Articles For Blogger

The novel --THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE--is an impressionistic fiction derived from life experiences. The novel relates Dr Quinn's struggle in a psychiatric clinic to discover his true self as an Irishman. In his mental struggle he creates THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT as the solution to the Irrish problem.

The novel is the companion to this series of articles in this Blog and is recommended reading. The novel can be bought through any book store or from any book agency on the Internet

Abortion in the Six Counties

Abortion in the six counties

On listening to the radio I heard Geoffrey Donaldson and Dianne Abbot debate Dianne’s intention that the 1967 Abortion Act and the Human Fertilisation and Embryology 1990 Act be amended so that abortion on demand and for social expediency be made available in the six counties. I was pleased to hear that Geoffrey was opposed to such an amendment because such legislation was not acceptable to the political parties or to the four main churches. Mr Donaldson pointed out that such legislation was an imposition on the people of the six counties.

Secularist Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein sees the introduction of abortion in the six counties as an imposition coming from a central Westminster, but the objection by Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein runs much deeper than that. The imposition of abortion on the people of the six counties is a spin off of a much deeper problem which is the imposition by the military of an unwritten undemocratic constitution on those in the six counties who don’t want it. That is how U.K. constitution works. Mr Donaldson is right to oppose the imposition he objects to but is heedless to the plight of those who have to live under a military imposed unwritten undemocratic constitution they object to. What is needed is a reformed U.K. constitution, which is acceptable to all in the same way, as the six counties need abortion legislation that is acceptable to all c.f. THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT Article 4 Page 201.

In another article in this Blog titled Here’s to you, Mrs Robinson---, a definition of secularism is given taken from the Internet. This definition of secularism is fine and dandy and is the definition of secularism acceptable to Federal unionism - Early Sinn Fein. It agrees that state laws should be derived from reason and should be based on
evidence and fact. Laws should be humane and be enacted for the good of the state the community and of the individual. Since the introduction of the 1967 Abortion Act six million potential individuals have been refused the right to exist. Such a shameful statistic condemns those false prophets of secularism who support abortion on demand and for social expediency. Those who are genuinely secularist in outlook see those who support abortion on demand and for social expediency as, inhumane, cruel and criminal.

Dianne Abbot was raised under an unwritten undemocratic U.K. constitution and is surrounded by those who unthinkingly accept such a constitution so the lady is free to impose Dianne Abbot law on those parts of the U.K. who don’t want it. In this way abortion is being dragged in by the undemocratic back door of The U.K. into the six counties and imposed. Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein urges the lady to come clean and wise up and introduce abortion by the democratic front door. To do that the lady should leave Hackney North and settle in Belfast. In Belfast she should set up the six County Abortion Party. If Dianne prefers to be politically correct she may call it the N. Ireland Abortion Party. Whatever! She should go forward on a ticket of abortion on demand and for social expediency and when Dianne’s party returns a majority to the assembly the abortion party can introduce acceptable abortion legislation in the six counties, which is a humane solution to the difficult human problem of an unwanted pregnancy. If that were done that would be legislation introduced through the democratic front door, not through the undemocratic back door of an unwritten militarily imposed U.K. constitution that is objected to by a significant section of the six county population.

Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein

Whither Traditional Unionism

Whither Traditional Unionism

The partitionists David Cameron the leader o f the British Conservatives and Sir Reg Empey leader of the Ulster Unionist Party are reported to be in the process of forming an alliance between their respective parties. This is a new partitionist move to copper fasten the division of Ireland into two foreign states. Neither of these men show the slightest concern about the Irish disease --- sectarianism unless there is a mass conversion of the catholic community to the old dogmas of traditional toryism following an alliance between the Tories And the U.U.P. Margaret Thatcher sold the traditional unionists down the river in the Anglo Irish Agreement, a sell-out of which the traditional unionist Ian Paisley was keenly aware in his public outburst –Never, Never, Never. But Ian in turn sold traditional Ulster unionism down the river in forming an unholy and ungodly union with Late Sinn Fein/ I.R.A.

With the military defeat of Republicanism by the British in the six counties Partition and its underlying malady –Sectarianism –is being reinforced on the island as never before. The six counties are now polarized into two extreme and constitutionally contradictory sectarian camps of Republican: Late Sinn Fein and the unionism of Right Wing Union Jack Unionism, the D.U.P. For Sir Reg and David the treachery of Margaret Thatcher is being airbrushed away and sectarianism is taken to be the order of the day in Ireland.

At this point in the history of Traditional unionism it should be useful to ask ----Whither traditional Unionism? and look at a radical appraisal of the U.K. by examining what are the fundamentals of U.K. constitution and ask what is the sine qua non of the union.

For traditional Unionists in Ulster the union is constitutionally embodied in: -
(1) Loyalty to the Crown.
(2) The anthem God Save the Queen.
(3) The Union Jack.
(4) A British Passport.
(5) Parliament at Westminster

God Save the Queen is regarded by traditional unionism as being immutable and unchangeable. However God Save the Queen is not a sine qua non of the union. Three Blind Mice as the National Anthem could replace God Save the Queen if that were the will of the House of Commons and deemed appropriate by the British people.

By the same token the union Jack is not immutable and unchangeable. That flag is manmade and was created by Whitehall in 1801 and as such is not a sine qua non of the union. An alternative to the Union Jack is given in THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT Article 9 page224. A suggested redesign of the Irish Tricolour as the National flag of Ireland and a symbol of the United Kingdom of the Sovereign Nation of Ireland and Great Britain can be seen in this Blog. The new design should be called The Royal Flag of Ireland.

Is the existing design of a British Passport a sine qua non of the U.K.? Surely not. The British passport can be redesigned in any shape or form the House of Commons cares to make it. A suggested redesign of a U.K. passport in Ireland is given in the Act as follows:-

(1) Ireland--- written in English Irish and French on the cover along with the Royal flag of Ireland
(2) The Crown Irish Representation c.f. The Act Article 3 Page 195 to be shown on the first inside leaf of the Passport.
(3) The passport should be written in Irish and English.

The holder of such a passport would be an Irish citizen who recognises the Crown as head of state in Ireland and such recognition of the Crown as Head of State is the only sine qua non of the U.K. All else is changeable including Parliament With devolved governments in Scotland and Wales, Parliament at Westminster is now in a state of flux.

Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein brings this radical unionism to the attention of traditional unionism At the moment there is a working party in place to examine a new arrangement between the U.U.P. and the Tories. Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein has no objection in principal to this except that such an alliance will do nothing to eradicate sectarianism in Ireland. Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein puts forward a new approach to the eradication of sectarianism on the island. It is proposed that a constitutionally central collation be formed of the central S.D.L.P. the U.U.P. and Alliance whose aim is to oppose and defeat the constitutional extremists Late Sinn Fein and the D.U.P. The central coalition should be named The Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein Party of Ireland. In such a coalition the U.U.P. could retain its association with the Conservatives, the Alliance retain its historic association with the Lib Dems and the S.D.L.P. retain its association with the Labour Party.

If eventually the National Government of Ireland Act were in place, ideally, in the whole of Ireland then the Irish Christian Democrats could be in association with the British Conservatives and with the Christian Democrats in Europe, the Irish liberal democrats could be in association with the Lib Dems in G.B. and with European liberals, and the Irish Social Democrats could remain in association with British Labour and with socialists in Europe.

In such an arrangement politics in Ireland would become normalized being based on the ideological, right, centre and left and the sickness of Ireland –sectarianism will wither away. So whither traditional Unionism?


Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein

Whither Late Sinn Fein?

At the moment there is considerable interest in the press and in the media concerning the peace process and its direction and efforts are being made to reconcile the DUP and Late Sinn Fein to one another. Stormont has become the Mecca of the North for Late Sinn Fein.

But it may be time to stand back and examine what is happening constitutionally in the six counties. The crux of the matter seems to be that the DUP and Late Sinn Fein will not bed down together at Stormont until Late Sinn Fein accepts in full the six county courts and cooperates in full with the PSNI. Gerry Adams is now leading Late Sinn Fein in that direction.

To understand clearly what is afoot in the six counties the state’s constitution has to be looked at and the law courts and the police force are basic to the six county constitutional make up. In this unwritten constitution derived from the 1801 Act of Union the law courts and the police are the basic means whereby the six county unwritten undemocratic Right Wing Union Jack Unionist constitution is maintained. In deed one might say the courts and the police are the heart and lungs of this undemocratic constitution. This constitution has been rejected by the vast majority of the people of this island but in the six counties this undemocratic constitution is being maintained militarily by the British Army and by the PSNI with a gun strapped to their hip.

Since the 1801 Act of Union, the primary function of the police in Ireland, beginning with the RIC, was the maintenance of the constitution on the island as a whole. The maintenance of civil law and order was a secondary function. When the six county statelet was set up the RU C took on the role as state enforcers of an unwritten undemocratic constitution even though the constitution was unacceptable to a significant portion of the population. The PSNI still has as its primary function the enforcement of the constitution on those who don’t want it. That is why they travel the highways and byways carrying guns. For the PSNI the maintenance of civil law and order is a secondary function. The ultimate back up to the PSNI in this role is the British military garrison of 5000 whose ultimate duty is to enforce the constitution at the point of a gun on those who object to it. For Gerry Adams and Late Sinn Fein this is now to be accepted. In this acceptance Late Sinn Fein is now accepting the 1801 Act of Union and in so doing are propping up a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist regime in the six counties. Late Sinn Fein are now being hoodwinked bamboozled and pressurized by the clever wiles of Ian Paisley and the DUP into an acceptance of the Act of Union. This deception is aided and abetted by the British con artist, Tony Blair using the sleight of hand—good community relations and peace. Backing this up is the Irish con artist, the partitionist Bertie Ahern and a partitionist Dail Eireann, and urging this on is the arch partitionist Catholic potentate of a cosy Catholic foreign jurisdiction---Mary Mc Aleese. Gerry Adams should now come clean with the party faithful and go the full constitutional hog and fly the Union Jack on Late Sinn Fein headquarters, take a seat in the House of Commons and take the oath of allegiance to the Queen and end its Ard Fheis in Dublin with ---God Save the Queen. If Ian Paisley and Tony Blair were to make all of that a condition of entry to Stormont Gerry Adams and Late Sinn Fein would acquiesce such is their lust for power in the six counties.

