Keep Politics and Irish Culture apart.
I got an invite recently from Comhaltas Dhoire to attend a meeting in Culturlann Derry to promote the city as host to Fleadh Cheoil Na hÉireann. While this would benefit the city culturally and economically I was amazed to read that Martin Magennis would be the guest speaker at the meeting and not the Minister for Culture. It’s a principle of mine that politics and culture be kept apart but in Culturlann culture and politics were being brought together. I am not alone in this principle of separation.
Douglas Hyde the founder of Conradh na Gaeilge insisted that culture and politics be kept apart. Despite this the Gaelic League was infiltrated by Republicans. In protest Douglas Hyde resigned as head of Conradh na Gaeilge and his place was taken by the Republican Eoin O Neill. In this way Irish culture became synonymous with Republicanism and so it remains. In keeping with the principle of Douglas Hyde I declined the invite from Comhaltas Dhoire giving my reasons for doing so.
Michael Gillespie Derry
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Ireland Needs a closer Link with the Crown than a one-off Visit
Ireland needs a closer link with the Crown than a one off visit.
It will come as a relief to a partitionist Dail Eireann and a partitionist Dublin that the Royal visit seemingly gives the Royal assent to the border. But the assent will only be partial for as long as there remains no-go areas for her Majesty in the districts of the Falls in Belfast and the Bogside in Derry within the Kingdom. Should the day come when Her Majesty does a walk about in these districts with the people waving Union Jacks and proffering red white and blue posies to the Royal person with the blessing of Martin Magennis and Katrina Anderson while the cathedral choirs of St Peter’s and St Eugene’s chorus-- Rule Britannia-- in the background then partition in Ireland is there for keeps.
That of course is a ridiculous scenario but it isn’t ridiculous to say that the Catholic community in Ireland is brainwashed with Tricolour Republicanism and the Protestant community in Ireland is brainwashed with Union Jack Unionism and as long as that is the case the border will be a bone of contention on the island. When the day comes when both communities are freed from the mental shackles of this sectarianism and thus freed both communities accept a reformed Crown as Head of State of the Sovereign Nation of all Ireland within a Federal Kingdom then and only then will the border be obsolete and the sickness of sectarianism be eradicated from the Island. To achieve this Ireland needs a closer link with the Crown than a one off visit to Dublin.
In having the Republic join the Commonwealth is insufficient and will do nothing to eradicate sectarianism.
Michael Gillespie
It will come as a relief to a partitionist Dail Eireann and a partitionist Dublin that the Royal visit seemingly gives the Royal assent to the border. But the assent will only be partial for as long as there remains no-go areas for her Majesty in the districts of the Falls in Belfast and the Bogside in Derry within the Kingdom. Should the day come when Her Majesty does a walk about in these districts with the people waving Union Jacks and proffering red white and blue posies to the Royal person with the blessing of Martin Magennis and Katrina Anderson while the cathedral choirs of St Peter’s and St Eugene’s chorus-- Rule Britannia-- in the background then partition in Ireland is there for keeps.
That of course is a ridiculous scenario but it isn’t ridiculous to say that the Catholic community in Ireland is brainwashed with Tricolour Republicanism and the Protestant community in Ireland is brainwashed with Union Jack Unionism and as long as that is the case the border will be a bone of contention on the island. When the day comes when both communities are freed from the mental shackles of this sectarianism and thus freed both communities accept a reformed Crown as Head of State of the Sovereign Nation of all Ireland within a Federal Kingdom then and only then will the border be obsolete and the sickness of sectarianism be eradicated from the Island. To achieve this Ireland needs a closer link with the Crown than a one off visit to Dublin.
In having the Republic join the Commonwealth is insufficient and will do nothing to eradicate sectarianism.
Michael Gillespie
Sunday, 6 February 2011
A Partitioned England
A Partitioned England.
