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
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
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
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
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Here's to you Mrs Robinson
Here’s to you Mrs Robinson
Irene Robinson, the wife of the first minister in the six counties, is on record as saying the state should enact God’s Law. She made this comment in a debate about abortion. From utterances such as these Mrs Robinson comes across as a political extremist so far to the extreme right that if she moves one step further in that direction she will fall off planet earth.
Mrs Robinson doesn’t seem to realise that the political norm nowadays is secularism. To keep the matter clear and free from a personal viewpoint I have taken the following definition of secularism from the Internet.
Secularism in its current usage is usually defined in two ways: -
(1) Secularism in one sense asserts freedom of religion and freedom from government imposition of religion upon a people within a state. The state should be neutral on matters of belief and give no state privileges or subsidies to religion.
(2) Secularism in another sense refers to a belief that human activities and decisions, especially political ones, should be based on what is considered to be evidence and fact rather than on religious influence dealing with religious based dogma and absolute truth or Devine law.
(3) Secular law is based upon reasonableness, which was developed during the age of enlightenment. Secularists believe that all activities falling outside the private sphere, should be secular not religious.
When this definition is examined closely it will be found that the state may not impose religious belief upon a people. The state should be neutral on matters of religious belief. Secularism in the sense given is now the mainstay of modern democracies throughout the world but this has still to sink into the backwaters of the six counties especially in the D.U.P.
The debate in which Mrs Robinson made the outburst was about abortion. Does this mean then that an acceptance of abortion goes hand and glove with secularism? It is true that most Christian Churches oppose abortion as immoral and criminal but is abortion on demand and for social expediency acceptable in principle to all secularists? Secularists hold that state laws should be derived from reason and be based on evidence and fact. While an unwanted pregnancy is clearly a human problem reason can say that legal abortion, as a solution to a human problem, is inhumane. The facts and evidence of the act of abortion indicates clearly that the act of abortion is neither good for the mother or for the life form in the womb. If secularism is consistent on abortion it should hold that in a secular state the only acceptable solutions to human problems are humane solutions and should set about the task of finding and implanting humane solution for human problems. Reason evidence and fact point in that direction.
So while secularists can support Mrs Robinson’s opposition to abortion, God’s Law on the matter won’t do. Christians hold that God’s Law is based upon the Ten Commandments but such laws should only inform private conscience, private behaviour, and the private lives of Christians and cannot be imposed on non-Christians and non-believers in the state. Lets bring the 21st century into the six counties and in so doing say – Here’s to you Mrs Robinson: welcome to secularism and the 21st century.
Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein
Irene Robinson, the wife of the first minister in the six counties, is on record as saying the state should enact God’s Law. She made this comment in a debate about abortion. From utterances such as these Mrs Robinson comes across as a political extremist so far to the extreme right that if she moves one step further in that direction she will fall off planet earth.
Mrs Robinson doesn’t seem to realise that the political norm nowadays is secularism. To keep the matter clear and free from a personal viewpoint I have taken the following definition of secularism from the Internet.
Secularism in its current usage is usually defined in two ways: -
(1) Secularism in one sense asserts freedom of religion and freedom from government imposition of religion upon a people within a state. The state should be neutral on matters of belief and give no state privileges or subsidies to religion.
(2) Secularism in another sense refers to a belief that human activities and decisions, especially political ones, should be based on what is considered to be evidence and fact rather than on religious influence dealing with religious based dogma and absolute truth or Devine law.
(3) Secular law is based upon reasonableness, which was developed during the age of enlightenment. Secularists believe that all activities falling outside the private sphere, should be secular not religious.
When this definition is examined closely it will be found that the state may not impose religious belief upon a people. The state should be neutral on matters of religious belief. Secularism in the sense given is now the mainstay of modern democracies throughout the world but this has still to sink into the backwaters of the six counties especially in the D.U.P.