This is not so with Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein. There is no way it would buy into the Act of Union 1801 by selling its birth right for a mess of pottage in the six counties. It rejects utterly the Act of Union simply because the Act has been rejected historically by the vast majority of the people of this island. But Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein goes further than that and positively. Recognising that Republicanism has been defeated militarily in the six counties and because of that, is defeated on the whole island and is now partitionist in outlook, Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein advocates the repeal of the unacceptable Act of Union 1801 and its removal from the statute books, to be replaced by a new acceptable Act of Union, the National Government of Ireland Act, giving a Union that is democratically acceptable to all, be it the Catholics of Kerry or the Protestants of Derry. Those who have the best interest of Ireland and the Irish at heart will find a proposal for the National Government of Ireland Act published in 22 articles in the Blanket 2006 The six counties are now in a constitutional mess as is the island as a whole, being partitioned into two statelets the one foreign to the other. This mess has been created in the past by extremists north and south. It is high time the mess was cleared up but Late Sinn Fein cannot do that. All they can do is wallow in it and now have their nose rubbed in it by the DUP. But the mess can be cleared up in a UK context in the National Government of Ireland Act. That way, in a UK context lies a United Ireland and only in that way.

When it comes to policing a few twiddles of the constitutional knobs by Cris Patton will not do. Patton has left the primary role of the PSNI as constitutional enforcers intact. In the National Government of Ireland Act the police would be subject to the constitution, not enforcers of it and the maintenance of the constitution would be in the hands of the Taoiseach but would ultimately be determined by the democratic will of the Irish people. The only constitutional duty of the police would be the maintenance of civil law and order. Likewise if the National Government of Ireland Act were in place, ideally, in the whole of Ireland or else in the six counties it would then a constitutional imperative that English Scottish and Welsh soldiers leave Ireland and an Irish Army in Ireland would have the constitutional role of defending Irish territory and democracy, or of defending the territory of the Isles of the North Atlantic and democracy in conjunction with the British Army should the need arise. Neither the Irish Army nor the British Army would be constitutional enforcers in Ireland. The constitution would be maintained solely by the democratic will of the Irish people.

Michael Gillespie

Whither Traditional Republicanism?
Michael Gillespie

On first writing to the Blog I made clear I am a dissident, dissenting from Traditional Republicanism, Nationalism, and Unionism seeing these as failed entities that have past their sell by date and should be thrown out and replaced with the new improved up-to-date stock of Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein. On reading current articles in The Blanket, contributed by Republicans, it is now becoming clear that Early Sinn Fein’s original message is finding an affinity with thinking Republicans where traditional Republicanism is being seen as a futility.

Traditional Republicanism has been abandoned by Late Sinn Fein which now props up a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist 6 county state by buying into the 1801 Act of Union at Stormont. Like Early Sinn Fein, traditional Republicanism is opposed to the 1801 Act of Union and wants rid of it but unlike Early Sinn Fein, traditional Republicanism doesn’t know how to achieve that goal. Violence has been the traditional means towards the end but that means proved futile in ’98, in 1916 and in the recent spate of violence in the 6 counties. So the question is---Whither Traditional Republicanism?

The 1801 Act has been rendered secure in the 6 counties and being secure partition is copper- fastened and sectarianism institutionalised. Ian Paisley had beome expansive and has made a benevolent visit to Dublin and has shaken hands with the unprincipled partitionist Bertie Ahern who has the full approval of a unprincipled Catholic partitionist foreign Dail Eireann. All of this is greeted with euphoria by an unthinking media.

In the knowledge of all of that, Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein holds to the principle that the Act of Union was a military imposition in 1801 and undemocratic and remains an undemocratic military imposition on a sizeable section of the population in the 6 counties at the present time. To resolve this Early Sinn Fein advocates the replacement of the imposed Act of Union 1801 by a new acceptable and democratic Act of Union—The National Government of Ireland Act---.Ideas for such an Act have already been published in The Blog. Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein is as one with Traditional Republicanism in its opposition to the 1801 Act as an end but Early Sinn Fein advocates reason, not brute force as a means.

Federal Unionism-Early Sinn Fein also wishes to see the day when sectarianism will be non-existent in Ireland. Being realistic sectarianism has its roots in the fracture of Christianity in ages past and is bound up with denominational religion in Ireland. Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein believes that ones religion is a private matter between the individual and God and religion shouldn’t be worn on the sleeve, or mouthed about in public, or paraded in public for votes. Federal Unionism- Early Sinn Fein profoundly believes that no single brand of denominational Christianity holds a monopoly of Christian truth but that since the fracture of Christianity at the Reformation, the Christian truth is held in a partial fragment by each one of the Christian denominations. Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein profoundly believes that no single Christian denomination offers an exclusive route to personal salvation but that each one of the Christian denominations offers a route to personal salvation, the various denominations being six of one and half a dozen of the other. In that belief Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein is aware that Ian Paisley preaches from the pulpit that his brand of denominational Christianity is the whole Christian truth and nothing but the Christian truth. Preaching thus Ian maintains that his brand of denominational Christianity is a super brand, and like Persil it washes whiter. Is Ian then the role model of the super Christian and is he the superstar of Christianity? If Ian had behaved like a Christian and spoke like a Christian 40 years ago and had backed Captain O’ Neill in the introduction of modest reforms in the 6 counties and had shaken the hand of Sean Lemass in friendship as he has done with Bertie Ahern, in the judgement of Early Sinn Fein there would never have been an I.R.A. and there would never have been violence and 3000 people who are now dead would still be alive. Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein maintains that Ian Paisley is a man with much on his conscience and has much to answer for. Because of that Early Sinn Fein calls on the reverend gentleman to admit his guilt, confess his sins and in company with his erstwhile unchristian political partner at Stormont, Martin who has an unchristian record of terrorism, wear sackcloth and ashes as repentant sinners who have been joined at the hip in an unhealthy, unholy and ungodly union at Stormont. On the other hand Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein is prepared to assist in the healing of the multiple fracture in Christianity by advocating in the National Government of Ireland Act that Christian Ecumenism be made the official state religion of a New Ireland.

The reverend gentleman preaches that the Pope is the anti- Christ and believes that all Catholics are clones of the Pope and would have us believe that Mary M cAleese should be called Dolly the Pope because of her Catholicism. He preaches that his brand of religion and it alone, offers personal salvation and that he personally is saved but maybe if the full truth were known the only thing saved in Ian’s life are the files on his computer. Those with an ounce of Christian sense in their make up must realize that neither Ian or Martin have a Christian bone in their body and in both their faces can be seen the unacceptable face of Christianity.

There is a recurrent theme in Republican writing that the Irish problem can be resolved in socialism. It would be interesting to know the origins of this notion. It could be that this notion originates in Long Kesh with Republican prisoners being brainwashed and indoctrinated into the dogma that revolutionary socialism is the cure all. This has been put to the test in the 6 counties and has been shown to be flawed, faulty and defective. Socialism has also been put to the electoral test by that foot soldier of socialism, Eamon McCann and by the Worker’s Party. The electoral results speak for themselves. Socialism collapsed in Europe with the Berlin Wall but there are those who still cling to the forlorn hope that if only the Shankill and the Falls would unite as working class people in socialism unity would follow and all would be well. This hope was put to the test by the old Northern Ireland Labour Party but without electoral success. The difficulty with the Labour Party lay in the reality that to split the party from head to toe on sectarian lines all that was needed was a motion proposing that the Party recognise the border. So in the old Labour Party the unity of socialism was skin deep and superficial. What touched the quick and divided the party was the border i.e. the constitution. So Federal Unionism reiterates again that to unite Catholic Protestant and Dissenter requires a new reformed U.K.constitution in Ireland i.e. The National Government of Ireland Act and that Ireland can be united in no other way.

There is the assertion in Republican thinking that in Ireland disunity is due to the naughty British who back unionists and if only the British would stop doing that and went away protestant loyalist Ireland would convert en masse to Republicanism and a united Ireland would follow. This foolish assertion fails to understand loyalist Ireland. The central plank of that community’s culture is loyalty to the Crown. It has to be accepted as reasonable that loyalty is a praiseworthy human attribute be it loyalty to friend, family, organization, country or Crown. In a liberal democracy that allows freedom of expression, loyalty should be freely expressed not repressed, as loyalty to the Crown would be in a Republic. The case in point is the Protestant loyalist community in the 26 county statelet. There the central plank of the community’s culture was taken away and the protestant community, ill at ease in an imposed alien culture, voted against the statelet with their feet by walking out, so it is true to say that protestants are as scarce on the banks of the Shannon, nowadays, as Sioux Indians are on the banks of the Mississippi. The fate of Catholics in the 6 counties is in marked contrast. Since 1921 the catholic community in the 6 counties has increased, multiplied and flourished even though they have felt badly done by, by Right Wing Union Jack Unionism, so Catholics in the 6 counties don’t seem to have any objection in principle to being within the U.K. provided they get a fair crack of the whip. By the same token the Catholics of Kerry could equally increase multiply and flourish if they were to be within a reformed United Kingdom.

Some time ago I saw Catrina Ruane of Late Sinn Fein mention a New Ireland to a D.U.P.man on T.V. It was a mystery to myself the D.U.P. man and also to the viewers what Catrina was talking about. Everyone would want to know what Catrina’s new Ireland would be like , where it would come from and how it would be constitutioned and what we all would be letting ourselves in for in this new Ireland but Catrina never mentioned any of that. Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein is willing to come to the lady’s assistance and offer the lady, free of charge, a brand new Ireland which unlike the muddy waters of Late Sinn Fein’s Eire Nua, is clearly thought out, clearly presented, and clearly constituted and with no hidden agenda so that the lady can study the National Government of Ireland Act and see how she would like to live in a united Ireland as an Irish Christian Liberal Democracy within the United Kingdom. I hope Catrina reads This Blog.

