Are the Six Counties a Nation?

Are the six counties / N. Ireland a nation?

According to current unionist political dogma the U.K. is made up of four nations, England, Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland. But does the dogma that N. Ireland is a nation stand-up to secularist scrutiny. This dogma is passionately held in some quarters but passionately disputed in others. A secular defence can be made for England, ~Scotland and Wales being nations even if Scotland seems to be taking the path to Independence. A secularist may ask what does independence mean for the Scots and in what form will it take. Will the form be a Republic of Scotland?

A secularist disavows dogma especially political dogma but sees reason logic and observation as the basis of political analysis and discussion. For a secularist, nationhood has nothing to do with ethnicity, genes, religion, skin colour, language o r territory but is bound up with the constitution of the place which the people adhere to. What makes Germany, France, Spain Italy and the U.S.A. et al nations, is that these places have a constitution accepted by the overwhelming mass of the people. For Europe to become a nation will require a European constitution. This has been attempted democratically but the constitution was democratically defeated. Currently the Lisbon Treaty is being smuggled in by an undemocratic back door.

For a secularist who relies on reason logic and observation a case for N. Ireland being a nation cannot be made. It has an unwritten imposed undemocratic constitution, which doesn’t enjoy the overwhelming support of the people of the place. It is observable in post civil rights N. Ireland that there are two heads of state involved, two national flags been flown, two national anthems being sung with two national passports being travelled on while in Derry and Belfast the two communities sulk behind peace walls with kerbs painted red white and blue on the one hand and green white and orange on the other. So the six county/ N. Ireland place is not a nation as on observation the people are in deep disagreement over the constitution.

But if N. Ireland as a nation falls down on observation does it stand up in logic? It is fashionable by some in the six counties to call themselves Northern Irish. Since I live in Derry I could call myself Northern Irish but if I do what does that make the people of Inisowen and Malin Town? Are they not Northern Irish as well? So the constitutional name of the six counties-- Northern Ireland--- doesn’t stand up in logic thus for a secularist the constitutional name of the six counties has to be rejected. In logic the six counties can only be called the six counties So N. Ireland isn’t a nation either in observation or in logic. The only conclusion a secularist can arrive at is that U.K. constitution is unreasonable in Ireland in that it is imposed militarily on a part of the island against the majority wishes of the entire island inhabitants and against the wishes of a significant sector of the population in that part of the island in which U.K. constitution is militarily imposed. For a secularist the constitutional set up here is unreasonable, illogical and is rejected on the grounds of observation but on top of all that U.K. constitution has been discredited when dogma-driven Right Wing Union Jack Unionism set up shop with dogma-driven Republican terrorists of Neo-Marxist Late Sinn Fein.

At this juncture this analysis might sound like a gift to dogma-driven Republican terrorists. This is not so. Secularists recognise Loyalty to the Crown as reasonable, logical and observable. Loyalty is a praiseworthy laudable human attribute be it loyalty to Crown, country, church, organization, or friend. Because of this loyalty is acceptable as logical and reasonable. Loyalty to the Crown is also observable as a reality in Ireland. It can be seen when expressed on the streets of the six counties; thus loyalty to the Crown should be seen being freely expressed in Ireland (in all of it not a bit of it) and should not be repressed and trampled underfoot as it would be in a Republic. So a secularist is loyalist and Crown friendly. What this analysis points to irrefutably is the need of U.K. Constitutional reform in relation to Ireland. . Secular Federal; Unionism –Early Sinn Fein sees this as achievable in the National Government of Ireland Act which will define a new relationship between Ireland and Great Britain as the Federal Kingdom of the Sovereign Nation of Ireland Great Britain or vice versa.

If the version of THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT given in the novel THE WAY IRELASND OUGHT TO BE published by Authorhouse, is looked at it will be found in Article 22 Page 266 of the novel that the people of this island should be given the opportunity of voting in a referendum to decide on the future of Ireland either as: -

(a) A Sovereign Nation of Ireland within a Federal Kingdom.
Or
(b) A Republic of Ireland with the 1937 constitution.

The votes in the 6 and 26 counties should be counted separately. If a significant majority in both territories vote for a Sovereign Nation then the island is united as a Sovereign Nation within a Federal Kingdom If a significant majority vote for a Republic in both territories then the island is united as a Republic. If a significant majority in the 6 counties vote for a Sovereign Nation and a significant majority in the 26 counties vote for a Republic then the island will remain partitioned. In that case Westminster should pass a bill defining the Federal Kingdom as the Federal Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland whose written constitution is the NATIONAL GOVERNMENT OF IRELAND ACT That is the closest the six counties can be brought to as a nation constitutionally.


Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist-Early Sinn Fein