DAVID Cameron is right to be concerned that the policy of multiculturalism (live and let live) isn’t working. There are now in G.B. new wave immigrants with a different language, religion, culture, custom and dress, and identity and with their own Sharia Law. David Cameron seems to sense that such a set up is detrimental and if trouble is to be avoided the new wave immigrants will have to be integrated wholly into British society. Already a policy of the new wave immigrant population being apart is in operation in that Islamic laws have been officially adopted in Britain with Sharia courts given powers to rule in Muslim civil courts.
Without being parochial the scale of the immigration problem in G.B. can be paralleled in Ireland. A wave of immigrants came to Ireland in the plantation of Ulster with a different language, religion, culture, customs, dress and identity and with different laws to the Irish Brehon laws. These immigrants lived apart from the native Irish in defiance of all things Irish and were a law unto themselves. (The Normans came to Ireland but integrated with the Irish in marriage and became more Irish than the Irish so they weren’t a problem). Because of the refusal of the Planters to integrate Ireland became an unstable country and ended up partitioned. Just as multiculturalism is failing in G.B. so too the British/Irish biculturalism (live and let live) will fail in N. Ireland. Just as a single identity is needed in G.B. for stability so too a single identity is needed here for stability in Ireland but it must be an identity that is acceptable to all on the island. To find such an identity will require constitutional reform. If a single identity cannot be found in G.B. who knows at some time in the distant future England may end up partitioned.
Michael Gillespie
DAVID Cameron is right to be concerned that the policy of multiculturalism (live and let live) isn’t working. There are now in G.B. new wave immigrants with a different language, religion, culture, custom and dress, and identity and with their own Sharia Law. David Cameron seems to sense that such a set up is detrimental and if trouble is to be avoided the new wave immigrants will have to be integrated wholly into British society. Already a policy of the new wave immigrant population being apart is in operation in that Islamic laws have been officially adopted in Britain with Sharia courts given powers to rule in Muslim civil courts.
Without being parochial the scale of the immigration problem in G.B. can be paralleled in Ireland. A wave of immigrants came to Ireland in the plantation of Ulster with a different language, religion, culture, customs, dress and identity and with different laws to the Irish Brehon laws. These immigrants lived apart from the native Irish in defiance of all things Irish and were a law unto themselves. (The Normans came to Ireland but integrated with the Irish in marriage and became more Irish than the Irish so they weren’t a problem). Because of the refusal of the Planters to integrate Ireland became an unstable country and ended up partitioned. Just as multiculturalism is failing in G.B. so too the British/Irish biculturalism (live and let live) will fail in N. Ireland. Just as a single identity is needed in G.B. for stability so too a single identity is needed here for stability in Ireland but it must be an identity that is acceptable to all on the island. To find such an identity will require constitutional reform. If a single identity cannot be found in G.B. who knows at some time in the distant future England may end up partitioned.
Michael Gillespie
The Irish should take a leaf out of the Australian Constitution
The Irish should take a leaf out of the Australian Constitution.
Australia like Ireland was once a British colony. The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 changed that and gave Australia a measure of independent government. The Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 made Australia a de jure independent nation and the Australia Act 1986 severed the last remaining links between Australia and the United Kingdom with the same person Queen Elisabeth II as the monarch of both nations the monarch treating each nation as separate and apart. In the 21st century Australia is a sovereign nation with its own federal government, its own distinct flag, anthem and passport, its own Australian citizenship and the Australian government is in control of the Australian army, navy and air force and is represented at the U.N. Australia retains the option of becoming a Republic by democratic means. The constitution of Canada is similar to that of Australia.
A Constitution for Ireland similar to the Australian is feasible if the political will can be found to change the U.K. constitution to the Federal Kingdom constitution of the Sovereign Nation of Ireland and Great Britain or vice versa with a reformed elected Crown as Head of State for all Ireland, the Crown treating the sovereign nations of Ireland and Great Britain as separate and apart. The option of a democratically agreed Republic of Ireland can be included in the National Government of Ireland Act. This would be a welcome change from those lunatics who would ram an Irish Republic down the throats of those who reject it, by murder and by blowing the place up.