When first writing to This Blog I described myself as a teacher and a writer. If the readership doesn’t like teachers and writers especially teachers I can describe myself in the way Shaw described himself to the Fabian Society: -

“I am not a teacher. I am a fellow traveller who is pointing the way.”~
Michael Gillespie











































k

Ruled by Zealots

With the setting up of the assembly in the 6 counties the partitionist Bertie Ahern has declared in a partitionist Dail Eireann that the constitution in Northern Ireland is now off the table. It is easy for Bertie to say that in a cosy catholic foreign 26 county Republic. Federal Unionism- Early Sinn Fein invites the taoiseach to visit the 6 counties and look around and he will find his wishful thinking about the constitution is misplaced. In the 6 counties he will find that for the people, the constitution is at the centre of the table and remains at the heart of the matter. He will find in catholic estates the kerbstones painted green white and orange, the flag is the tricolour, the anthem is a Soldier’s Song and the passport is Irish. In protestant estates he will find the kerbstones painted red white and blue, the flag is the Union Jack, the anthem is God Save The Queen and the passport is British. So what is Bertie talking about when he says that in N. Ireland the constitution is off the table? This typifies the flannel that comes from politicians in Ireland. What now is the flag to be flown at Stormont and what is the anthem? Is it the Union Jack and God Save the Queen? If it is then Late Sinn Fein are 1801 Unionists and should fly the Union Jack at headquarters and end the Ard Fheis with God Save the Queen. Could both flags be flown and both anthems sung? If that were the case then Stormont would clearly be the constitutional monstrosity that it has become. Perhaps the parties could agree not to fly any flag or have an anthem, in that case the 6 counties, as a constitutional non – entity, would be a non- state. This seems to be the constitutional position adopted by Bertie Ahern and Tony Blair and being urged by the media. The people of the 6 counties are being told to deal with bread and butter matters only. In other words the people are being told to think about their bellies and about nothing else. But to have a buoyant economy it is vital to have a stable state and a stable state must have a democratically accepted constitution, which the 6 county statelet doesn’t have. Mr Ford of the Alliance Party has suggested that the 6 counties should have its own flag—a green flag with a circle of blue flax flowers---- and its own anthem---Danny Boy--- but that is typical of the silly shallow nonsense that comes from Alliance.

Ian Paisley keeps insisting that he is a democrat, that the 6 counties is a democracy and is within the United Kingdom but never explains what ‘democracy’ or ‘united’ are supposed to mean. Since the U. K. constitution is unwritten the validity of these words can be tested in acid in this way. Ian should invite the Queen to make a Royal tour of the 6 counties and Ian, Martin, and Bertie should escort Her Majesty on a walk about up the Falls Road and have the people of the Falls greet the Queen with Union Jacks. The Royal visitor should then attend a Royal Fete in Casement Park to be serenaded by a Falls male voice choir crooning in four part harmony---God Save the Queen---with Ian Paisley jr conducting. The Queen should then make a similar Royal tour of the Bogside and Creggan in Derry and finish off the visit with a similar Royal tour of Crossmaglen. When all of that comes to pass Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein will concede to Ian that the 6 county statelet is democratic, that he is a democrat and the United Kingdom is united and will agree with Bertie that the constitution is off the table in N. Ireland. But all of that is not a scenario of the immediate future but may happen light years from now. In the mean time when the Crown visits Belfast the Crown is hijacked by Right Wing Union Jack Unionists, is corralled into Protestant districts and is seen as a protestant Crown for Protestants. If that is ever to change that can only be done in the National Government of Ireland Act by Federal Unionism- Early Sinn Fein.

To look at the constitutional surrealism of the whole island, recently I saw Ian Paisley jr on T.V. make a visit to Dublin where he was greeted by the Irish foreign minister Mr Ahern. It looked like Ian jr was arriving from Timbuktu not from Belfast a hundred miles or so up the road. It amazes one how these two men can keep straight faces when involved in such a surrealist constitutional farce.

Zealotry is the curse of Irish history and while the farcical constitutional nature of the island goes back to ancient religious wars in ancient times, the modern farce began with the zealotry of Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen Their zealotry drove the Irish ship of state off course. Prior to the United Irishmen, the Patriots in the Irish Parliament were pressing for a parliament which was separate from, but co- equal to Westminster under the Crown and this is the first and best concept of Irish nationhood in Irish history. In this concept the Irish ship of state was on course but in reaction to ’98, the Irish parliament was ripped out of Ireland and with it the island’s constitutional centre, this being spearheaded by a zealotry of Irish protestant landed gentry and the Irish ship of state was driven off course. In the 19thcentury attempts were made by Butt and Parnell to steer the ship of state back onto the course of the Patriots but this was frustrated by Right Wing Union Jack Unionism. In the 20th century Griffiths, in the notion of a dual monarchy, tried to steer the ship of state back on the central course of the Patriots but the sectarian zealotry of 1916 put paid to that in 1916, and the ship of state was driven totally off course into the doldrums of partition. How many protestants were in the leadership or in the ranks in 1916? Now in a 30 year zealotry of violence Late Sinn Fein is not only off course but is now lost at sea in Stormont.

Zealotry is normally found in religion but there exists the zealotry of two secular religions in Ireland i.e. Late Sinn Fein and Union Jack Unionism. These secular religions have secular saints and secular martyrs, a one true faith based on contradictory dogmas about Ireland and on two conflicting and contradictory truths about Ireland. The adherents of these two apostate religions have gutted one another in the past but are now joined together at the hip in an unholy ungodly and unhealthy union at Stormont and these zealots now rule; on the one hand, the religious and political zealot, Peter Robinson on the other, the political zealot Martin Maginnis. In the past in G.B. the racist zealot Oswald Moseley was put out of politics because he was anti- Jewish but in the 6 counties the religious and political zealots theD.U.P. have remained in politics and now rule even though they are known to be anti- Irish and anti- catholic. They do this in company with the anti- loyalist zealot Maginnis.

All of this is bound up with the morality of government in the assembly. A government in a genuine democracy has a moral basis. In a genuine democracy the government governs in the belief that what it says and does is right and the opposition opposes in the belief that what the government says and does is wrong. Profumo was sacked because of a sexual impropriety and for lying to the House; Nixon was sacked for lying to the nation; Clinton was faced with impeachment, not so much for a sexual impropriety as for lying; Bertie Ahern’s fitness for government was called to question over his personal finances and all of this is due to the moral basis of the democratic governments concerned. This is not the case with the assembly at Stormont. There the basis of government is amoral. Amorality and immorality are different. To be immoral one must have a sense of right and wrong and infringe ones sense of right with a sense of guilt. To be amoral one is devoid of a sense of right and wrong and the person is devoid of guilt. This is characteristic of a psychopath. For all Early Sinn Fein knows, and for all the general public knows, those who were involved in the most heinous of crimes, like the Enniskillen bombings and those who condoned such criminality now rule over us in an amoral assembly. This is not directed at Republican criminality alone but is directed at the counter criminality of Right Wing Union Jack Unionism, such Unionism stretching from the UUP, to the DUP, to the police, to the British military and then to the UDA and to the UVF. All of these are, constitutionally speaking, the one sow’s pigs and condone a criminality that extends from Bloody Sunday to the murder of innocent Catholics and to collusion between the police and loyalist paramilitaries. Thus the assembly rests on amoral deals done between zealots behind closed doors in the Belfast/Scottish agreement. Thus the zealots rule.

In Dublin, Bertie Ahern has said that in Ireland, the two constitutions are now set in stone. In Bertie’s mind that is the way Ireland is, and has to be. There is no other way. Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein refutes that flatly. There is another way for Ireland and the Irish, in the way Ireland ought to be. This can be expressed in the National Government of Ireland Act. If the Act is examined as published in this Blog it will be seen that the joining of the two historic traditions in Ireland is symbolized in the union of the Irish Tricolour with the Cross of Saint Patrick and the Crown, the Harp and the Shamrock This is a more realistic and rational approach to unity than having two irreconcilable zealots sit beside one another in a partitionist Stormont. As a symbol of unity the new flag should be named in the Act as the Royal Flag of Ireland and defined as the national flag of Ireland and as the co- equal symbol of the United Kingdom of the sovereign Nation of Ireland and Great Britain. This is a synthesis of the two historic political traditions in Ireland. The joining and synthesis of the two cultural traditions in Ireland, the Irish and the Loyalist and of the two Christian traditions, the Catholic and the Protestant is symbolized in the Crown Irish Representation given in the Act which should show a picture of the Crown wearing the Irish Crown Jewels standing beside a Celtic Cross and underneath should be written in Irish and English: -

An Coroin Criostuil Gaelach
Banrion Eilis a do

The Christian Crown Irish
Queen Elisabeth the Second

The full synthesis of the two historic traditions in Ireland is given in the 22 articles of the National Government of Ireland Act published in The Way Ireland Ought To Be In this way there lies a united Ireland that is peaceful and stable and in no other way but Ireland divided will never be at peace. This is only achievable in Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein.

Michael Gillespie

Was it a war? ----Oh yes it was---- Oh no it wasn’t.
Some time ago on B.B.C. N. Ireland the in-dispute seemed to be----Were the troubles a war? For Late Sinn Fein the violence was a just war fought in a noble cause and for Union Jack Unionism it was despicable terrorism. As usual the debate had an air of pantomime farce about it i.e. Oh yes it was a war---Oh no it wasn’t--- with no reference as to what the word ---war – is supposed to mean.

In such circumstance it is my conditioned reflex to reach, Pavlovian style, for the dictionary. According to my dictionary, war, has a proliferation of meanings. So it is a question of finding which one best fits the period of violence in the 6 counties. I quote the following meanings

(1) A state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict, carried on between nations, states or parties.
Does this fit? Was the conflict in the six counties between the Irish Nation and the British Nation? That doesn’t fit.
Was the conflict between the six county state and the twenty six county state? Surely not.
A conflict between parties or communities in a country is a civil war. Was the conflict between the Catholic community and the Protestant community and was it a civil war? That doesn’t fit either. However the poet Michael Longley calls the conflict in the six counties a squalid little civil war.

(2) A period of conflict as in (1)
The period of conflict in the forties between G.B. and Germany is called in common speech—during the war---. The period of conflict in the six counties is called in common speech in Ireland --- during the troubles. So the period of conflict in the six counties is the troubles not a war.

(3) A formally declared state of war in which certain internationally conventions
are supposed to apply.
This is the way in which war is nowadays understood. War ought to be underpinned by conventions and rules. Military personnel who infringe such conventions and rules in conflict can be indicted for war crimes. The conflict in the six counties was not formally declared a war but free lance paramilitaries took it upon themselves to enter into conflict. These freelance paramilitaries were guilty of crimes at Enniskillen, Teeban, Darkley, Bloody Friday, Bloody Sunday, Omagh, The Disappeared along with a host of innocent people who were murdered. In the meaning of war in (3) war should be underpinned by morality and ethics. These were patently absent on both sides in the conflict in the six counties.

