SINN Fein’s campaign for a border poll and the revelation that the DUP are considering the vote on Irish unity, has sparked major debate among politicians, commentators and the general public.
Here we have the thoughts of Alliance MLA Chris Lyttle - who says NO to the poll, claiming it would be destabilising - and News Letter columist Alex Kane who says YES the poll, which would ‘confirm the Union’.
Chris Lyttle NO: THE recent census results show that it is not the desire of the majority of Northern Ireland for a change to the constitutional position within the UK. Even the Irish government has said that the conditions have not been reached for a border poll to be called. It would be a predictable outcome at unnecessary expense.
Unionist politicians recently misrepresented a shared future flag policy decision at Belfast City Hall and have expressed concern that nationalist support for this position was less than sincere.
Sinn Fein and the SDLP have work to do to prove their commitment to a policy that is a bridge to long-term stability on the issue of identity which at times has the ability to destabilise hard-earned peace for us all.
A border poll, however, has the prospect to further heighten tension and division in our community at a time when the real discussion we should be having is how we build a shared future; how we deal with the past; how we educate our children; how we live and work together.
A border poll would do nothing to heal divisions or build bridges. It would further risk the re-sectarianising of our society. If we were to hold such a vote in this current atmosphere, we would only be retreating back to the politics of them and us.
Whether or not we have a border poll, the biggest challenge for our generation is how we build a shared society and united community.
We need responsible leadership from all parties that creates a politics in Northern Ireland that provokes inspiration rather that the politics of fear.
Alex Kane YES: A NORTHERN Ireland border poll is not the same as the 2014 Scottish referendum – for, whatever the outcome of the referendum, Scotland remains Scotland.
A vote to remove Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom means the disappearance of Northern Ireland as an identifiable, separate country and the creation of an entity — a newly united independent Ireland — which has never existed before.
Go on, read that sentence again. That’s the scale of what we are talking about. And I’m not convinced that Sinn Fein understands it, either: because listening to them you get the impression that they think this is just about fixing something that was broken in 1920/21.
Creating an entirely new country — particularly on the back of a slim majority and with a very significant, unhappy minority — would be an enormously difficult task.
And judging by the language of Sinn Fein’s “reconciliation project”, it’s a task they don’t appear to be prepared for.
Unionism disappears. British identity disappears. The Belfast Agreement guarantees for protecting identities disappears, because there will be no possibility of a border poll to reverse the decision. The protection of a veto for unionism disappears, too.
The debate on all of the issues surrounding a border poll has to happen sometime, so why not now? Why not call Sinn Fein’s bluff and then put every single one of their arguments under a microscope on both sides of the border? Their arguments don’t stack up. Theirs is the paint-it-by-numbers approach, propped up on mythology, wishful thinking and the sure and certain knowledge of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!
As I wrote in {http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/who-can-bridge-our-electoral-gap-1-4704703|Monday’s column|clickhere} : “I’d be much more interested to know what Enda Kenny, Eamon Gilmore and Micheal Martin (with 73 per cent of the vote between them at the 2011 Irish general election) think about uniting with Northern Ireland.” My own suspicion is that, irrespective of what’s maybe in their hearts, their heads would push them against unification anytime soon.
I have no fears for the future of the Union. I believe that a substantial majority across Ireland — once they understand the arguments and consequences of unity — would vote to retain the status quo. So, for once, let’s take the argument to Sinn Fein: let’s demand to see their cards and their figures. They want the poll so much — let them have it! It’ll just confirm they’re stuck in Northern Ireland and Stormont.
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