Michael Gillespie Derry
Australia like Ireland was once a British colony. The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 changed that and gave Australia a measure of independent government. The Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1942 made Australia a de jure independent nation and the Australia Act 1986 severed the last remaining links between Australia and the United Kingdom with the same person Queen Elisabeth II as the monarch of both nations the monarch treating each nation as separate and apart. In the 21st century Australia is a sovereign nation with its own federal government, its own distinct flag, anthem and passport, its own Australian citizenship and the Australian government is in control of the Australian army, navy and air force and is represented at the U.N. Australia retains the option of becoming a Republic by democratic means. The constitution of Canada is similar to that of Australia.
A Constitution for Ireland similar to the Australian is feasible if the political will can be found to change the U.K. constitution to the Federal Kingdom constitution of the Sovereign Nation of Ireland and Great Britain or vice versa with a reformed elected Crown as Head of State for all Ireland, the Crown treating the sovereign nations of Ireland and Great Britain as separate and apart. The option of a democratically agreed Republic of Ireland can be included in the National Government of Ireland Act. This would be a welcome change from those lunatics who would ram an Irish Republic down the throats of those who reject it, by murder and by blowing the place up.
Michael Gillespie Derry
Whither Constitutional Nationalism
Whither Constitutional Nationalism?
Daniel O Connell can be taken as the founder of constitutional nationalism in that he campaigned for the return of a national government to Ireland but under the Crown. O Connell pursued this goal by peaceful means and rejected the Republican violence of ‘ 98.
“ The altar of liberty totters when it is cemented only by blood”
Because of his adherence to the golden link of the Crown with Ireland the Young Irelanders left his party but the Young Irelanders only notable contribution to Ireland is the song – A Nation Once Again--.
The Republican Fenians followed who are remembered for a pathetic violent schemozzle known as The Battle of Widow Mc Cormack’s Cabbage Patch, the Tricolour and the song-- God Save Ireland.
The Fenians culminated in the Republican violence of 1916 which put a Catholic Parliament in the 26 counties and a border on the island
I wrote an article in this vein for the blog Slugger O Toole only to be lambasted by Republicans. Because of this article I was debarred from further contributions to the blog by the editor. I sent him an email asking for a reason for the censorship but got no reply.
An angry member of the SDLP wrote saying that O Connell was now obsolete in Ireland and all members of the SDLP were now Republican. If that is so then the SDLP should shut up shop and go into business with the constitutional Republican extremists Sinn Fein.
But there is still hope for constitutional nationalism in the person of Margaret Ritchie. She takes her seat at Westminster with out complaint an oath of allegiance without protest and has worn a poppy on Remembrance Sunday. Margaret should now go all the way in the spirit of O Connell and in the 21st century press for the reform of a U.K. constitution to a Federal Kingdom constitution expressed in the National Government of Ireland Act making a reformed Crown Head of State in all Ireland. Such an Ireland would be in keeping with the moderate peaceful constitution of O Connell so the SDLP should make that Ireland its raison d’etre
Michael Gillespie Derry
L’Derry
Daniel O Connell can be taken as the founder of constitutional nationalism in that he campaigned for the return of a national government to Ireland but under the Crown. O Connell pursued this goal by peaceful means and rejected the Republican violence of ‘ 98.
“ The altar of liberty totters when it is cemented only by blood”
Because of his adherence to the golden link of the Crown with Ireland the Young Irelanders left his party but the Young Irelanders only notable contribution to Ireland is the song – A Nation Once Again--.
The Republican Fenians followed who are remembered for a pathetic violent schemozzle known as The Battle of Widow Mc Cormack’s Cabbage Patch, the Tricolour and the song-- God Save Ireland.
