive paper in order to replace all direct references to Northern Ireland. Like a demented sub-editor in the RTE newsroom, which for years has been doing the most absurd verbal gymnastics rather than mention those dreaded words, he has been changing Northern Ireland into the North, or some other convenient euphemism.
Having swallowed the camel of the principle of consent, and the affirmation of the constitutional position of Northern Ireland in the Good Friday Agreement, it seems childish to now strain at the gnat of actually using the name of the entity you are engaged in governing. Serious politicians (and sub-editors) should have better things to worry about.
Echoes of Eamonn McCann? Of course, “If we are serious about a truly shared future..”
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