This article by Eoin Ó Murchú first appeared in Unity, the weekly publication of the Irish Communist Party.
JOHN Taylor’s interview in the Irish News, in which he declared that a United Ireland is now inevitable has caused shockwaves throughout Unionism.
Taylor was one of the hard-line Unionists during the civil rights period, only reluctantly yielding ground as the political debate shifted under the weight of the sectarian crisis affecting Northern Ireland.
Many Unionists will, therefore be astonished by these remarks coming from him. But they can’t just be dismissed as the ravings of an Octogenarian crank – as Sam McBride described him. His argument needs consideration.
Taylor is facing up to two realities. First there is a demographic change in the North which has already eroded the Unionist majority. And Taylor points out that, with the balance of population now held by immigrants, the anti-immigrant stance of too many in the Loyalist community ensures, in his view, more support for Irish Unity.
Secondly, Taylor makes the point that in Britain itself support for maintaining Northern Ireland as an integral part of the British state has waned considerably. “The people in Great Britain are no longer interested in Northern Ireland and society in England and Great Britain is changing and at the same time society in Northern Ireland is changing, because the majority are going to be in favour of a united Ireland.”
Taylor’s message is not that he wants a United Ireland, but that it is inevitable, and for that reason vital for the Protestant and Unionist community to get involved in the debate about what form a United Ireland should take.
He explained: “Ulster unionists are a minority within the island of Ireland. They have got to learn to live alongside the majority of Irish nationalists.
“And that also means Irish nationalists have to accept that Ulster unionists in Northern Ireland are a different breed and different type of people they will have to accommodate.
“Which means that in any united Ireland there would probably have to be a separate institution in Northern Ireland in which unionists and nationalists would work together for the whole of Northern Ireland.”
In other words, if the Unionist community just refuses to engage, and tries to repel the demographic change by insisting on a return to the old ways, it will end up with a United Ireland that is not in its interest.
The Irish Communist Party/Páirtí Cumannach Éireann has called for Irish workers to unite to build a new Ireland, which will reject capitalism and imperialism, and put the interests of the working-class centre stage. We believe that we can only build a socialist and decent human society if we break free of British Toryism and reject also the new imperialism of the European Union. We don’t believe that such a society is on the cards at this moment, but insist that our class must set aside sectarian differences and get involved in the debate and try to win ground that will open up the road to breaking the link with capitalism.
For the Protestant community this means clearly laying out the guarantees for that community’s rights and interests that must be incorporated into a new Ireland. The Protestant community cannot leave it to others to shape what this new Ireland will be without them.
But, equally, the alternative of believing that people can just stick their heads in the sand, ignore the debate and hope it will go away just will not work.
This approach has led the PUL community down the garden path. The ridiculous hostility showed to the Irish language is a case in point. First of all, Irish is as much part of the Protestant inheritance as it is of the Catholic one, but, if it were true that it was alien, a harmonious society can only be built by respecting and tolerating each other.
The main Unionist response to Taylor’s comments has been shock and horror. But the sensible thing to do is to build on what he has said. Nationalists should be challenged to engage not just in a debate about a United Ireland but about the place of the Protestant community within it.
And central to that we must make sure that our class, the working class, has a voice, and that that voice will be heard