The Fenians culminated in the Republican violence of 1916 which put a Catholic Parliament in the 26 counties and a border on the island
I wrote an article in this vein for the blog Slugger O Toole only to be lambasted by Republicans. Because of this article I was debarred from further contributions to the blog by the editor. I sent him an email asking for a reason for the censorship but got no reply.
An angry member of the SDLP wrote saying that O Connell was now obsolete in Ireland and all members of the SDLP were now Republican. If that is so then the SDLP should shut up shop and go into business with the constitutional Republican extremists Sinn Fein.
But there is still hope for constitutional nationalism in the person of Margaret Ritchie. She takes her seat at Westminster with out complaint an oath of allegiance without protest and has worn a poppy on Remembrance Sunday. Margaret should now go all the way in the spirit of O Connell and in the 21st century press for the reform of a U.K. constitution to a Federal Kingdom constitution expressed in the National Government of Ireland Act making a reformed Crown Head of State in all Ireland. Such an Ireland would be in keeping with the moderate peaceful constitution of O Connell so the SDLP should make that Ireland its raison d’etre
Michael Gillespie Derry
L’Derry
Monday, 25 October 2010
Hi TOMMY
Hi Tommy, thanks for your interesting reply.
You ask whether or not I support the concept of children from different religions growing up together in shared educational institutions. It is clear in my previous article to Listenderry that the worthwhile ideal of an integrated education isn’t new in Ireland and the stated purpose of integrated education in the 1832 Education Bill was that catholic and protestant children be educated together so that they will form friendships that will last throughout life. This cannot be faulted and was intended to eradicate sectarianism in Ireland which was as prevalent in Ireland in 1832 as it is today.
A heavy weight of history has intervened and sectarianism in Ireland won the day. Protestant Ulster violently opposed the 1832 Bill and established the principle that the individual be educated according to personal conscience in state schools. This principle is the foundation of faith schools in the U.K. and was put into Canon Law by Cardinal Cullen after the Irish famine. Are the integrationists in N. Ireland now saying that the individual should not be educated according to conscience in a state school? Surely not!
Nowadays the adherents of integrated education see it as a cure-all of the sectarian sickness that infects N. Ireland/Ireland but this theory could be flawed. Integrated education didn’t cure sectarianism in 19th century Ireland nor will it eradicate sectarianism in 21st century Ireland. The flaw in this theory is that it places too much emphasis on the importance of schooling in the formation of character out look and attitude of the individual. In the formation of these educationalists give weightings of 60 to the home, 30 to the community and 10 to schooling so if the sickness of sectarianism is to be eradicated in N. Ireland/Ireland one should look first at the primary educators, the home and community. To change outlook and attitude which are forged mainly in the home and community will require governmental intervention. The Government of Ireland Act condoned and enshrined sectarian division in Ireland and David Cameron still does. Just as government can change outlook and attitude to smoking through legislation it will take government legislation to change out look and attitude to sectarianism in this country. Integrated education will prove to be a weak blunt tool to achieve this. What is needed now from Westminster is The National Government of Ireland Act
It is my thesis that what divides the people of Derry and creates sectarian discord is the constitution. In Protestant Derry Queen Elisabeth is welcome but in Catholic Derry it is President Mc Aleese. The Union Jack is flown in Protestant Derry while the Irish Tricolour is flown by Catholics. In the city ---God Save the Queen –is the national anthem of Protestants but Amhran Na bhFiain is the national anthem of Catholics. Generally Catholics travel on an Irish Passport but Protestants on a British one The Protestant loyalist Union Jack waving Apprentice Boys parade the streets eyed by a resentful contingent of Nationalist / Republican Tricolour supporters from the Catholic community. For as long as that constitutional set-up continues for that long will there be violence and sectarian discord in Derry and N. Ireland. in this sectarian constitutional set-up integrated schooling will not help as the constitutional root cause of sectarianism begins in the home and is reinforced by the adult community. To claim that sectarianism can be eradicated by engineering innocent children at school is a cowardly abdication by the adult population of their moral duty to resolve sectarianism in this, our own adult generation.
