Dublin and London must give way on their handling of Brexit, not the unionists in Ulster

A letter from Dr Gerald Morgan:
Letter to the editorLetter to the editor
Letter to the editor

Alex Kane writes: “Peter [Robinson] made a similar point in June 1987 ... along with Harold McCusker and Frank Millar of the UUP, of the Response to the Anglo-Irish Agreement, the Task Force Report’. (‘Unionism needs to speak, and think, with one voice,’ February 15, see link below).

I do not think that we are dealing here with a problem of Ulster Unionism at all, and the reference by Alex Kane to Harold McCusker makes that plain to me once again. Here in 2021 we are back where we were once again in those dark and terrible days of 1985.

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I say this with some feeling since Harold McCusker was the unionist who made the greatest impression on me in 1985 and I was in correspondence with him at that time until I myself was broken.

The problem is a problem for the British Conservative and Unionist Party and with the British unionist parties more generally.

The question they all need to resolve is whether they are committed to the Union of Great Britain and Northern Ireland at all or whether they are in favour rather of a united Ireland. It is the ambiguity of the British at Westminster on this issue that is the cause of all the periodic expressions of discontent in Northern Ireland on one side or another.

Since 1920 this problem has proved tragically intractable. Our one beacon of hope has been the Good Friday Agreement of 1998.

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It is an agreement that cherishes the equality of nationalists and unionists and is made secure by the principle of consent. Such consent is at the heart of any parliamentary democracy.

It is a wonderful political achievement and holds out hope for us all. The identity of unionists as British remains intact while at the same time nationalists can work towards a reunited Ireland by persuading their unionist friends to join with us in Dublin.

We shall not coerce them from Dublin but we shall invite them to come to us in Dublin and celebrate together our common identity as we do in every rugby international match at Lansdowne Road.

The Lord Trimble PC, one of the architects of the Good Friday Agreement, tells us that the British and Irish governments have violated that agreement in their response to Brexit. It may be impertinent of me to say so, but I do say that Lord Trimble is correct.

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It is thus for the British and Irish governments not the Ulster Unionists to give way. Our hope is for an Ireland blest by peace and friendship. And that can only come about by consent.

It is the position of Trinity College Dublin under our great Provost, Sir John Pentland Mahaffy (1914-1919).

Dr Gerald Morgan, Fellow Trinity College Dublin, Founder English Parliamentary Party

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