The debate in which Mrs Robinson made the outburst was about abortion. Does this mean then that an acceptance of abortion goes hand and glove with secularism? It is true that most Christian Churches oppose abortion as immoral and criminal but is abortion on demand and for social expediency acceptable in principle to all secularists? Secularists hold that state laws should be derived from reason and be based on evidence and fact. While an unwanted pregnancy is clearly a human problem reason can say that legal abortion, as a solution to a human problem, is inhumane. The facts and evidence of the act of abortion indicates clearly that the act of abortion is neither good for the mother or for the life form in the womb. If secularism is consistent on abortion it should hold that in a secular state the only acceptable solutions to human problems are humane solutions and should set about the task of finding and implanting humane solution for human problems. Reason evidence and fact point in that direction.
So while secularists can support Mrs Robinson’s opposition to abortion, God’s Law on the matter won’t do. Christians hold that God’s Law is based upon the Ten Commandments but such laws should only inform private conscience, private behaviour, and the private lives of Christians and cannot be imposed on non-Christians and non-believers in the state. Lets bring the 21st century into the six counties and in so doing say – Here’s to you Mrs Robinson: welcome to secularism and the 21st century.
Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein
The Way Ireland Ought To Be
THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE.
It is beyond dispute that there is a problem in the six counties but something smells. What the exact nature of the decay is, is hard to detect but something smells. I t is the thesis of this article that the problem is due to the unwritten nature of N. Ireland’s constitution which is now in an advanced state of decay.
It is widely held here since the people have the vote N Ireland is a democracy. To hold that is insufficient. For a state to be a democracy in the true sense the state must also have a constitution, preferably written, which has the overwhelming support of the people. The EU is not a democracy despite the vote because it does have a constitution which is accepted by all. This is true of Iraq and it could be when a constitution is agreed, Iraq could be a theocracy not a democracy.
If one looks around in N.Ireland one can observe the nature of the constitutional problem. There are two heads of state involved, two flags being flown, two anthems being sung, and two passports being held with two conflicting identities and two governments involved. Ian Paisley and his followers see the state as our home and our country, ----- the grandest wee country in the world----- Gerry Adams and his followers see the state as despicable, a statelet to be got rid of. A state thus constituted will be unstable, prone to street violence, and is ungovernable. In its un written British constitution that will remain the plight of N. Ireland
Since British constitution is imposed by military means and is maintained by one section of the population in public posturing----the waving of flags, marching, sloganizing (This we will maintain, Ulster is British), in this posturing to maintain an unwritten constitution intercommunal strife and street violence is the outcome. The maintenance of an unwritten constitution in this way is kicked against by an opposing Republican mass.
As noted, unwritten British constitution is imposed military, not democratically. The recent campaign of violence by the IRA was an attempt to overthrow the constitution by counter military means. This attempt has failed miserably and is now hopefully over It has been replaced by the so called politics of Late Sinn Fein which now promotes the idea that British constitution can be disposed of by political stealth, subterfuge and deals. In the meantime Late Sinn is willing to enter into an unholy coalition with Right Wing Union Jack Unionism, carve up power into sectarian blocks at Stormont and in so doing prop up a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist state with an undemocratic unwritten British constitution.
It is the contention of this article that British Constitution can and should be replaced by a written democratic United Kingdom Ccnstitution which is acceptable to all, .which is maintained rationally and is interpreted by the use of intelligence not on the streets. If N Ireland had such a constitution devoid of public posturing, street violence should wither away.
The question remains how is this to be done? It is the contention of this article, a written constitution for N, Ireland can be found in-----The National Government of Ireland Act., a written constitution which should be acceptable to all. This Act would have to be initiated in N Ireland, but it would have to be drawn up on an All Ireland basis.
In doing this what is missing in the state is the absence of a constitutional centre in N Ireland There is a centre but it is fragmented and is in decline, .The state in N Ireland is now polarized between two constitutional extremes, namely the violent Republicanism of Late Sinn Fein and the violence of Right Wing Union Jack Unionism. There is nothing new in this. It is traceable far back.in Irish history.