(4) Any condition of active antagonism or contention ---e.g. an advertising war, a price war.
(5) A concerted effort or campaign to combat or put an end to something--- e.g. the war against disease

(4) and (5) illustrate the width of meaning in which war is used. When these meanings are examined war should still be based on morality and ethics. In an advertising war is pornographic images permissible? In a price war is the use of substandard or illegal goods permissible? In a war against disease is vivisection permissible? If the campaign of violence was to put an end to the six county state then morality and ethics still apply in the effort

(6) A conflict A clash of opposing ideas or forces --- a battle ---- a fight.
However to describe what took place in the six counties as a conflict and leave it at that is a moral and ethical cop out. If one sees two men fighting in the street and one says this is a conflict and is unconcerned with the rights and wrongs of the matter then that is a moral and ethical evasion. I heard a lady from Dublin say on television that she saw the troubles in the six counties as a conflict and she claimed that the people in Dublin saw the troubles that way as well. If that is so then that is an evasion of the rights and wrongs of the matter by the South.

(7) Rebellion An uprising or organised opposition intended to overthrow the existing government or ruling authority.
Synonyms Revolt, insurrection, uprising, coup d’etat, revolution, mutiny

This begs the question is a violent uprising justified if the government or the constitution is just? There was an organized peaceful opposition by the C.R.A. to an unjust government and constitution in the six counties. The demands of the C.R.A. were conceded so the ensuing violence by P.I.R.A. to overthrow the state, was without moral or ethical foundation. However Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein maintains that the constitution of the six counties remains unjust in that it is unwritten and is maintained military not democratically and is imposed on those on the Island who don’t want it. For that reason Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein advocates that the six county constitution be opposed in an organized peaceful opposition with a view to replacing an unjust constitution with a just constitution in The National Government of Ireland Act.

(8) Feud A bitter prolonged hostility between two armies, two individuals or two families or clans

What is characteristic of a feud is the absence of any moral or ethical basis
to the conflict, the conflict being underscored by hatred. A feud could be described as a dirty war. What has gone on in the six counties for thirty years or more can best be described as a feud between the clans, Republicanism and Right Wing Union Jack Unionism. The dirt in this feud was equally distributed between the two sides.

In summary the recent attempt by Late Sinn Fein to have the conflict in the six counties called a war is a vain attempt by that feuding faction to snatch some semblance of victory from the jaws of abject defeat. It is the thrust of this article that what has taken place in the six counties is best described as a feud not as a war.
Note The National Government of Ireland Act is dealt with in my novel---THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE published by Authorhouse.
Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist Early Sinn Fein

Freedom yet again

Following on a previous article on Freedom and Democracy, it is to be noted that in Late Sinn Fein’s recent Ard Fheis, the word – Saoirse—was emblazoned in the background. As noted in a previous article the word –Saoirse—as used by Late Sinn Fein is as meaningless as ---Uhuru---as used by the Kenyans in the 60ties. The 1801 Act of Union remains in place in the 6 counties and Hugh Orde can sleep soundly in the knowledge that the primary function of the P.S.N.I. is fulfilled, the 6 county undemocratic sectarian unwritten enforced constitution being now more secure than it ever was. It is now duly and finally enforced by a permanent British garrison and by an armed P.S.N.I. Hugh Orde can now relax knowing that partition is copper fastened and sectarianism institutionalised. Having conceded the constitution to the P,S.N.I. Late Sinn Fein is now willing to participate in the secondary function of the P.S.N.I. which is the maintenance of civil law and order and be happy with a placement at Stormont. Gerry Adams recommends that Republicans join the P.S.N.I. How this is going to work constitutionally is impossible to tell. As policemen and women it will be their constitutional duty to enforce the 1801 Act of Union but as Republicans it will be their duty to oppose it and get rid of it. In such a set up Republicans in the police will lead a schizophrenic existence.

By taking Right Wing Union Jack Unionists, the D.U.P., as bedfellows at Stormont Late Sinn Fein has exposed the attempt by P.I.R.A. to overthrow the Act of Union by brute force as just another Republican failure, a futility, and a farce and at the same time have exposed the tragedies of the hunger strikes at Long Kesh as just another Republican folly. In truth ---Saoirse--- as used by Late Sinn Fein is clearly as bogus and false as was ---uhuru---in Kenya.

However Federal Unionism—Early Sinn Fein still holds steadfastly to freedom in Ireland and holds to the truth that freedom is needed as never before but not of the bogus--- Saoirse/Uhuru--- sort. In the National Government of Ireland Act freedom is given its modern meaning as accepted by forward thinking people. In the Act there is given a list of “freedom froms” and in this list there will be found ---freedom from disease---as a basic freedom of the individual. What Ireland needs to be freed from in the 21st century is from the social disease of sectarianism, bigotry and intolerance. If the Irish are to be united in freedom they must first be liberated from the social disease of the country—sectarianism---.

Sectarianism is rampant in the mentalities of Late Sinn Fein and of Right Wing Union Jack Unionism There isn’t a protestant in the ranks of Late Sinn Fein nor is there a Catholic in the ranks of the D.U.P. In the case of Late Sinn Fein sectarianism runs deep in its history and pedigree. Late Sinn Fein takes as its ancestry the Catholic sectarian uprising of 1916.In that debacle there wasn’t a Protestant in the leadership or in the ranks; the Protestant Roger Casement is associated with this period of history but one swallow doesn’t make a summer. If the full truth were known about 1916 and it isn’t, it could be that the leadership and the ranks held to the sectarian bigotry that to be Irish one must be a Catholic, convert to Republicanism, and have a paranoid hatred of all things British especially the Crown. But to look at the whole picture and be fair there is the counter sectarian bigotry which says that to be loyal to the Crown, one must be protestant and British and convert to Right Wing Union Jack Unionism and live by the Act of Union and have a paranoid hatred of all things either Catholic or Irish. This sectarian bigotry, which is rampant in Ireland, has kept the communities at one another’s throats for generations. Ireland needs liberation from this mindset and when thus freed the island will be at peace and will be unified. Only Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein can point the Irish in this direction in the National Government of Ireland Act. If this Act were in place in Ireland, Ireland would a sovereign nation like Canada. Canadians are loyal to the Crown and such loyalty is no barrier to Canada being a Sovereign independent nation within the Commonwealth. As a sovereign nation Canada has one head of state, the Crown, one Canadian flag, one Canadian anthem, and one Canadian passport giving a Canadian identity. Thus in Canada there is no inconsistency in being loyal in being loyal to Crown and in being Canadian because the Canadian constitution allows that. But in Ireland one cannot be loyal to the Crown and be Irish because the constitution doesn’t permit that either in the 1801 Act of Union or in the 1937 constitution in the 26 counties.

In the National Government of Ireland Act Ireland would be constituted as an Irish Christian Liberal Democracy within the United Kingdom and in an Ireland constituted in this way there would be no inconsistency in being loyal to the Crown and in being Irish. The constitution would allow that. Under such a constitution the people of Ireland would enjoy true freedom, not a bogus freedom like a shout of ---Saoirse / Uhuru---in the streets. The highest form of freedom that the individual can aspire to is---freedom to be--. In an Irish Christian Liberal Democracy the individual could aspire to freedom in its highest form namely freedom to be Irish to one’s heart’s content and at the same time the individual should be free to be loyal to the Crown to one’s heart’s content.

Republicanism and Nationalism (Nationalism being a half way house to Republicanism) hold that self-determination can only be realized in a Republic. But self-determination can equally be realized in a Monarchy. This is true of the Monarchies of Norway and Sweden

To develop this concept of the freedom of the individual the needs of Ireland in the 21st century can be listed as follows and these can only be fulfilled in Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein.

1. The repeal of the Act of Union 1801

2. Its replacement by a new Act of Union, the National Government of Ireland Act in which the U.K. constitution is reformed and restructured in Ireland making it acceptable to all, be it the Catholics of Kerry or the Protestants of Derry.

3. The Act should define Ireland as a Sovereign Nation within the United Kingdom with a reformed Crown as head of state.

4. A federal structure of government in Ireland with a central government in ~Dublin, Dail Eireann, with powers devolved to four provincial Houses of Representatives

5. One state religion for all---Christian ~Ecumenism

6. A reform of the Orange Order

7. The British Isles redefined as The Isles of the North Atlantic.

8. Emmet’s epitaph to be written, Ireland being a 32 sovereign nation.

There is little point in disillusioned, disenchanted and disgruntled Republicans lamenting the sell-out by Late Sinn Fein in the six counties. That was inevitable. Republicanism has been tested to destruction by P.I.R.A.in the six counties and have shown it to be flawed, faulty, and defective and should be rejected. It is the thrust of these articles that traditional Unionism, Nationalism, and Republicanism are all flawed, faulty, and defective and should all be thrown out and replaced by the new stock of Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein. So all is not lost. Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein, which is a synthesis of Nationalism, and Unionism, remains with its solution to the Irish problem.

Michael Gillespie

Freedom and Democracy

Freedom and Democracy

Uhuru Freedom

In 1920 Kenya became a British Colony. In the early 1960 ties there was an uprising by the Kikuyu tribe led by the Mau Mau in a terrorist campaign and in the ensuing violence Britain left Kenya and granted it independence. In 1963 Jomo Kenyatta declared Keyna a Republic and in the ensuing celebrations in Nairobi the people danced in the streets chanting --- Uhuru i.e. Freedom. But this heady declaration died the death. Under British rule the country was prosperous but with independence due to bad government and economic recession the country became one of the poorest in the world In 1969 Keyna became a one party oppressive state and freedom and democracy were abandoned. I quote this case of freedom and democracy in Keyna to illustrate that a chant of ---- uhuru – in the streets doesn’t guarantee freedom and democracy in the state.

Saoirse Freedom

It was an unattainable pipe dream of Republicans in the troubles in the six counties that violence would drive the British Army into the Irish Sea and Loyalists with them. An all- Ireland Republic would be set up and in celebration the Republicans of Belfast would dance in the streets chanting ---- Saoirse--- Saoirse. --.This Republican pipe dream proved to be a delusion. But even if that dream had been a reality a shout of --- Saoirse—in the streets would not have been a guarantee of freedom or democracy in the state.

