The day unionism spoke out with one voice
Twenty-five years ago today, unionism stood as one in its opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement, with scores of thousands cramming into Belfast city centre for one of the most impressive - and iconic - protests in Northern Ireland history. VICTOR GORDON speaks with some of those who took part
ON the 25th anniversary of the major protest rally against the Anglo-Irish Agreement, former DUP leader and ex-frst minister Ian Paisley
- now Lord Bannside - has justifed his iconic "Never! Never! Never!" speech which rang out to the tens of thousands who packed the city centre of Belfast that chilly November day in 1985.
"I said that the Republic would never have any say in our province and, put simply, it doesn't," he says.
"Yes, there may be north-south meetings about mutual cooperation and about certain European matters, but Dublin has no influence whatsoever
in the governing of Northern Ireland.
"In fact, Northern Ireland is in a much stronger position than the south, given the current economical problems facing the Dail and the bail-out by Europe."
Lord Bannside was looking back a quarter of a century to a day when unionism was "totally united", a day when UUP leader James Molyneaux
– later Lord Molyneaux of Killead - and his UUP colleagues stood with him on the platform that faced a vast sea of faces.
The crowd - by some estimates well over 100,000, even up to 250,000 - included all strands of unionism, and, in the words of Lord Bannside, "every one of us felt a deep sense of betrayal over what Maggie Thatcher had signed along with Garrett Fitzgerald at Hillsborough House".
Lord Bannside reveals that he and Mr Molyneaux had told the British prime minister that she didn't fully realise what she'd signed away - "and her senior advisors agreed with us".
"The document had been agreed with a country from whose territory the IRA was operating."
At the time, the UUP leader used words like "the stench of hypocrisy, deceit and treachery" with Paisley describing the "Iron Lady" as "comparable to a Jezebel who sought to destroy Israel in a day".
Twenty-five years later, Lord Bannside insists that the agreement and its successors did not afford the Republic a toehold in Northern Ireland because it's a case of "elected representatives here running the assembly, not southern politicians".
"Whether the rally changed things or not is a matter of opinion," he says.
"But it did give all shades of unionism a focus. It captured the mood of the time, and maybe that mood lasted into the future where the south has been put in its place and politicians north of the border are in charge in this province."
Lord Bannside adds that all shades of unionism must "unite at least in spirit" to maximise support for unionist candidates in the
forthcoming assembly elections.
"The Thatcher attitude still lives on with David Cameron. The abortive attempt to run Conservative-UUP candidates at the last general election was an abject failure. I'm not saying there should be a single unionist party in Northern Ireland, but we must cooperate in the face of the Sinn Fein threat. No true unionist wants a Sinn Fein frst minister."
The Assembly's employment and learning minister Danny Kennedy was at the November 1985 rally as a rookie politician, having been elected for the frst time as a Newry and Mourne councillor the previous summer.
"I was among the body of councillors below the platform and didn't realise how many were actually at the event until I watched it at home
on TV that night," the UUP man recalls.
"It was mind-boggling. There's no question that the agreement marked the start of an era when the Republic got its feet under the Northern Ireland table, and it has all developed since then.
"In a way, we lost our sovereignty, and no matter how much we protested, it made little difference to the British government. They were worried more about their reputation on the world stage than they were about us, and the men of violence continued to get their own way.
"That massive rally proved that peaceful protest counted for little. A lot of unionist voters were estranged from democracy as a result, and
many didn't vote afterwards. And it's ironic that 25 years after we lost our sovereignty, so to speak, the Republic – with its horrendous debt - is now losing much of its sovereignty to Europe."
He adds that Ian Paisley's "Never, Never, Never" speech rings hollow today, "given the way his party has gone full circle and is so close in its dealings with Sinn Fein".
"Many forks in the road were missed," he says.
"Had Sunningdale not been wrecked by Ian Paisley and company, constitutional nationalism would have been the order of the day, rather than the violent republicanism that wrecked so many lives over the troubled years."
Portadown Orange district master Darryl Hewitt attended the rally as a rank-and-fle member of the Order, and was "totally amazed that the Orange-unionist family could bring such a crowd out onto the streets".
"There was a deep sense of betrayal that a Conservative prime minister -from a party with the Conservative-Unionist label - could do what Margaret Thatcher did to Northern Ireland," he says.
"It is said she regretted signing the agreement, but things moved on eventually, and while the protest had limited value, at least it allowed people to let off steam.
"Who'd have thought a power-sharing assembly could have been eventually set up after all that rhetoric? It proves you can never predict politics, and it's my frm belief that the Republic will eventually re-join the Commonwealth.
"As for our Drumcree protest, it goes on every Sunday in the pursuit of civil and religious liberty."
A retired police offcer who was on duty on the day recalls not the speeches, but "the breakaway mob that was bent on causing trouble, and with which we had to deal".
The constable, who does not want his name published, remembers that the group of 50 or 60 broke into the sports shop of SS Moore close to the City Hall and tossed golf balls and stones at the RUC, and it led to police personnel launching a counter-attack.
"I didn't hear much of the speeches," he said.
"But I do remember pursuing one particular troublemaker who raced into the main crowd and disappeared. We came up from Fermanagh that day, and while it was mainly peaceful, there were a few hairy minutes while we dealt with the trouble."
The nationalist view comes from Seamus Mallon, the SDLP deputy leader at the time, and Alasdair McDonnell, current SDLP MP for South Belfast, who was a Belfast city councillor in 1985.
Mr Mallon describes the rally as "an impressivesight, but which made little or no impression on the British government as the Anglo-Irish Agreement was enshrined in law".
"I always said that the Belfast Agreement in 1998 was Sunningdale for slow learners. The Anglo-Irish Agreement was the beginning of the
current process," he says.
"The Downing Street Declaration, the Belfast Agreement and the St Andrews Agreement eventually followed - until today the unionists have frankly moved themselves into a position where a Sinn Fein frst minister is a distinction possibility."
Mr McDonnell watched the rally through a window of the city hall, "and I found it scary, intimidatory and over the top, especially when things reached the stage of throwing golf balls, and later a fowerpot at secretary of state Tom King".
He adds: "The rally failed to halt political progress in Northern Ireland. The Anglo-Irish Agreement laid the foundation for what we have
today, which adds up to political common sense finally bedding in at Stormont."
T
UV party member David Vance says of Lord Bannside: "He led a quarter of a million people via his 'Never-Neverland' up the garden path that day, and countless more since, with his empty rhetoric.
"Once he got into power, he grabbed the position of first minister, having agreed on power-sharing with Sinn Fein, and now he's in his element, wearing the ermine of the House ofLords. Unlike him, many have refused to change their principled opposition to power-sharing."
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Belfast
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South