This constitution polarization can be observed, firstly, in 18th century Ireland. At that time there was a Parliament in Ireland which was constitutionally moderate and central. The moderate Patriots pressed for the Irish Parliament to be separate from, but co-equal to Westminster under the Crown. This is the first and best concept of Irish nationhood, If this moderate concept had been worked down the generations Ireland would be a Sovereign Nation under the Crown---- a nation like Canada. That was not to be. The constitutional extremists the Republican United Irishmen attempted to overthrow the constitution by violence. This abortive uprising was opposed and defeated by the Right Wing------the protestant yeomanry. In this period of obscene violence the moderate Patriots were swept aside trampled underfoot and lost in history. In this way the constitutional moderate centre was lost in Ireland in the late18th century,
In reaction to this violent uprising by extremists--- the United Irishmen---the moderate Parliament of the Patriots was done away with by the use of political chicanery and a right wing British Constitution imposed in 1801 without reference to the democratic feelings of the Irish people. Ireland was then under the control of a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist protestant elite which was ante-Irish ante-Catholic and oppressive.
In this set up a moderate centre emerged in the persons of Butt and Parnell in Home Rule. It is the view of this article both of these men would have been happy with a government for Ireland under the Crown. That was not to be. Home Rule was frustrated and put down by Right Wing Union Jack Unionism. Again the constitutional centre was lost.
In the 20th century a moderate centre emerged in the person of Griffiths and Early Sinn Fein. In his idea of a dual monarchy Griffiths was toying with the idea of a federal UK. However this moderate central constitutional stance was swept aside and trampled underfoot by the violent catholic sectarian uprising of 1916 . This was an attempt to overthrow the constitution and set up a Republic. In the 1917 Ard Fheis Griffith was ousted from the leadership of Sinn Fein and replaced by the Republician extremist--- De Valera. That is violent Late Sinn Fein. In the ensuing bruhaha in Ireland the island was partitioned into a 26 county statelet with a catholic parliament for a catholic people in Dublin and a 6 county statelet with protestant parliament for a protestant people in Belfast. Thus in Sinn Fein history there are two Sinn Feins, one Early, the other Late. Early Sinn Fein is peaceful and democratic and is constitutionally moderate and central. Late Sinn Fein is violent, undemocratic and constitutionally extreme. This distinction is central to this article.
In the 70ties Conor Cruise O Brien came to the fore with his theory of the two nations. This article accepts that there are two possible nations for Ireland but Right Wing Union Jack Unionism is not one of them. That unionism and that Ireland has passed its sell by date and should be replaced by a new reformed unionism with a written UK constitution. The two possible nations for Ireland are best seen in the two Sinn Feins Early and Late. One Ireland, the Ireland of Early Sinn Fein and of the Patriots could be a Sovereign Nation of Ireland under the Crown. The other Ireland is a Republic of Ireland whose origins are steeped in violence and blood and brutality. Such an Ireland wounds the cultural psyche of protestant Ireland.
I n the north there is at the moment a kind of coalition between the extreme wings of the constitution, namely--- Late Sinn Fein and Right Wing Union Jack Unionism--- in joint rule. Such a coalition is a constitutional absurdity and is doomed to failure. Such an idea is as absurd as the idea of forming a coalition at Westminster between the National Front and the extreme Republican wing of the Labour Party. Such an idea would be seen as a joke by the people of Great Britain , yet a similar idea has been pressed forward by the British and Irish governments for N. Ireland
If a government at Stormont is to be formed whose aim is to draw up a written constitution for N. Ireland in the National Government of Ireland Act. – a coalition of the centre would have to be formed , composed of the UUP, SDLP, and Alliance. Such a coalition is not an absurdity but should be feasible possible and doable. However such a central coalition would have to take as its banner --- Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein. It is the function of a constitutional centre in a democracy to oppose and defeat constitutional extremists, not to talk to them.