Changing the mindset of the people in Ireland requires action from Westminster by drawing up a written constitution for all Ireland expressed in The National Government of Ireland Act in a Federal Kingdom Context, the written constitution being made as acceptable to the Catholics of Kerry as to the Protestants of Derry. A full in-depth account of this can be found in the trilogy: -
(a) The Way Ireland Ought To Be ISBN 978-1-4295-5013-2
(b) The Rape of Virgin Munchindun ISBN 978-1-4490-4383-4
© Size Matters ISBN 978-1-4520-6860-2
These are available from Amazon, from the publisher Authorhouse or through any bookstore
Michael Gillespie Derry/Londonderry
You ask whether or not I support the concept of children from different religions growing up together in shared educational institutions. It is clear in my previous article to Listenderry that the worthwhile ideal of an integrated education isn’t new in Ireland and the stated purpose of integrated education in the 1832 Education Bill was that catholic and protestant children be educated together so that they will form friendships that will last throughout life. This cannot be faulted and was intended to eradicate sectarianism in Ireland which was as prevalent in Ireland in 1832 as it is today.
A heavy weight of history has intervened and sectarianism in Ireland won the day. Protestant Ulster violently opposed the 1832 Bill and established the principle that the individual be educated according to personal conscience in state schools. This principle is the foundation of faith schools in the U.K. and was put into Canon Law by Cardinal Cullen after the Irish famine. Are the integrationists in N. Ireland now saying that the individual should not be educated according to conscience in a state school? Surely not!
Nowadays the adherents of integrated education see it as a cure-all of the sectarian sickness that infects N. Ireland/Ireland but this theory could be flawed. Integrated education didn’t cure sectarianism in 19th century Ireland nor will it eradicate sectarianism in 21st century Ireland. The flaw in this theory is that it places too much emphasis on the importance of schooling in the formation of character out look and attitude of the individual. In the formation of these educationalists give weightings of 60 to the home, 30 to the community and 10 to schooling so if the sickness of sectarianism is to be eradicated in N. Ireland/Ireland one should look first at the primary educators, the home and community. To change outlook and attitude which are forged mainly in the home and community will require governmental intervention. The Government of Ireland Act condoned and enshrined sectarian division in Ireland and David Cameron still does. Just as government can change outlook and attitude to smoking through legislation it will take government legislation to change out look and attitude to sectarianism in this country. Integrated education will prove to be a weak blunt tool to achieve this. What is needed now from Westminster is The National Government of Ireland Act
It is my thesis that what divides the people of Derry and creates sectarian discord is the constitution. In Protestant Derry Queen Elisabeth is welcome but in Catholic Derry it is President Mc Aleese. The Union Jack is flown in Protestant Derry while the Irish Tricolour is flown by Catholics. In the city ---God Save the Queen –is the national anthem of Protestants but Amhran Na bhFiain is the national anthem of Catholics. Generally Catholics travel on an Irish Passport but Protestants on a British one The Protestant loyalist Union Jack waving Apprentice Boys parade the streets eyed by a resentful contingent of Nationalist / Republican Tricolour supporters from the Catholic community. For as long as that constitutional set-up continues for that long will there be violence and sectarian discord in Derry and N. Ireland. in this sectarian constitutional set-up integrated schooling will not help as the constitutional root cause of sectarianism begins in the home and is reinforced by the adult community. To claim that sectarianism can be eradicated by engineering innocent children at school is a cowardly abdication by the adult population of their moral duty to resolve sectarianism in this, our own adult generation.
