Change

To find true peace the Irish will have to change.

Sinn Fein is now considering having the franchise extended to N. Ireland for the election of a Republican President. The party should first take on board the constitutional realities of Ireland. With the GFA which Sinn Fein signed up to, Ireland is divided into two statelets the one foreign to the other. In light of that the proposal for a form of joint sovereignty for Ireland is as nonsensical as proposing a joint sovereignty for the Iberian Peninsula with a joint Portuguese Republican president and a Spanish monarch. Had articles 2 and 3 of the Republic’s constitution not been withdrawn a rational case could have been made for joint sovereignty and the extension of the franchise for the election of a Republican President to N Ireland but since the crafty British aided by woolly headed politicians in Dublin had the articles removed the two statelets in Ireland are now clearly foreign to each other. This constitutional mess has been created by Tricolour Republicans and Union Jack Unionists.

To clear up the mess will require new thought and an acceptance that the traditional conservative thinking in both communities will have to change. It is said that the Irish are a very conservative people but to have change both communities will have to become receptive to new ideas and be open minded. Tricolour Republicanism and Union Jack Unionism will have to accept the necessity for the change of U.K. constitution to a Federal Kingdom constitution giving a new constitution for An Éire Nua peopled by Na Gaeil Nua who accept the Crown as Head of State. Clinging to traditional conservative thought on both sides leads only to intercommunal conflict and sectarian division.

Michael Gillespie