The Act should define the United Kingdom, as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Sovereign Nation of Ireland. That should be the basis of the Act but the Act would require much, much more than that.
With the Act drawn up at Stormont, after discussion with interested parties, a referendum on the Act should be held throughout the whole island giving the people two options: -
Do you wish Ireland to be: -
(a) A Sovereign Nation within the UK under the Crown with the National Government of Ireland Act as its constitution?
(b) A Republic with the 1937 constitution as its constitution?
The Act should specify that the referendum be counted separately in the 26 and 6 counties.
This will give rise to three outcomes: -
(1) If option (a) carries a significant majority in both territories then Ireland is united as a Sovereign Nation within the UK under the Crown.
(2) If option (b) carries a significant majority in both territories then Ireland is united as a Republic.
(3) If option (a) carries a significant majority in the 6 counties and option (b) carries a significant majority in the 26 counties then the island remains partitioned.
In the case of (3) the written constitution for N. Ireland would be the National Government of Ireland Act. And would give N. Ireland: -
One Head of State, the Crown.
One flag, a redesign of the Irish tricolour. The redesign of the Irish tricolour is given in this blog This new flag would be defined in the Act as the national flag of Ireland and a symbol of the UK in Ireland.. ( This would be a detail in the Act. The Act would require much, much more than this. ) A full text of the Act is given in the novel---THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE---.
One anthem----- neither God Save The Queen nor A Soldier’s Song
One government, elected by the people
One passport with an Irish identity which recognises the Crown as Head of State.
N, Ireland thus constituted with a written constitution, should be stable peaceful and governable.
In conclusion the old constitutional dispute about the way Ireland ought to be, should the island be under the Crown or a Republic, can and should be settled for good in the 21st century It is the thrust of this article that Irish unity can only be found in a UK context. It is the thrust of this article that Republicanism in Ireland has been sectarian dividing not uniting the communities and has brought untold, unnecessary suffering to Ireland. It is said 1916 changed the course of Irish history. It did but the change was for the worse not for the better. It is the thrust of this article the whole island should be under the Crown, not a bit of it but all of it. That way and only that way lies a united Ireland.
FEDERAL UNIONIST EARLY SINN FEIN
Michael Gillespie
It is beyond dispute that there is a problem in the six counties but something smells. What the exact nature of the decay is, is hard to detect but something smells. I t is the thesis of this article that the problem is due to the unwritten nature of N. Ireland’s constitution which is now in an advanced state of decay.
It is widely held here since the people have the vote N Ireland is a democracy. To hold that is insufficient. For a state to be a democracy in the true sense the state must also have a constitution, preferably written, which has the overwhelming support of the people. The EU is not a democracy despite the vote because it does have a constitution which is accepted by all. This is true of Iraq and it could be when a constitution is agreed, Iraq could be a theocracy not a democracy.
If one looks around in N.Ireland one can observe the nature of the constitutional problem. There are two heads of state involved, two flags being flown, two anthems being sung, and two passports being held with two conflicting identities and two governments involved. Ian Paisley and his followers see the state as our home and our country, ----- the grandest wee country in the world----- Gerry Adams and his followers see the state as despicable, a statelet to be got rid of. A state thus constituted will be unstable, prone to street violence, and is ungovernable. In its un written British constitution that will remain the plight of N. Ireland
Since British constitution is imposed by military means and is maintained by one section of the population in public posturing----the waving of flags, marching, sloganizing (This we will maintain, Ulster is British), in this posturing to maintain an unwritten constitution intercommunal strife and street violence is the outcome. The maintenance of an unwritten constitution in this way is kicked against by an opposing Republican mass.
As noted, unwritten British constitution is imposed military, not democratically. The recent campaign of violence by the IRA was an attempt to overthrow the constitution by counter military means. This attempt has failed miserably and is now hopefully over It has been replaced by the so called politics of Late Sinn Fein which now promotes the idea that British constitution can be disposed of by political stealth, subterfuge and deals. In the meantime Late Sinn is willing to enter into an unholy coalition with Right Wing Union Jack Unionism, carve up power into sectarian blocks at Stormont and in so doing prop up a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist state with an undemocratic unwritten British constitution.
