Coronavirus: Sinn Fein’s claim pandemic boosts chance of Irish unity ‘crass’

In an interview with The Sunday Times, Mary Lou McDonald explicitly linked the pandemic and her party’s campaign for Irish unity, arguing that constitutional change was now more likely as a result of the virus.

However, former PUP leader John Kyle – who last month at the age of 68 signed up to return to medicine as the NHS prepared for the Covid-19 surge – said that her comments were “opportunistic” and “very foolish”.

Stormont’s Department of Health yesterday said that five people had died in hospitals after testing positive for Covid-19, on top of 16 more deaths reported on Saturday, bringing the total figure to 299.

On Saturday graveyards across Northern Ireland began to reopen, with a trickle of grieving relatives visiting to pay their respects at gravesides after the Stormont Executive lifted its ban on cemeteries being allowed to open.

But there is more evidence that some politicians are already looking beyond the current crisis to what it will mean for their political aspirations.

In comments reported by The Sunday Times yesterday, Ms McDonald said: “When Brexit happened, people said this is an accelerant in terms of the unity debate, because it was so obvious with the danger to the border.

“I think this dwarfs Brexit in terms of reflecting the danger of partition, the fact that it’s not sustainable, and the necessity for us to work as one island.”

The Sinn Fein leader went on: “It’s astonishing we have an all-Ireland single policy for animal health but not for public health.

“Everything we do to keep people safe has to be on the understanding we are a single population on a small island and have to look after each other.”

Ms McDonald, who only returned to work last week after recovering from Covid-19, said that Deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill had “some pretty tough conversations to get the northern system in tandem with what was happening in the south” and added: “Yet again we see how vulnerable we are when we have two jurisdictions, two systems, on the island.”

However, Dr Kyle said: “To try to make a political point here is really facile; it’s premature. Rather than making political points, we should be focusing our energies on working together and not bringing division ... if people are playing party politics at this stage, I think that is very foolish, opportunistic and a bit crass.”

Dr Kyle said that so far the health service in Northern Ireland had “dealt well with a difficult situation” but that there should be practical cooperation wherever it was needed without attempts to make political gain.

He said that the pandemic needs to be dealt with on a global basis, with “all countries working together”.

The east Belfast councillor said that would mean that “it is of course better to work in a cooperative manner with the Republic of Ireland. But similarly, it would be better for Ireland to work with the UK cooperatively”.

He added: ”We need to have a sense of working together – both the UK and Ireland – because both our nations are so closely connected.”

The veteran former GP also questioned those politicians who are urging Northern Ireland to follow the Republic because Ireland is an island.

He said it was too soon to pass judgment on how the UK and Ireland had handled the emergency.

“In retrospect, there will need to be a review of what has happened but in this situation people are trying to anticipate the future without all the facts in front of them, so decisions are based on the best information we have and people in good faith are trying to reach the best conclusions they can for the welfare of the public.

“To pretend the south of Ireland is handling this well and the UK has made a hash of it is a rather ill-informed judgment because we are not yet at a point where we can review things properly and we are not comparing like with like – different population densities, different public transport systems, different demographic profiles, different proportions of black and ethnic minority populations who are particularly vulnerable, different levels of poverty, and so on.

“To make the case that the pandemic strengthens the case for Irish unity is rather foolish.

“What it does is strengthen the case for nations working together in a collaborative way.”

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