There is an element in Late Sinn Fein that envisages the future of Ireland to be a Socialist Republic and therefore a one party state as the Socialist Republics in the world are one party states. This is evident in Eire Nua on the lightest of readings and verbiage about freedom in a document is no guarantee of freedom in the state.

Late Sinn Fein still labour under the delusion that for a democracy to a democracy all that is needed is a free vote. For a democracy to be a democracy the state must have a constitution, which is accepted by all, and freedom must be enshrined in the constitution in writing and democratically ratified by the people.

In the constitution proposed for a United Ireland within the U.K.given in the National Government of Ireland Act published in the NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT freedom is enshrined in the constitution and cannot be denied. For Republicans freedom is a shout in the street and nothing more. It is a shout about freeing one green field from bondage by bomb and bullet with a shout of ---Saoirse—and just as a shout of ---Uhuru--- guaranteed nothing in Nairobi so is a shout of---Saoirse—in Belfast equally vacuous.




Freedom in the 21st century



On a modern analysis of freedom in a present day liberal democracy freedom has a dual nature.

(a) Individual freedom.

(b) State freedom.

These are dealt with in The National Government of Ireland Act Article 4. Individual freedom is threefold.

(1) Freedom from
(2) Freedom to become
(3) Freedom to be

Freedom From

While the Republic of Keyna began with a shout of --- uhuru---nowadays in that country individual freedom is non- existent. It has to be understood that the enjoyment of individual freedom depends upon the health of the state economy in which one lives. While many individual “ freedom froms” are listed in The National Government Act c.f. Article 4 such “ freedom froms” as freedom from poverty, want, hunger and disease etc are absent in Keyna. But it has also to be recognised that individual freedom was absent for generations in the 26 counties due to the third world nature of its economy for decades c.f. Angela’s Ashes.

Freedom to Become

Like freedom from, freedom to become depends upon the state of the economy in which one lives. The economy determines the nature of the schooling system and in turn this determines the realization of freedom to become in the state. In Keyna freedom to become is non-existent for the impoverished majority. Freedom to become was also limited for generations in the 26 counties due to the nature of the economy, the 26 counties statelet being the last in the West to introduce a universal secondary tier of education in the state. In the past many young people left the 26 counties and went to England to benefit from the free education there.

Freedom to Be

Freedom to be is the highest form of individual freedom and it in turn is also dependant on the economy. One can aspire to be a plumber but if one cannot find work as a plumber because of a scarcity of work opportunities in the economy then the plumber’s freedom to be is being violated. Freedom to be is limited in Keyna but freedom to be was also limited for decades in the 26 counties due to the third world nature of the economy and there was massive emigration to find work abroad.

This account of individual freedom brings to mind the Marxist dictum: -

“ Art, science, philosophy and politics are the froth on the crest of the economic wave, when the wave breaks the froth will reform and restructure”

Marx did not include freedom in his dictum but he should have. The economic wave has broken in the 26 counties in recent times and freedom has reformed and restructured. But even if wealth levels have increased spectacularly since the 1990ties and because of that individual freedom has blossomed nevertheless there remain pockets of poverty in the state from which the people need to be freed. The blossoming of pockets of poverty from which the people need to be freed. This blossoming of individual freedom ha\s nothing to do with a shout of ----Saoirse--- in 1916 but has all to do
with the south being a member of the E.E.C.by which the economy in the south was kick started.

State Freedom

A rebellious adolescent may take freedom to mean—one should be free to
. do as one pleases. This view of freedom won’t do for the state. Freedom requires a definition. The following is suggested:-

Freedom is the mature exercise of the will in the pursuit of either good or evil with full intent.

Because the person can do evil freedom must be subject to the law. As noted in the article on Federalism, the eminent English philosopher J.S Mill understood freedom to mean that in a liberal democracy one should be free to do as one pleases, provided that in doing so one doesn’t injure, hurt or offend someone else. By implication this means that freedom should be subject to the law.

After the inception of the 26 county statelet freedoms of thought, mind, expression, and speech were suppressed in a state that was priest ridden and under the thumb of the Catholic Church. A catholic Dail Eirteann sat in silence while this suppression was practiced. In truth home rule was Rome rule. Now in the south with a rising tide of wealth, freedom of thought, mind, expression and speech are accepted. The power of the Catholic Church is on the wane due in part to sex scandals. In the National Government of Ireland Act a plethora of freedoms are listed.c.f.Article 4. Freedom is not of one ilk----uhuru---saoirse--- but is of many kinds.

It is hoped this article and others will emphasise the central nature of a constitution in a democracy. It is the conviction of Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein that the Irish
Problem is in essence a dispute about the constitutional nature of the island, should it be a Republic or should it be under the Crown? Freedom is too important to be left to self – appointed zealots of the – uhuru—saoirse--- type freedom but should be written into the state constitution where both individual and state freedoms can be rationally understood and democratically accepted by all.

It is still the conviction of Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein that the problem in the 6 counties can only be resolved constitutionally in a new reformed U.K.constitution which ideally should be as acceptable to the protestants of Kerry as to the catholics of Derry. If such a constitution is not acceptable to the people of the 26 counties then it can become the written constitution of the 6 counties making that state stable and democratic c.f.Article 22 The National Government of Ireland Act. However if the island is ever to be united that will only come about in a U.K.context. That is the only way to a United Ireland and there is no other way.


MICHAEL GILLESPIE FEDERAL UNIONIST – EARLY SINN FEIN

The novel --THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE-- is a fiction derived from the author's composite life experiences. The novel relates Dr Quinn's struggle in a psychiatric clinic to discover his true self and his true identity as an Irishman. In this struggle he creates the NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT as the solution to the Irish problem.The novel is a companion to this series of articles in this Blog and is recommended reading. The novel can be bought in through any bookstore in the U.K./Ireland or from an book agency on the Internet.

Selection at Eleven in Northern Ireland

Now that the constitutional monstrosity the assembly is in place in N. Ireland and has bedded in, as some one who calls himself a Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein, it is my belief that the assembly will eventually shake itself apart due to inherent constitutional contradictions. In the meantime it may be useful to look at an aspect of government in the six counties (N. Ireland) –namely selection at eleven.

I first came across academic selection in an official capacity when I was Belfast President of the Irish National Teacher’s Organization during the Harold Wilson administration and dealing with academic selection at the time was part of my remit as union president. It was my firm belief then as it is now that selection is a sine qua non of education. What remains to be decided is at what age selection should take place and who should do the selecting.

The age of selection at eleven is quite arbitrary. That age was set up following the 1948 Education Act, which looked forward to universal secondary education. At that time compulsory education ended at 14. In the secondary schools that were to come into being, the government decreed that secondary schooling should be at least 3 years so the age set for selection was eleven. So selection at eleven is quite arbitrary, but even so for right wing Union Jack Unionism selection at eleven is sacred and is carved in stone.

The I.N.T.O. at that time campaigned for the abolition of the eleven-plus and for the introduction of comprehensives in the six counties (N. Ireland) but this was defeated by a powerful grammar school lobby. My personal position was that selection at eleven be abolished and that pupils be given the opportunity of selecting themselves and should not be divided into sheep and goats by the state. With that in mind and in the knowledge that selection is a sine qua non of education I backed a system of all ability Primary schooling with transfer to an all ability middle school at the age of eleven with compulsory schooling ending at 16. In this system, selection which I stress is an essential part of education, should take place at 14 the pupils being supported at 14 by careers advice along with an academic profile of each individual pupil, beginning in the primary sector and continuing into the second year of middle schooling. At 14 the school should be streamed into academic and vocational groups. For the first two years of middle schooling the classes should be of mixed ability with class setting being allowed to cater for slow and fast learners, as is the practice in primary schooling. The aim of the middle school should be to turn out a school population that is literate and numerate At 16+ those with an academic bent should move to sixth form colleges. This system of education is similar to the system of education in Craigavon in N.Ireland as of now.

The school curriculum should allow two forms of knowledge---Know that – and Know how. This would in keeping with the revised curriculum at present being muted for schools, the emphasis being on Know How. The distinction between Know That and Know How may be made in this way. For example, I know that a car has four wheels, a steering wheel, seats back and front, that cars are of different colours and that they should be taxed and insured. All of that is--- know that--- about a car and is in a way useless knowledge. What is meaningful is knowing how to drive a car or knowing how to fix a car when it breaks down and that is useful knowledge. Know How has to do with the learning of procedures. A competent driver knows how to proceed along a highway and a competent mechanic knows how to proceed in repairing a car. A 21st century economy requires Know how from its population and know how requires instruction. Traditionally-- Know That-- has been taught in schools but that form of knowledge is only of use in quiz shows. What should be of significance in modern education is learning how to proceed in the academic disciplines or in vocational skills.

It is evident that Right Wing Union Jack Unionism is hell bent on retaining selection at eleven. Be that as it may it is difficult to understand how the right wing in the six counties can reconcile selection by the state with right wing philosophy. It was Margaret Thatcher’s purpose in being Prime Minister to roll back the state. The Right Wing in the six counties should roll back the state out of the lives of children by allowing them to select themselves. The state should be kept out of it. The right wing is inconsistent in this but then they are consistent in being sectarian.

In all of this one must look at education in the inner city and education in the suburbs. When looking at inner city education I have in mind Late Sinn Fein (as distinct from my Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein) Late Sinn Fein having adopted a sectarian stance in relation to the protestant Shankill. I have heard Late Sinn Fein on the T.V. claim that the abolition of the eleven plus and the introduction of comprehensives is the cure all for low academic standards on the Shankill. More recently I heard Ms Ruane repeat this after a N.A.S/U.W.T. conference in Belfast but in singling out the Shankill in a problem that is an Inner City problem, Ms Ruane is being sectarian.

At the time I was President of the I.N.T.O. in Belfast I was also doing research into numeracy in the inner city in Belfast at the Faculty of Education at Q.U.B. The neighbourhoods selected for research were (1) The Shankill ( a protestant inner city enclave) (2) The Lower Falls (a catholic inner city enclave) (3) The Donegall Pass ( a protestant inner city enclave) (4) The Markets.(a catholic inner city enclave) The research looked at Basic Numeracy and Overall Numeracy at the end of Primary schooling.