It is the contention of this article that British Constitution can and should be replaced by a written democratic United Kingdom Ccnstitution which is acceptable to all, .which is maintained rationally and is interpreted by the use of intelligence not on the streets. If N Ireland had such a constitution devoid of public posturing, street violence should wither away.
The question remains how is this to be done? It is the contention of this article, a written constitution for N, Ireland can be found in-----The National Government of Ireland Act., a written constitution which should be acceptable to all. This Act would have to be initiated in N Ireland, but it would have to be drawn up on an All Ireland basis.
In doing this what is missing in the state is the absence of a constitutional centre in N Ireland There is a centre but it is fragmented and is in decline, .The state in N Ireland is now polarized between two constitutional extremes, namely the violent Republicanism of Late Sinn Fein and the violence of Right Wing Union Jack Unionism. There is nothing new in this. It is traceable far back.in Irish history.
This constitution polarization can be observed, firstly, in 18th century Ireland. At that time there was a Parliament in Ireland which was constitutionally moderate and central. The moderate Patriots pressed for the Irish Parliament to be separate from, but co-equal to Westminster under the Crown. This is the first and best concept of Irish nationhood, If this moderate concept had been worked down the generations Ireland would be a Sovereign Nation under the Crown---- a nation like Canada. That was not to be. The constitutional extremists the Republican United Irishmen attempted to overthrow the constitution by violence. This abortive uprising was opposed and defeated by the Right Wing------the protestant yeomanry. In this period of obscene violence the moderate Patriots were swept aside trampled underfoot and lost in history. In this way the constitutional moderate centre was lost in Ireland in the late18th century,
In reaction to this violent uprising by extremists--- the United Irishmen---the moderate Parliament of the Patriots was done away with by the use of political chicanery and a right wing British Constitution imposed in 1801 without reference to the democratic feelings of the Irish people. Ireland was then under the control of a Right Wing Union Jack Unionist protestant elite which was ante-Irish ante-Catholic and oppressive.
In this set up a moderate centre emerged in the persons of Butt and Parnell in Home Rule. It is the view of this article both of these men would have been happy with a government for Ireland under the Crown. That was not to be. Home Rule was frustrated and put down by Right Wing Union Jack Unionism. Again the constitutional centre was lost.
In the 20th century a moderate centre emerged in the person of Griffiths and Early Sinn Fein. In his idea of a dual monarchy Griffiths was toying with the idea of a federal UK. However this moderate central constitutional stance was swept aside and trampled underfoot by the violent catholic sectarian uprising of 1916 . This was an attempt to overthrow the constitution and set up a Republic. In the 1917 Ard Fheis Griffith was ousted from the leadership of Sinn Fein and replaced by the Republician extremist--- De Valera. That is violent Late Sinn Fein. In the ensuing bruhaha in Ireland the island was partitioned into a 26 county statelet with a catholic parliament for a catholic people in Dublin and a 6 county statelet with protestant parliament for a protestant people in Belfast. Thus in Sinn Fein history there are two Sinn Feins, one Early, the other Late. Early Sinn Fein is peaceful and democratic and is constitutionally moderate and central. Late Sinn Fein is violent, undemocratic and constitutionally extreme. This distinction is central to this article.
In the 70ties Conor Cruise O Brien came to the fore with his theory of the two nations. This article accepts that there are two possible nations for Ireland but Right Wing Union Jack Unionism is not one of them. That unionism and that Ireland has passed its sell by date and should be replaced by a new reformed unionism with a written UK constitution. The two possible nations for Ireland are best seen in the two Sinn Feins Early and Late. One Ireland, the Ireland of Early Sinn Fein and of the Patriots could be a Sovereign Nation of Ireland under the Crown. The other Ireland is a Republic of Ireland whose origins are steeped in violence and blood and brutality. Such an Ireland wounds the cultural psyche of protestant Ireland.
