Owen Polley: Here is to the next 100 years of Northern Ireland

In many respects, 2021 was an anti-climax, but we can be encouraged by the fact that 2022 is an equally significant year for Northern Ireland.
Looking out from Belfast city centre towards Belfast Lough and Titanic Quarter, which is home to tourism, film making and fashionable new industries like cyber-security and 'fintech'Looking out from Belfast city centre towards Belfast Lough and Titanic Quarter, which is home to tourism, film making and fashionable new industries like cyber-security and 'fintech'
Looking out from Belfast city centre towards Belfast Lough and Titanic Quarter, which is home to tourism, film making and fashionable new industries like cyber-security and 'fintech'

It is, after all, the start of our next one hundred years as a separate political unit.

During 2021, we should have celebrated Northern Ireland’s centenary properly. It was an occasion that deserved widespread recognition and participation.

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For a variety of reasons — the continued prevalence of Covid 19, the unrelenting hostility of nationalists and the apologetic attitude of too many unionists to their own existence — that did not happen in a convincing way.

Going into the new year, it would be wrong to deny that this province has many serious problems. Chief among these is the Northern Ireland Protocol, which continues to separate us from the UK’s economic and political mainstream.

Then there is the increasing naivety, even among some unionists, about republicans’ attempts to destroy important parts of the Union and distort the story of what happened here during the Troubles.

At the same time, while the threat from the pandemic is receding steadily, thanks to vaccines, antivirals and a milder variant, we are still in the grip of a ‘lockdown’ mentality that justifies restricting people’s freedoms to address problems with the NHS.

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None of these issues, as important as they are, should be allowed to obscure the fact that Northern Ireland in 2022 is a remarkable success.

It is a constitutional compromise that has lasted for more than a century, despite incessant political campaigns and terrorist violence aimed at its destruction. ‘Partition’ recognised that the people of Ireland were already deeply divided along national, cultural and political lines, with significant economic and religious differences too.

The recent NI Life and Times Survey, which is the most long-standing and reliable barometer of political attitudes here, revealed that 83% of the population felt a sense of belonging to Northern Ireland. That would be a remarkable statistic in any society. In a place whose very existence has been attacked for over a century, it is a resounding endorsement.

And why wouldn’t there be a resounding endorsement of Northern Ireland?

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For substantial parts of the last one hundred years, the relationships in our society could have been handled better. But only Northern Ireland’s most intractable opponents claim that religious and political discrimination against nationalists is still a feature of life here. Usually, they base their assertions on transparently misusing terms like ‘equality’.

It’s a fact that Northern Ireland’s existence, and its place within the United Kingdom, works well for an overwhelming majority of people.

There are economic problems involving our private sector being too small and lacking productivity, but in many ways we are protected by the large size of our public sector. Thanks in no small part to the financial generosity of the Westminster government, our quality of life is high and our cost of living is comparatively low.

NI is consistently at the top of nationwide ‘personal wellbeing’ surveys. And if we really are the happiest part of the UK. it is hardly down to the uniquely sunny disposition of our people.

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Some parts of the economy are thriving and have potential to grow more. We are the second most popular place in the country to make films, for example. We are also world leaders in fashionable new industries like cyber-security and ‘fintech’, while tourism and hospitality businesses were booming until the pandemic put an end to that.

For the past five years, separatist activists have campaigned more ceaselessly than ever to encourage the idea that there is a growing demand for Northern Ireland’s destruction. Despite all this propaganda, every reliable poll shows strong support for the Union.

In the Republic of Ireland, there is a similar lack of appetite for constitutional upheaval.

A recent survey in the Irish Times showed that, while a significant part of the southern public wanted an independent all-Ireland state eventually, they were not prepared to accept added costs, disruption or changes to their society in order to achieve it.

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This article is certainly not an argument for complacency. NI faces substantial difficulties and, while a change in its status by way of a border poll is unlikely, our relationship with the rest of the UK can be undermined through more underhand tactics.

Perhaps we are no longer a majority, but many of us still believe it is not enough to avoid absorption by the Irish republic and continue to exist in some form. We want Northern Ireland to play a full role in the economic, social and political life of the United Kingdom.

If unionists really want to set their own agenda as we move toward the next centenary, that’s where they should focus their energies. The next one hundred years of Northern Ireland has already started and that, by itself, is reason for optimism.

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