Basic Numeracy This took as its criteria the ability to do simple addition subtraction, multiplication and division. The research revealed that over one third of the school population couldn’t do these basic operations at the end of primary schooling and were thus innumerate. When the statistics were tested rigorously for significance the performance of pupils in Controlled Schools (protestant) did not differ significantly from the performance of pupils in Maintained Schools (catholic) so the levels of innumeracy among pupils on the Shankill do not differ from the Levels of innumeracy among pupils on the Lower Falls. So why does Late Sinn Fein single out the Shankill when it comes to an Inner City problem in education. Does Ms Ruane and Late Sinn Fein think that innumeracy has something to so with religion and politics?

Overall Numeracy This level of numeracy was established in a wide-ranging test of mathematical knowledge at the end of Primary Education. When tested for significance between Maintained and Controlled Schools it was found that pupils in Controlled Schools out-performed pupils in Maintained Schools. So why does Ms Ruane knock the Shankill by singling it out? But there are swings and roundabouts in all of this. It has also been established in research that pupils in Maintained Schools out-perform pupils in Controlled Schools in verbal ability.

To take a still wider view of education one must look at inner city schools in relation to schools in the leafy suburbs. Had the research indicated been carried out in schools on the Malone it would be expected that pupils on the Malone would out-perform pupils in the Inner City. While this anomaly is true of Belfast it is also true of all cities in Ireland, in Great Britain, in Europe and in America. It was originally thought at the time of Harold Wilson that comprehensives were the corrective to this anomaly but this did not prove to be the case in England and Wales. There is now talk of bog standard comprehensives in England but these tend to be situated in the Inner City. Comprehensives in the suburbs tend to do well academically. The current Labour Government have tried to rectify this by having the state invade the classroom in telling teachers what to teach and how to teach it. It is now thought that this is making matters worse. It could be that the cause of the anomaly is due to the relative values that inner city families and suburban families place on educational attainment.

This is the problem that Ms Ruane will have to tackle in the six counties and there is no simple answer to it. So what is the point of Ms Ruane and Late Sinn Fein in singling out the Shankill for special note? To do that is raw sectarianism.

The Catholic Church has also climbed on the bandwagon of selection. Fr Farren argues that selection is an infringement of the catholic school ethos. Such hypocrisy! When it comes to selection the Catholic Church is a major culprit by insisting that children be taught apart in separate catholic and non-catholic schools. It is high time that integrated schools took over, and the teaching of divisive sectarian denominational religion was replaced with the teaching of unifying Christianity in all schools.


Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist --- Early Sinn Fein

Hearts and Minds

As noted in another article published in this Blog the ex- Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is on record in Dail Eireann in claiming that after the St Andrews agreement the constitution is settled in N. Ireland and is now off the table. That may be the wish of a partitionist but the people of the six counties ( N.Ireland) see the matter differently. Living in the six counties one can observe two heads of state involved, two national flags being flown, two anthems being sung, two passports being travelled on with two conflicting identities. A state thus constituted is unstable and is prone to intercommunal strife and verbal harangue. The evidence of this can be observed in the peace walls, and kerbstones painted red white and blue and green white and orange that disfigure Belfast.

But despite the wishful thinking of Bertie the constitutional issue burns deeply in the six county psyche. Watching Hearts and Minds on television on Thursday 7th February two antagonists were at one another’s throats over the flying of the Union Jack and the display of U.D.R. and R.U.C. plaques in the council offices at Banbridge (N. Ireland). The antagonists were Bob Collins of the Equality Commission and Drew Nelson of the Orange Order. The bone of contention with the Orange Order was that unionism i.e. Right Wing Union Jack Unionism, was being striped of its cultural heritage in the removal of British symbols from the council offices. Bob Collins who has the air of an establishment “do-gooder” about him, claimed he was promoting good community relations in having the symbols removed as they were offensive to a section of the community. And so this old hoary argument over constitutional symbols rumbles on despite Bertie but it should be evident to any impartial observer in all of this that the constitution lies at the heart of the Irish problem and a mere twiddling at the margins of the constitution by establishment “do-gooders” creates more problems than it solves. Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein maintains that the U.K. constitution needs radical reform. It could be that it is the strategy of establishment “do-gooders” to cool the communities into an acceptance of sectarianism and partition as the status quo on the island.

Entering into the dispute, the presenter Noel Thompson quoted a survey in Life and Times about attitudes to flag flying in N. Ireland which found that 60% of the survey in the six counties couldn’t care less what flag is flown. There are of course lies dammed lies and statistics and if Noel genuinely believes this glib statistic he should put it to the test by first walking up the Falls in Belfast, waving a Union Jack and then walk up the Shankill waving a tricolour in the probability that he is 60% safe. When Noel wakes up in hospital with both eyes 100% black he will then fully realize the falsity of his statistic. In all of this one is reminded of John Hume’s father’s advice to his son that one cannot eat a flag. While this an indubitable truth nevertheless a flag is a small but vital part of a constitution in that it symbolizes the collective identity and loyalty of the people of a country, to wit the Stars and Stripes in America and the Tricolour in France, There is the E.U, flag but a European identity and loyalty have still to emerge.

Accepting that as the raison d’etre of a national flag one can look at Noel Thompson’s statistic in another way. If 60% of the people of the six counties couldn’t care less what flag is flown in the six county state what are the implications of that? It is best to examine this with some parallel examples. Suppose it were true that 60%of Americans couldn’t care less whether it is the Stars and Stripes or the Hammer and Sickle that flies on the White House the implications of that for America would be catastrophic. In effect the majority of Americans would be giving the American Constitution the fingers. The same would be true for France if 60% of the French couldn’t care whether the French or German flag is flown on the Elysee Palace. To look at the matter nearer home what if 60% of the people didn’t mind whether the Tricolour or the Union Jack is flown on the G.P. O. in Dublin? In that case the people of the twenty-six counties would be giving the 1937 constitution the fingers. So Noel Thompson’s statistic implies that a majority of the people in the six counties are giving the six county constitution the fingers. This reinforces Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein central thesis that the six county constitution is in an advanced state of decay and is in need of radical root and branch reform. Such reform can only be enacted in a 32 county context, not in a six county context c.f. Article 22 the National Government of Ireland Act.

Those given, flags aren’t sacred and immutable. They are man made and being such can be remade by man. Maud Gonne designed the Irish tricolour with the approval of Arthur Griffiths in the early days of Sinn Fein. Civil service boffins at Whitehall designed the Union Jack and the Cross of St Patrick was invented in 1801. Hoping that Maude isn’t turning in her grave, Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein has given a redesign of the Irish tricolour in a form acceptable to all. The detail of this can be found in Article 9 of the National Government of Ireland Act. Rather than put two constitutional irreconcilables together in Stormont it is preferable and sensible to put the two national flags associated with Ireland together and then synthesise nationalism and unionism in a lengthy Act.

Another contributor to Hearts and Minds made a defence of the Assembly noting that the two party coalition as at Stormont is the norm of Governments in Europe. He took Switzerland as the prime example of a coalition government representing four cantons with four languages. What the contributor didn’t tell the viewer--, did the first minister in the Swiss government, or in any other European government, have a track record of insulting and reviling the sincerely held religious beliefs of a significant section of the electorate or did leading politicians in Switzerland or elsewhere in Europe have a track record of involvement with the gun the bomb and the bullet? Hearts and Minds neglected this.

Leaving Hearts and Minds aside, the constitutional issue glows hot in another facet of Irish life. This is the verbal conflict between the F.A.I. and the I.F.A. over the question should soccer players born in the six county state be eligible to play for the twenty six county state. This again highlights the fact that the constitution is a hot potato for the people. If Bertie Ahern is to be believed and the six county constitution is settled then the six county state is foreign and apart from the twenty-six county state, in that case, by the F.I.FA. ruling that soccer players as players can’t migrate between nation states, then by F.I.F.A, soccer players born in the six county state must play for the six counties. That is the constitutional reality of the Island but that reality remains a bone of contention with the people. However if Articles 2 and 3 of the twenty-six county constitution had not been repealed (a stupid blunder made by a boneheaded Dail Eireann) then in that case the Republic could lay legitimate claim to six county born players. However with the repeal of Articles 2 and 3 the I.F.A. can claim all players born in the six counties and could insist that such players travel on a British passport to foreign football venues. Such a practice would be constitutionally rock solid.

All of this is not an essay of despair. The island is now in a constitutional mess created in past and current times by Republican and Union Jack Unionist zealots. There is only one way, and only one way, out of this mess and this way is pointed out clearly by Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein. What Ireland now needs is a written democratically acceptable U.K. constitution endorsed by an island referendum. For those to whom an unwritten militaristically enforced constitution is unacceptable, such people should mount an organized peaceful opposition to the existing constitution in the six counties and in so doing challenge the Orange Order who flaunt in the face of those who don’t want it, a constitution that has to be enforced by an armed garrison and an armed P.S.N.I. Nor will it do to have establishment “ do–gooders” cool us all into an acceptance of sectarianism and partition. A radical reform of the U.K. constitution is called for in the National Government of Ireland Act leading to a Sovereign Nation of Ireland united within the United Kingdom. That way and only that way lies a United Ireland enshrined in the hearts and minds of the people. The Government of Ireland Act partitioned the Island only the National Government of Ireland can unite the island.

Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist—Early Sinn Fein


Note The National Government of Ireland Act can be found in the novel THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE published by Authorhouse and can be obtained through any bookshop in Ireland or the U.K. or book agency on the Internet.

The Bishop Says No

Listening to Paul Mc Fadden on Radio Ulster on Friday 11th July I was heartened to hear that the Bishop of Derry had refused to sign a petition calling for the disbandment of dissident Republicans namely the Real I.R.A., the Continuity I.R.A. and the Irish Liberation Army.

When it comes to drafting a petition it is useful to know who are the draftees. The community supposedly drafted the petition under consideration but a community cannot draft anything. An individual or group of individuals within a community can only draft a petition and the individuals who drew up this petition seem to be faceless. A number of listeners to Paul Mc Fadden stated, and correctly so, that the prime movers in the drafting of this petition was Provisional Marxist Late Sinn Fein. In this petition Late Sinn Fein is tightening its grip on the Creggan.

