I backed removing Articles 2 and 3 in 1998, and now feel that trust has been betrayed by Brexit

As an Irish citizen who voted to remove Articles 2 and 3 from the Irish Constitution as required for the approval of the Good Friday Agreement, I feel a great sense of betrayal when I hear “Brexiteer politicians” especially DUP politicians maintain that Brexit has no relevance to the Agreement, when this is patently not the case.
By The Newsroom
Published 31st Jan 2019, 23:01 BST
Updated 7th Feb 2019, 20:10 BST
Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

In contesting their point of view, one has only to consider if the Irish people would have voted to remove the above Articles from our Constitution had Ireland and the UK not been members of the EU in 1998 - the answer is most definitely “no” and no Irish Government would consider for a single moment putting such a proposition to the people by way of referendum. That being the case, does anybody seriously believe that the unionist population of Northern Ireland would have voted for an agreement that did not deal with these Articles? Again, the answer again is “no”.

The DUB in the very fact that they promoted Brexit – and not just a so-called soft Brexit by remaining in the Single Market/Customs Union, did untold damage to the Good Friday Agreement as the trust on which the Agreement depended was destroyed.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Notwithstanding this, the DUP continue to advocate for a hard Brexit despite the fact that all reasonable projections show that Northern Ireland would suffer greatly from any type of Brexit and in particular from a hard Brexit. This approach totally ignores the views of the business community, trades unions and the UFU in Northern Ireland and it is left to the Taoiseach and Irish Government to fight for the interests of all the people in the Island of Ireland.

The DUP continuously criticise the Taoiseach’s and Irish Government’s approach to Brexit and maintain that, Mr. Kenny, the previous Taoiseach would have been far more accommodating to their views. However, they showed scant regard for Mr Kenny’s generous invitation to join in some type of all Ireland forum with a view to arriving at a common approach towards mitigating the problems created by Brexit.

When all of the above is taken into account, together with the DUPs refusal to agree to an Irish Language Act (and I am no Sinn Féin supporter) , notwithstanding that corresponding Acts already exist in both Scotland and Wales, I can only conclude that the DUP, under its current leadership, would do whatever it takes to distance themselves from anything “Irish” -even if in so doing they destroy the Good Friday Agreement and all which that implies, and severely damage the livelihoods and quality of life of all of the people in this Island.

Finally, it should be remembered that if there was no Brexit there would be no need to argue about a “Backstop” as there would be no need for one.

John O’Sullivan, Kilkenny

Related topics:BrexitDUPNorthern IrelandGovernment