I think McGuirk is being mischievous here. I rather suspect that a denationalised united Ireland is the one he aspires to. I hope so, at least, though I do agree about the feebleness of a sanitised, bureaucratic, brochures-and-clipboards unification.
But I think Fine Gael have drifted away from that. Brexit lit a nationalist fire within the party, most evidently in the reincarnation of Leo Varadkar as a vocal and mischievous advocate for unity. McGuirk and Varadkar overlapped at Trinity. In those days, Varadkar, like McGuirk, was a stereotypical Tory boy. You only need to compare the two men today to see how far Varadkar has drifted—from the furthest right in his party to the furthest left. I watched Varadkar, sitting prominently in shot, during Catherine Connolly’s inauguration speech. He sat rigid until she mentioned a united Ireland, at which point he nodded vigorously, like a bobble head. As Mary Lou McDonald said, he has found his inner Shinner.
Coveney was similar, radicalised by direct contact with the Saxon foe. Simon Harris and Helen McEntee are getting in on the action too, having been radicalised by Gaza. I have some insider dealings with the party at a local level. There is not a hint of West Britonism anymore. You would be amazed by how green some of the members are.
It isn’t altogether surprising—a post-Brexit Gaelic revival has swept up the country. But I never thought I’d see the day that a Fianna Fail leader is more sensible on the national question than Fine Gael.
Sensible is one way of describing Michael Martin. Another would be that he ascribes to a view of Northern Ireland and the past which is either naive or cowardly. Unity is said to be only desirable only if reconciliation has been achieved, yet reconciliation was never a precondition for British rule in the North. In his view, there was no two-sided conflict. The hundreds of Nationalists killed by British State/Loyalist operatives on both sides of the border are airbrushed because they obscure the clear moral perspective of 'sensible people'. British troops are now described in Government documents as the 'people trying to uphold law and order', no mention that there was no consent for their deployment in the districts they patrolled. Of course there is another side of the story to the one I am recounting, but I can't understand why MM as the leader of Irish Nationalism would completly vacate any credibilty he has with his citizens in NI to reinforce the British narrative at every opportunity.
Your point on Fine Gael being a lot more Green than in the past is a good one. It's interesting, and it makes you think where Fianna Fail's identity exactly lies.
"pronounced, if you are a true blue-blood of Ministerial Calibre, as Finneh Ghwaaale, and if you are a bogman fit only for the backbenches as Fyne Gale"
I think McGuirk is being mischievous here. I rather suspect that a denationalised united Ireland is the one he aspires to. I hope so, at least, though I do agree about the feebleness of a sanitised, bureaucratic, brochures-and-clipboards unification.
But I think Fine Gael have drifted away from that. Brexit lit a nationalist fire within the party, most evidently in the reincarnation of Leo Varadkar as a vocal and mischievous advocate for unity. McGuirk and Varadkar overlapped at Trinity. In those days, Varadkar, like McGuirk, was a stereotypical Tory boy. You only need to compare the two men today to see how far Varadkar has drifted—from the furthest right in his party to the furthest left. I watched Varadkar, sitting prominently in shot, during Catherine Connolly’s inauguration speech. He sat rigid until she mentioned a united Ireland, at which point he nodded vigorously, like a bobble head. As Mary Lou McDonald said, he has found his inner Shinner.
Coveney was similar, radicalised by direct contact with the Saxon foe. Simon Harris and Helen McEntee are getting in on the action too, having been radicalised by Gaza. I have some insider dealings with the party at a local level. There is not a hint of West Britonism anymore. You would be amazed by how green some of the members are.
It isn’t altogether surprising—a post-Brexit Gaelic revival has swept up the country. But I never thought I’d see the day that a Fianna Fail leader is more sensible on the national question than Fine Gael.
Sensible is one way of describing Michael Martin. Another would be that he ascribes to a view of Northern Ireland and the past which is either naive or cowardly. Unity is said to be only desirable only if reconciliation has been achieved, yet reconciliation was never a precondition for British rule in the North. In his view, there was no two-sided conflict. The hundreds of Nationalists killed by British State/Loyalist operatives on both sides of the border are airbrushed because they obscure the clear moral perspective of 'sensible people'. British troops are now described in Government documents as the 'people trying to uphold law and order', no mention that there was no consent for their deployment in the districts they patrolled. Of course there is another side of the story to the one I am recounting, but I can't understand why MM as the leader of Irish Nationalism would completly vacate any credibilty he has with his citizens in NI to reinforce the British narrative at every opportunity.
Your point on Fine Gael being a lot more Green than in the past is a good one. It's interesting, and it makes you think where Fianna Fail's identity exactly lies.
An interesting and quite accurate way to look at it.
"pronounced, if you are a true blue-blood of Ministerial Calibre, as Finneh Ghwaaale, and if you are a bogman fit only for the backbenches as Fyne Gale"
Never have truer words been written!