The bishop is correct in saying the petition doesn’t go far enough. It is true that the Provisional I.R.A. seem to have said farewell to arms for the moment but the army council remains in existence. The petition should call for all groups to disband, Republican and Loyalist, and vanish into the history books.

But even that doesn’t go far enough. Unrepentant members of terrorists groups and those who have flirted with terrorists groups now rule over us at Stormont. We are now ruled by an unholy alliance of Marxist Republicans and Right Wing Union Jack Unionists. A petition in the six counties should call for the disbandment of the assembly and urge the setting up of an assembly composed of brand new faces that do not carry with them a luggage of mayhem, of murder and the bomb.

But even that doesn’t go far enough. A petition should stretch right back into Irish History condemning Tone and the violence of 98 (98 was riddled with sectarianism) and Pearce and the Catholic sectarian uprising of 1916 (There wasn’t a protestant to be found in the leadership or in the ranks) and The Battle of the Boyne. Beginning with that a petition should call for the disbandment of sectarianism in Ireland.

All of that may be considered a tall order but even so, it is a must for a new future in Ireland. Federal unionism Early Sinn Fein places such a new future in Ireland on offer in its thinking. Its analysis places an unwritten undemocratic U.K. constitution as the cause of Ireland’s current sectarian divisions. The constitution, which remains intact but is imposed in the six counties, is rejected by the overwhelming majority of the people of this island and by a significant minority of the people of the six counties. On the other hand the twenty-six county Republican constitution is rejected by a significant minority of Protestants in Ireland because a Republican constitution wounds the cultural psyche of protestant Ireland which is loyalty to the Crown. For these reasons Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein places the U.K. constitution at the centre of the Irish problem and an unwritten imposed constitution lies at the heart of the sectarian nature of the Irish Problem since 1801.

A written reformed democratic constitution, which can be lived with by all, can only be drawn up in a United Kingdom context. Such a constitution will require the drafting of the National Government of Ireland in the six counties. The main outline of the Act can be found in the novel---THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE--- published by Authorhouse.

So the bishop of Derry has got it right in saying that the petition doesn’t go far enough. The distance to be travelled stretches far back into Irish history. The Patriots in 18th century pressed for the parliament in Dublin to be separate from but co-equal to Westminster under the Crown. Such a stance was constitutionally moderate and if this had been developed with patience Ireland would now be a united sovereign nation in a U.K. context but this moderate position was swept aside by the stupidity of 98. One hundred years or so later Griffiths put forward the idea of a dual monarchy. Had this idea been developed with patience Ireland would nowadays be a united sovereign nation in a U.K. context but this moderate was swept away by the stupidity of 1916.

In the late 20th century a peaceful constitutional reform was called for in the Civil Rights Movement but this was swept away by British and Republican violence. If Captain O Neill had been allowed to introduce modest reforms in N. Ireland and if Ian Paisley had shaken the hand of Sean Lemass as he did with Bertie Ahern in later years there would never have been trouble in the six counties and they would have remained within the U.K.

What we have now is a constitutional monstrosity at Stormont composed of former terrorist, those who have supported terrorism and those who have flirted with terrorists, each adept at manipulating sectarian politics. If the sickness of sectarianism is to be eradicated in the whole of Ireland, this can only be done in the constitutional reforms of the National Government Of Ireland Act

Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein

Solving the Irish Problem peacefully and democratically, using only the force of reason.


The author of this article belongs to no political party or political grouping and is independent of such. T he author is not a politician but is a teacher and writer and as such is interested only in ideas. The author dissents totally from traditional Unionism, traditional Nationalism, and traditional Republicanism seeing all of these as failed entities in Ireland which are well past their use by dates and should now be thrown out and the shelves restocked with new fresh attractive improved political goods. The nature of these new goods is indicated in the previous article to the----The Blog-----THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE-----and is Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein.

The approach made in this article to solving the Irish Problem is the method used by engineers in solving a problem. To solve a problem an engineer first of all draws up a solution on paper and then implements the paper solution on the ground. These articles in—The Blog------ are the solution to the Irish Problem on paper It is the conviction of the author, a conviction sincerely held, that the Irish Problem is solvable in the 21st century in the National Government Of Ireland Act (cf the novel THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE ) and is solvable in no other way. The reader is reminded that the solution to problems using only the force of reason, and not brute force, is the civilized way of doing things

It is noted that Ireland has been a problem for centuries and down the centuries there have been vain attempts to solve the Irish Problem by brute force. There was the attempt made by Elizabethan English armies to solve the problem by brute force. The English armies came and went but the Irish Problem remained. An attempt was made to solve the problem in the plantation of Ulster. Ulster was planted by brute force but the Irish Problem remained but in a worsened state.. A brute force attempt was made to solve the problem in the 1641 rebellion. The rebellion achieved nothing and the Irish Problem remained. King William came to Ireland and victory went to him at the Boyne but even so the Irish Problem remained unsolved. The Penal Laws came and went but they solved nothing. Cromwell came and applied brute force to the problem on a massive scale. Cromwell went and the Irish Problem remained. A brute force attempt to solve the problem was made by the United Irishmen but this brute force attempt worsened the problem. In this debacle in Irish history what has never been evaluated or measured has been the nature of Wolfe Tone’s I,Q. There was a scarcity of intellectual capital among the United Irishmen and this scarcity remains among Republicans to the present day. All that is extant is the 18th century sentimental idea of catholic protestant catholic and dissenter being united in the name of Irishman. Wolfe Tone saw this happening in a Republic but only in a Republic but to unite catholic protestant dissenter in a Republic was as impossible in the time of Tone as it is now, because a Republic wounds the cultural psyche of protestant Ireland that is, loyalty to the Crown. It is the contention of these articles that catholic protestant and dissenter can be united in the name of Irishman in The National Government Of Ireland Act ( cf the novel THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE)within the United Kingdom under the Crown. Republicans have been banging their heads against a brick wall in looking for a United Ireland in a Republic It is the contention of these articles that the Republican ideal can only be realized under the banner of Federal Unionism- Early Sinn Fein.

The United Irishmen and the 98 rebellions were a divisive disaster in Ireland. In the parish I come from, protestants and catholics were buried in the same graveyard, protestants to the left and catholics to the right in the18th century In the parish there was a protestant United Irishman called Caldwell. When this man came to be buried the protestant community wouldn’t allow him to be buried in the protestant side of the graveyard so he had to be buried on the catholic side. So much for unity. The parish was divided along sectarian lines then as it remains to the present day.

But the disaster for the country in 98 lay in the fact that the United Irishmen had no picture in their minds of a governed nation except that there would be no Crown and catholic protestant and dissenter would unite but what the nature of the nation would be and what its constitution would be, acceptable to all, is an historic mystery. The Patriots on the other hand had a concept of nationhood, which gives a picture in the mind of a governed nation, but this was swept aside and trampled underfoot by brute force Republicanism and then airbrushed out of Irish history. But a concept of a nation, which should be acceptable to all, can now be given in the National Government Of Ireland Act (cf the novel THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE ) derived from the thinking of the Patriots who saw a government in Ireland separate from but co-equal to Westminster under the Crown.

Following the United Irishmen there came the tragic 1801 Act of Union in which another brute force attempt was made to solve the Irish Problem by ramming a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist unwritten and undemocratic constitution down the throats of the Irish. Ireland was now ruled by protestant elite, which was anti-Irish, anti-catholic, and oppressive and undemocratic. The Irish Problem worsened.

In 1916 another attempt was made to solve the Irish Problem by Republicans, using once again, brute force. This was an attempt to overthrow the Right Wing Union Jack Unionist Constitution by violence in a Catholic uprising and the uprising was sectarian in nature being catholic. There wasn’t a protestant to be found among the leadership or in the ranks. The uprising ended in failure and solved nothing but the brute force execution of the 1916 leadership by the Right Wing as a salutary warning to the British Empire compounded and worsened the Irish Problem. It is noted that 1916 was sectarian in nature and being also Republican the uprising wounded the cultural psyche of protestant Ireland that is loyalty to the Crown.

Pearce’s Proclamation is much vaunted in Republican circles but in no sense is it a constitution for a new nation. It is in reality a concoction of ideas thrown together to morally justify an armed uprising against the existing Constitution. The Proclamation gives no picture in the mind of the nature and style of the new state as could be found in the concept of the Patriots or as can be put forward in the National Government Of Ireland Act (cf the novel THE WAY IRELAND OOGHT TO BE) by Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein following on from Griffiths. What Pearce had in mind in reality for a new state is anyone’s guess other than the new state should be a Republic in a vague sort of way.

Following on from 1916 there was a further attempt to solve the Irish Problem by brute force in a feud between Michael Collins and the I.R.A., and the Right Wing Union Jack Unionists the Black and Tans. Again this ended in failure and the island was partitioned into two unacceptable statelets a catholic statelet in the 26 counties with a catholic government for a catholic people and into a 6 county statelet with a protestant government for a protestant people.

This outcome was fought over in a brute force civil war, which again solved nothing and contributed nothing to Ireland except that there emerged in Ireland a tweedledum and tweedledee political parties that have no meaning or currency outside the 26 counties and have no currency of any kind in Europe. What emerged in Ireland out of all of this was a sectarian nondescript pseudo-English illiberal statelet in the 26 counties and a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist statlet in the 6 counties which was anti-Irish anti- catholic and oppressive.

In the period under consideration Late Sinn Fein claimed a moral victory and the moral support of the people for the use of brute force in Ireland in the 1918 election. Not everyone in the country shared this rose tinted view of Late Sinn Fein. W.B.Yeats didn’t share this outlook. In ---The Second Coming--- written in early –1919—the poet has a jaundiced view of the –1918 election.

The Second Coming

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.


Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in the sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour comes round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

In this poem Yeats is casting a cold eye on Ireland in January 1919 an Ireland in the aftermath of the 1918 general election. The poem begins with an image of instability and of something being out of control in the image of the falcon and the falconer. Yeats is also conscious of the collapse of the centre in Ireland this collapse of a constitutional centre is looked at in the article-----THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE--- and is traceable back to the 18th century. In this poem Yeats has a vision of a monster emerging in the country and the monster was born in 1921 with a collapse of the centre and the polarization of the country into two constitutional extremes. So not everyone saw Ireland through rose tinted Republican spectacles after 1918.