I n the north there is at the moment a kind of coalition between the extreme wings of the constitution, namely--- Late Sinn Fein and Right Wing Union Jack Unionism--- in joint rule. Such a coalition is a constitutional absurdity and is doomed to failure. Such an idea is as absurd as the idea of forming a coalition at Westminster between the National Front and the extreme Republican wing of the Labour Party. Such an idea would be seen as a joke by the people of Great Britain , yet a similar idea has been pressed forward by the British and Irish governments for N. Ireland
If a government at Stormont is to be formed whose aim is to draw up a written constitution for N. Ireland in the National Government of Ireland Act. – a coalition of the centre would have to be formed , composed of the UUP, SDLP, and Alliance. Such a coalition is not an absurdity but should be feasible possible and doable. However such a central coalition would have to take as its banner --- Federal Unionism Early Sinn Fein. It is the function of a constitutional centre in a democracy to oppose and defeat constitutional extremists, not to talk to them.
The Act should define the United Kingdom, as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Sovereign Nation of Ireland. That should be the basis of the Act but the Act would require much, much more than that.
With the Act drawn up at Stormont, after discussion with interested parties, a referendum on the Act should be held throughout the whole island giving the people two options: -
Do you wish Ireland to be: -
(a) A Sovereign Nation within the UK under the Crown with the National Government of Ireland Act as its constitution?
(b) A Republic with the 1937 constitution as its constitution?
The Act should specify that the referendum be counted separately in the 26 and 6 counties.
This will give rise to three outcomes: -
(1) If option (a) carries a significant majority in both territories then Ireland is united as a Sovereign Nation within the UK under the Crown.
(2) If option (b) carries a significant majority in both territories then Ireland is united as a Republic.
(3) If option (a) carries a significant majority in the 6 counties and option (b) carries a significant majority in the 26 counties then the island remains partitioned.
In the case of (3) the written constitution for N. Ireland would be the National Government of Ireland Act. And would give N. Ireland: -
One Head of State, the Crown.
One flag, a redesign of the Irish tricolour. The redesign of the Irish tricolour is given in this blog This new flag would be defined in the Act as the national flag of Ireland and a symbol of the UK in Ireland.. ( This would be a detail in the Act. The Act would require much, much more than this. ) A full text of the Act is given in the novel---THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE---.
One anthem----- neither God Save The Queen nor A Soldier’s Song
One government, elected by the people
One passport with an Irish identity which recognises the Crown as Head of State.
N, Ireland thus constituted with a written constitution, should be stable peaceful and governable.
In conclusion the old constitutional dispute about the way Ireland ought to be, should the island be under the Crown or a Republic, can and should be settled for good in the 21st century It is the thrust of this article that Irish unity can only be found in a UK context. It is the thrust of this article that Republicanism in Ireland has been sectarian dividing not uniting the communities and has brought untold, unnecessary suffering to Ireland. It is said 1916 changed the course of Irish history. It did but the change was for the worse not for the better. It is the thrust of this article the whole island should be under the Crown, not a bit of it but all of it. That way and only that way lies a united Ireland.
FEDERAL UNIONIST EARLY SINN FEIN
Michael Gillespie
Friday, 18 July 2008
The novel --THE WAY IRELFAND OUGHT TO BE --is a fiction derived from 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 Irish man. In the struggle he creates ---The National Government of Ireland Act as the solution to the Irish ProblemThe novel is a companion to this series of articles and is recommended reading. The novel can be bought in any bookshop in the U.K./Ireland or through any book agency on the Internet
A Skirmish with Academia
In setting up this blog I am an experienced published writer. My interest in writing has to do with the solution to the Irish Problem. Towards that end I have published a novel titled--- THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE--- brought out by Authorhouse in late 2007. While the novel is set in a psychiatric clinic in Belfast it deals with the Irish Problem and has a strong political theme.