Changing the mindset of the people in Ireland requires action from Westminster by drawing up a written constitution for all Ireland expressed in The National Government of Ireland Act in a Federal Kingdom Context, the written constitution being made as acceptable to the Catholics of Kerry as to the Protestants of Derry. A full in-depth account of this can be found in the trilogy: -
(a) The Way Ireland Ought To Be ISBN 978-1-4295-5013-2
(b) The Rape of Virgin Munchindun ISBN 978-1-4490-4383-4
© Size Matters ISBN 978-1-4520-6860-2
These are available from Amazon, from the publisher Authorhouse or through any bookstore
Michael Gillespie Derry/Londonderry
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Integrate N. Ireland from the Top Down
Integrate the People from the Top Down Not from the Bottom Up.
IN his call for integrated education Mr Robinson has found another stick to beat the Catholic community with.
Integration isn’t new in Ireland and is fine in principle. In 1832 a liberal government at Westminster introduced a bill for the purpose of educating Catholic and Protestant children together so that “they form friendships that would last throughout life” This laudable ideal was violently opposed by the Protestant community in Ulster who objected to their children being brought into contact with Roman Priests. The Catholic bishops of the time backed the integrated ideal but in the Protestant defeat of the ideal the principle was established in British education that the individual can be educated according to personal conscience, apart in a state school. This principle still stands and after the Famine this principle, established by Protestant Ulster, was put into Canon Law by Cardinal Cullen.
Mt Robinson claims it would be ludicrous if Protestants and Catholics were educated in different universities. He has never heard of Maynooth and seems oblivious to the historic fact that U.C.D. was set up as a Catholic university when Catholics were denied access to the then Protestant Trinity. It is also true that until relatively recent times Catholics were denied access to the then Protestant Oxford. There are Catholic universities in America and on the continent so Mr Robinson is talking through his hat.
Why not integrate the people of N.Ireland from the top down by having an integrated Orange Order which accepts Catholics into its ranks? Mr Robinson should call for the abolition of divisive religion in schools to be replaced by unifying Christian ecumenism. He should also devise a politics which is acceptable to all on this Island and abandon a politics for protestant unionists and rid Ireland of sectarianism. He should rid N. Ireland of sectarian ghettoes. Perhaps if the full story were known maybe Mr Robinson sees in integrated education a mechanism whereby a future Catholic population will be converted to unionism and the border copper-fastened.
Derry/Londonderry
IN his call for integrated education Mr Robinson has found another stick to beat the Catholic community with.
Integration isn’t new in Ireland and is fine in principle. In 1832 a liberal government at Westminster introduced a bill for the purpose of educating Catholic and Protestant children together so that “they form friendships that would last throughout life” This laudable ideal was violently opposed by the Protestant community in Ulster who objected to their children being brought into contact with Roman Priests. The Catholic bishops of the time backed the integrated ideal but in the Protestant defeat of the ideal the principle was established in British education that the individual can be educated according to personal conscience, apart in a state school. This principle still stands and after the Famine this principle, established by Protestant Ulster, was put into Canon Law by Cardinal Cullen.
Mt Robinson claims it would be ludicrous if Protestants and Catholics were educated in different universities. He has never heard of Maynooth and seems oblivious to the historic fact that U.C.D. was set up as a Catholic university when Catholics were denied access to the then Protestant Trinity. It is also true that until relatively recent times Catholics were denied access to the then Protestant Oxford. There are Catholic universities in America and on the continent so Mr Robinson is talking through his hat.
Why not integrate the people of N.Ireland from the top down by having an integrated Orange Order which accepts Catholics into its ranks? Mr Robinson should call for the abolition of divisive religion in schools to be replaced by unifying Christian ecumenism. He should also devise a politics which is acceptable to all on this Island and abandon a politics for protestant unionists and rid Ireland of sectarianism. He should rid N. Ireland of sectarian ghettoes. Perhaps if the full story were known maybe Mr Robinson sees in integrated education a mechanism whereby a future Catholic population will be converted to unionism and the border copper-fastened.
Derry/Londonderry
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