Letter: If we want the Union to survive, unionism needs to focus on a different road

As the media commemorated the signing of the Good Friday Agreement there was an acknowledgement of the fact that violence did not end with the Good Friday Agreement during Easter 1998, that the August 1998 tragedy of Omagh was a challenge to peace, which by accident seemed to strengthen the GFA. However, the events that preceded this tragedy in July 1998 have not received the attention they deserve.

Like most unionists I was delighted that the GFA seemed to forecast the end of violence and was delighted by the result of the referendum in May 1998 when 71% of our population voted in favour of the Good Friday Agreement. Sadly, the response of some unionists who opposed the GFA was to disregard the newly created Parades Commission and to continue with the dreary old parades dispute at Drumcree. Supporters of the GFA watched with resignation as several days of violent Drumcree protests ensued. What few predicted was that at 4.30 in the morning of 12th July 1998, three young boys would be burned to death in Ballymoney by a petrol bomb thrown through the window of their house by the UVF. Some tried to argue that there was no connection between these murders and the situation at Drumcree but considering the number of violent Drumcree protests it was likely that someone would eventually be killed.

In 1998 unionism prioritised the Garvaghy Road, we believed that being stubborn, refusing to give an inch, by standing firm we would prevail. We took the wrong road in July 1998. I stood outside the church as the coffins of the Quinn children were carried out. It was as tragic as the funeral of any of the other victims of terrorism, a sight none of us want to see repeated. We must not return to politically motivated violence.

If we want the union to survive, unionism needs to focus on a different road. We need to make Northern Ireland a place where nationalists feel as comfortable as unionists. Being stubborn, shouting ‘No Surrender,’ the politics of ‘Not an Inch’ belong to the past. We do not want our future to be like our past. Time for fresh thinking.

Arnold Carton, Belfast BT6