I have also been a regular contributor to the Irish political journal---THE BLANKET--. This journal has now closed down as its editorial staff felt that the journal had met its remit in current Irish politics. The entire contents of the journal since its inception is now stored in the archives of the library of the University of Indianapolis in America.
I am now working on a second political novel titled---THE RAPE OF VIRGIN MUNCHINDUN---, MUNCHINDUN being a fictional district in Tyrone, not a woman. That said I have a few articles in mind which would be suitable for the Blanket but it has gone out of circulation. I contacted the editor of The Blanket, Carrie Twomey and explained my predicament. Helpfully Carrie advise me to use a blog as other writers who wrote for The Blanket were doing that.
This was a helpful suggestion but before doing that I decided to search the Internet for journals. The only publications I could in Ireland were Fortnight in Belfast and a
Jesuit publication in Dublin called Studies. I sent a sample article to Studies but it was turned down. Probably the Jesuits only accept religious articles and the article I sent them was political.
I also tried the journal Fortnight in Belfast I sent Fortnight the same article as I sent the Jesuits but got no reply. I phoned the journal repeatedly for some time but could only get an answering machine. I left messages requesting a reply but nothing happened. So much for Fortnight.
I then tried G.B. and found some political journals but these were connected with the Faculties of Political Science in Universities. I choose to give the University of Sheffield a try. In this case I did not send an article but I sent them a C.V. and explained my writing interest lay in exploring ideas having to do with the solution to the Irish Problem and that I was in a position to send the Faculty of Political Science an article or articles to that effect. The Faculty replied by sending me three articles from their journal that had to do with Irish politics. The lady in charge explained that the articles would give me an idea of the style of thing that the Faculty at Sheffield published. I read through the three articles and was unimpressed and quite dismayed. I replied to the Faculty at Sheffield in this way. I said I had examined the articles and found, not to my surprise, that the articles were composed of obscure abstruse academic jargon that was accessible in meaning only to an elite few. To clarify what I was talking about I gave the following dictionary definition of Jargon.
(1) Specialized or technical language of a trade class or fellowship.
(2) A hybrid language or dialect.
(3) A nonsensical, incoherent or meaningless utterance --- gibberish.
(4) Argot a specialized vocabulary or set of idioms used by a particular class or group. Originally a private language used by thieves.
(5) Cant a special terminology used by a profession, discipline, or class but obscure to the general population.
I also noted how Virginia Woolf and Thomas Carlyle had seen jargon.
Virginia Woolf
She could not follow the ugly academic jargon.
Thomas Carlyle
Wholly a blessed time: when jargon abates and genuine speech begins.
With the quotes in mind I sent three articles of my own to the Faculty at Sheffield noting that my political articles were not written in hard to follow ugly academic jargon (Virginia Woolf) but in easy to follow genuine speech (Carlyle). I made clear that in the articles sent to me, the authors wrote cant in argot and didn’t belong to the same club as I do who writes in plain easy to follow Queen’s English that can be understood and followed by all, not by an elite few. Understandably I got no reply from the Faculty of Political Science at Sheffield.
From my own experience, academic research can be expressed in simple Queen’s English. Some years ago I completed a major research thesis at the Queen’s University in Belfast. The external examiner congratulated me on writing the thesis in simple easy to understand language which was, as the examiner put it, a pleasant change from the obscure impenetrable language that academic thesis are usually written in.
The writers of the articles sent to me were obviously pillars of the Irish political establishment and their articles were directed to the fellowship of an elite clique at Sheffield. The writers were in an ivory tower and apart from the reality of the historic problem. The Irish problem as dealt with in this blog has to do with flags, emblems symbols and above all the U.K. Constitution of the six counties. The articles in this blog will put forward a non –sectarian rational and coherent solution to the historic Irish Problem. The world of academia is oblivious to the real Irish Problem.
Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein
B.Ed B.Sc (Econ) Dip.Ed D.A.S.E. M.A.(Ed)
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