Ben Lowry: Unionists ought to be able to connect with such a fierce critic of Sinn Fein as Micheal Martin

Traditionally the party in the Republic of Ireland that had passable relations with unionists was Fine Gael, and even then the relationship was turbulent and by no means warm.
Micheal Martin, gestures after announcing that Fianna Fail members have backed a deal to restore coalition government in Ireland. He has been fiercely critical of Sinn Fein. Photo: Damien Eagers/PA WireMicheal Martin, gestures after announcing that Fianna Fail members have backed a deal to restore coalition government in Ireland. He has been fiercely critical of Sinn Fein. Photo: Damien Eagers/PA Wire
Micheal Martin, gestures after announcing that Fianna Fail members have backed a deal to restore coalition government in Ireland. He has been fiercely critical of Sinn Fein. Photo: Damien Eagers/PA Wire

Garret Fitzgerald signed the hated Anglo Irish Agreement in 1985, but one of his successors as leader of Fine Gael John Bruton was bitterly critical of republicans.

Yet the outgoing Fine Gael Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, presided over one of the greenest recent governments in the Republic.

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Perhaps the greenest member of that party of all in some of his rhetoric was Simon Coveney — who was relentlessly partisan in his interventions in Northern Ireland, such as telling us we had to have an Irish language act and scolding the UK over the detention of the dissident Tony Taylor among many other unhelpful contributions (and a man whom unionists let have joint control of the talks process, and whom Julian Smith allowed to preside over the tearing up of the three strands).

Yet unionists ought to be able to connect with Mr Varadkar’s Fianna Fail replacement as Taoiseach, Micheal Martin, who has been critical of Sinn Fein with a fierceness that Mr Varadkar and Mr Coveney almost never displayed.

He has also attacked Sinn Fein far more regularly that those two Fine Gael leaders, has accused the party of glorying in Provisional IRA terrorism, and has said that it is not a normal democratic party.

Sinn Fein certainly was allowed to collapse Stormont in a way that no other party would be allowed to do, and Mr Coveney said barely a word against this vandalism and instead helped ensure that SF demands for returning to devolution were met.

Ben Lowry (@BenLowry2) is News Letter deputy editor

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