In the late 1960ties the civil rights came into existence in N. Ireland to challenge the excesses of Right Wing Union Jack Unionism. The C.R.A. was peaceful led by the moderate John Hume but was heavily infiltrated by brute force Republicans. The civil rights movement was put down by brute force Union Jack unionism and from this the Provisional I.R.A.emerged who made an attempt to overthrow the constitution of N. Ireland by force. In this brute force attempt, which ended in failure and in the defeat of Republicanism, the I.R.A., committed crimes against humanity and crimes that are an affront to high heaven. In a brute force attempt to defend the constitution of N. Ireland Right Wing Union Jack Unionism in turn committed crimes against humanity and crimes that are an affront to high heaven. Crimes that are an affront to high heaven are wilful murder.

So far this article contains jottings on attempts to solve the Irish Problem by brute force all of which have ended in failure but there have been a few attempts to solve the problem peacefully and by the force of reason. The first of these was an attempt to solve the problem peacefully and in a reasonable way by the Patriots in the 18th century This grouping pressed for an Irish parliament that was separate from but co-equal to Westminster under the Crown. It is the view of this article that that is the first and best concept of Irish Nationhood but this concept was swept away in the brute force rebellion of 98.

O’ Connell Butt and Parnell made efforts to solve the problem in a reasonable and peaceful way but these efforts were defeated by Right Wing Union Jack Unionism in the 19th century

In the early 20th century Arthur Griffiths made another attempt to come up with peaceful and reasonable solution to the problem. Arthur Griffiths was a monarchist and he saw a solution being affected in the notion of a dual monarchy. It doesn’t seem that Griffiths thought this notion through, but when it is, as it can be in the National Government Of Ireland Act, it leads to a Sovereign Nation Of Ireland in a Federal United Kingdom. Arthur Griffiths concept was swept aside by the brute force Republican---- De Valera and he made Sinn Fein, Republican and violent. This is late Sinn Fein. In doing this De Valera set Sinn Fein on a wrong course in Ireland and this ended with the defeat of violent Republicanism in N. Ireland.

There is now a new approach to the problem in N. Ireland by Republicans in the Belfast Agreement, the St Andrew’s Agreement and the Peace Process. But is this the solution to the Irish Problem? Surely not. Late Sinn Fein in N. Ireland has abandoned all pretext of solving the problem. Instead they are now eager to prop up a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist statelet in the six counties. Late Sinn Fein now accept without protest the presence of a garrison of 5000 English troops et al to impose and ram down the throats of those who don’t accept it---- a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist undemocratic unwritten Constitution That is the function of a garrison of English troops et al in N. Ireland as it was through out the British Empire in its heyday. The English garrison is backed by an armed P.S.N.I. What N. Ireland now needs is a written democratically acceptable U.K.constitution. Federal Unionism-Early Sinn Fein in the National Government Of Ireland Act( cf the novel THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE ) can put this in place. Late Sinn Fein have strained at the bit to set up shop at Stormont and pocket there, a largess of the English bounty In the same way Late Sinn Fein while refusing to recognise the Crown pressed for and have in the past pocketed a largess of English bounty at Westminster. Late Sinn Fein are now the arch hypocrites of current politics and are now lost in the jungle of Irish history and lash around there like a pack of brain damaged gorillas.


It is high time the Irish began to celebrate and glorify sweet reason as the solution to problems. Pearce is associated in the public mind with violence and the blood sacrifice but Pearce was a more complex character than Republican historians make him out to be. In this passage taken from the writings of Pearce he is considering a reasonable peaceful and non-violent approach to the Irish Problem.

“Negotiations with the Orangemen might be opened up on these lines. You are creating a P rovisional Government Of Ulster- make it a Provisional Government Of Ireland and we will recognise it and obey it.*** Hitherto England has governed Ireland through the Orange Lodges: Now she proposes to govern Ireland through the A.O.H. You object; so do we. Why not unite and get rid of the English? They are the real difficulty; their presence here the real incongruity” Irish Freedom 1914

If this overture to Ulster Unionism had been reciprocated it could have been that Pearce would have been satisfied with a government for Ireland under the Crown but in this passage Pearce makes clear what his bottom line was. It was ---English Out. Late Sinn Fein put their feet in it by calling for--- Brits Out--- in N. Ireland and in so doing outraged the Protestant community who see themselves as British. Federal Unionism- Early Sinn Fein, like Pearce in this quotation, envisages an Ireland based on a synthesis of Unionism and Nationalism and these can be synthesised in the National Government Of Ireland Act and for Federal Unionism- Early Sinn Fein the bottom line is Pearce’s bottom line, which is--- English Out. Federal Unionism- Early Sinn Fein should not rest at ease until the last English soldier leaves the six counties.

Late Sinn Fein are at sea and are directionless living as they do in an acceptance of partition and sectarianism. In doing so partition has been copper fastened and sectarianism institutionalised. For as long as these two remain, for so long the Irish Problem remains unsolved. Federal Unionism- Early Sinn Fein is a return to the fundamentals and first principles of Arthur Griffith’s Sinn Fein and to Pearce’s bottom line---- English Out and is a rejection of De Valera’s Late Sinn Fein.

There remains two outstanding issues in the solution to the problem’

(a) The presence of a garrison of English soldiers et al in the six counties.

(b) The presence of a protestant community in Ireland whose long-standing tradition has been, and remains, loyalty to the Crown.

If the National Government Of Ireland Act were in place ideally in the whole of Ireland, or else in N. Ireland, then it would be a constitutional imperative that the English garrison leave Ireland and take the Union Jack with them. In this Pearce’s bottom line would have been met.

The issue of the Crown in Ireland is more complex. To have the Crown as Head of State ideally in an all Ireland context, is historically speaking a tall order but not impossible. In Great Britain the Crown is constitutionally central and neutral and while Britain’s constitution is unwritten and undemocratic nevertheless it carries with it the overwhelming acceptance of the British people. The Crown in Ireland has been a different kettle of fish. With the Act Of Union 1801 the Crown in Ireland was hijacked by Union Jack Unionism and the Crown in Ireland was seen as a protestant Crown for protestants and became associated with right wing oppression.

“Another martyr for old Ireland another murder for the Crown “ Kevin Barry

Against the famine and the Crown I rebelled they cut me down
Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay The Fields of Athenry

This 1801constitutional set up continued in N. Ireland and there the Crown was seen as a protestant Crown for the protestant community and was seen as an oppressive figure by the catholic community, This constitutional anomaly of the Crown in Ireland can be corrected in the National Government of Ireland Act (cf the novel THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE) by defining the Crown as constitutionally central and neutral and by defining the Crown as Christian in Ireland..

But loyalty to the Crown bears further scrutiny. Loyalty is a praiseworthy human attribute be it loyalty to friend family organization institution or country. As a human attribute loyalty should be free to be expressed and not suppressed as loyalty to the Crown would be in a Republic. There is no inconsistency in being loyal to the Crown and in being Irish. Those Irishmen who fell in Flanders bear testimony to that. These Irishmen were the true heroes of Ireland and in their loyalty to the Crown were not diminished as Irishmen in any way and should be held up as models for Irish youth. In contrast to those Irishmen those men who blew up buildings and people in N.Ireland and shot their neighbours in the back and in the head in the pursuit of a perverted political philosophy, these men have besmirched the name of Irishman and in no sense can be thought of as role models for Irish youth. In Ireland the minds of generations of the communities have been poisoned by the twin propagandist lies put around by Right Wing Union Jack Unionism and Republicanism, these lies asserting on the one hand that to be loyal to the Crown one must be protestant, wave a Union Jack, carry a British passport and sing God Save The Queen. The Canadian people are loyal to the Crown and do none of these things. In Ireland on the other hand there is the counter propagandist lie that to be Irish one must be catholic, wave an Irish tricolour, sing a Soldier’s Song and carry a Republican passport but one can be Irish and do none of these. Under the National Government Of Ireland Act Irishness would be given full recognition and full freedom of expression just as loyalty to the Crown would be accorded the same freedoms.

But another fear might linger in the minds of some in the idea of the Crown becoming head of state for an all Ireland. Ireland, it might be feared, would become a neo-colonialist state. Such a fear would be ill founded. In the Act the United Kingdom would be defined as the United Kingdom of the Sovereign Nation of Ireland and Great Britain or vice versa. Also in the Act the parliament in Ireland, following on from the 18th century Patriots, would be defined as being separate from, but co-equal to Westminster under the Crown. In Canada the Crown is Head of State but Canada is not a neo-colonialist state but is a sovereign nation recognised as such by the United Nations. Canada has its own distinctive national identity with its own government its own flag its own passport and an anthem of its own; in the Act all of that could be set down for Ireland.. But Ireland doesn’t have to be an imitation of Canada In the Act there could be designed for Ireland a unique national identity in Ireland being created as ----An Irish Christian Liberal Democracy----. An Irish Nation thus designed in the Act would be unique and distinctive in the U.K., in Europe and in the world. In an Ireland with the Act as its written constitution there could come about a nation fulfilling the wishes and the desires of all of the Irish people and the island could become a land of hearts desire.

There could also be those in Republican circles who might see the Crown as English and foreign. While that might hold among extremists, the ordinary man and woman in the street know differently. Jack Charlton in Ireland was English but was seen by the Irish people as being one of us. The English don’t regard the Irish as foreign. Terry Wogan in England is Irish but is thought of as being one of us. By the same token the Crown in Ireland while being English could be thought of as one of us.

This article outlines the historic nature of the Irish Problem and details the author’s conviction that the problem is solvable in the National Government Of Ireland Act and in no other way. The approach to solving the problem is the approach of an engineer to problem solving. What is contained in these articles to ---The Blog--is the solution on paper. If the paper solution were to be implemented on the ground that would have to be done in N. Ireland under the banner of Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein. The flag of that party is the Royal Flag Of Ireland and is the existing tricolour with the Cross Of St Patrick and a simple crown, harp, and shamrock, imposed on the white central panel This flag should be defined in the Act as the National Flag of Ireland and a symbol of the United Kingdom of the Sovereign Nation Of Ireland and Great Britain The author contends that a deal struck in Belfast and in Scotland between constitutional irreconcilables, Late Sinn Fein and Right Wing Union Jack Unionism is no solution to the Irish problem and will never be The reader is reminded that the solution to problems using only the force of reason is the civilized way of doing things

Federal Unionist- Early Sinn Fein.

Michael Gillespie