Irish Reunification

Encyclopedia : I : IR : IRI : Irish Reunification

Irish Reunification is a term used to describe the process of creating a united Ireland. It is advocated by Irish nationalists, who seek to end the partition of Ireland, which occurred in 1921. This resulted in Northern Ireland remaining part of the United Kingdom when the rest of the island became an independent state in 1922, now known as the Republic of Ireland. As it would end British rule in Northern Ireland, it is firmly opposed by Unionists in Northern Ireland and in Britain, who wish to maintain the status quo.

Contents

1 Overview
2 Support and opposition for Reunification

2.1 Sinn Féin
2.2 Social Democratic and Labour Party
2.3 Irish Republican Socialist Party
2.4 Republican Sinn Féin
2.5 Fianna Fáil
2.6 Progressive Democrats
2.7 Fine Gael
2.8 Labour Party (Ireland)

3 Economic consequences of Reunification
4 Likelihood of a United Ireland
5 See also

Overview

Reunification is the official policy of most major Irish political parties, such as Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Féin and the Social Democratic and Labour Party. The Irish Republican Socialist Party, Republican Sinn Féin, the Workers Party, and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement are smaller groups which also advocate reunification. Several paramilitary groups have waged violent campaigns with the purpose of removing Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom. These include the Provisional Irish Republican Army, the Irish National Liberation Army, the Continuity IRA, and the Real IRA. Wide disparities exist between many of these groups on how reunification could be achieved, and how a united Ireland would function.

Support and opposition for Reunification

There is almost universal support in the Republic of Ireland for reunification from all political parties. Public opinion generally ranges from lukewarm to strongly nationalist. There are also some non-partisan groups, such as the Reform Movement and southern lodges of the Orange Order, that tend to be sympathetic to Northern Ireland remaining within the UK indefinitely.

Opposition to reunification comes mainly from Unionist political parties in Northern Ireland, particularly the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). It also comes from loyalist paramilitary groups such as the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force. In Great Britain, the Conservative Party, UKIP, and other conservative groups tend to be strongly unionist. (See also Unionism (Scotland).)

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is currently the largest pro-reunification party in the Northern Ireland Assembly, and the third-largest in Ireland. It now believes reunification can be achieved through political means, but in the past it promoted a policy of political and violent intervention through the Provisional Irish Republican Army. They now wish to reunite Ireland through integration of institutions, ultimately forcing a nationwide referendum on reunification.

For example, the party has proposed that Northern Ireland should have some form of representation in the Dáil, with elected representatives from either the Stormont or Westminster parliaments able to participate in debates, if not vote. The major parties in the Republic have rejected this notion on a number of occasions.

Should Irish reunification ever occur, Sinn Féin has stated that it would wish to amend the Irish constitution to protect minorities (including the Protestant and Ulster Scots communities). Sinn Féin has seen growing support since their IRA ceasefire and they began moving towards a more peaceful route to change in Northern Ireland and to reunification.

Social Democratic and Labour Party

The SDLP describes itself as 100% for a United Ireland. They believe that reunification should be accomplished through electoral means only. This means that they would support a United Ireland only if a majority of both parts of Ireland voted for it in a referendum. In a United Ireland, the SDLP would support the continuation of a devolved Northern Ireland, governed by a local assembly through the Good Friday Agreement. The SDLP commands moderate support.

Irish Republican Socialist Party

The IRSP works towards attaining a united socialist Irish state. The IRSP is affiliated with the Irish Republican Socialist Movement, which shares a common political outlook with the INLA (currently observing a "no-first-strike" ceasefire). The IRSP is opposed to the Good Friday Agreement. It is extremely small and commands almost no popular support.

Republican Sinn Féin

Republican Sinn Féin (RSF) does not believe that the Irish government, or any potential "six-county" (Northern Ireland) government, are legitimate, as neither legislates for Ireland as a whole. It has a policy of abstentionism towards both Leinster House and Stormont, which Sinn Féin adandoned in 1986. Its Éire Nua ('New Ireland') policy advocates a unified federal state with regional governments for the four provinces (Connacht, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster), and with its national capital in Athlone, Ireland's geographical centre. The party is extremely small and commands negligible popular support.

Fianna Fáil

Fianna Fáil has supported reunification since its foundation as one of the party's key aims; however, in its history it has differed on how to accomplish it. Fianna Fáil rejected the Anglo-Irish Agreement which gave the Republic of Ireland an advisory role in Northern Ireland for the first time. Former Fianna Fáil leader, Charles Haughey, claimed the agreement was in conflict with the then Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution of Ireland because it recognised Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom, but it fully supported the Good Friday Agreement and the consequent changes to the constitution.

Progressive Democrats

The Progressive Democrats have supported reunification since its foundation but always said that a majority of the people of Northern Ireland would have to consent to it. The party fully supports the Good Friday Agreement. In April 1993, long before the Good Friday Agreement, party leader Des O'Malley, in a major address on Northern Ireland to the Irish Association, spelled out a six point programme for peace and democratic progress in Northern Ireland, as follows:

Irish government to accept need for Constitutional change in Articles 1, 2 and 3 to accord with the principle of unity by consent in Article 1 of the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
Acceptance by unionists of an Irish dimension requiring new North-South institutional links.
Nationalism must be made legally, institutionally and economically legitimate within Northern Ireland.
A new Constitution, incorporating a Bill of Rights, for Northern Ireland.
Joint North-South Security Agreement to combat terrorism.
Devolved power-sharing Government in Northern Ireland.

Current party leader Mary Harney was expelled from Fianna Fáil for supporting the Anglo-Irish agreement.

Progressive Democrat TD Liz O'Donnell was one of the key negotiators at the Good Friday Agreement talks.

Fine Gael

Fine Gael has officially supported reunification since its foundation as one of the party's key aims ;It fully supports the Good Friday Agreement.

The Anglo-Irish agreement was negotiated under the Fine Gael Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald.

Labour Party (Ireland)

The Labour Party has supported reunification since the foundation of the state although it has always considered this aim secondary to social causes. It fully supports the Good Friday Agreement. It also supported the old Anglo-Irish agreement. The future President of Ireland Mary Robinson resigned from the Irish Labour Party because she objected to the exclusion of unionists from the talks that led to the agreement.

Economic consequences of Reunification

Northern Ireland is not economically self sufficient - as part of the United Kingdom, it has benefited from far higher levels of public spending, per capita, than any other UK region, while internal security costs are counted separately. Until recently, the Republic has had the same relationship from its membership of the European Union, but will be a net contributor in the next budget. Psychologically, people in the Republic expect far less from the State than those in the Northern Ireland, who have benefited from the same public services as the rest of the United Kingdom, such as the National Health Service. Some commentators allegedly have drawn parallels with the reunification of Germany, in which Germany, while a much larger country and less prosperous than the Republic of Ireland, has faced considerable financial burdens as a result of supporting the former East Germany.

The analysis above is disputed, mainly by unionists. They argue that, in practice, the Republic has similarly benefitted from effective economic subsidy from outside, in part direct (from the European Union), but also indirectly given large-scale emigration to Britain through the 20th century. While more recently per capita income has been higher in the Republic, as the economy has diversified. Arguably expectations are now higher there.

Strand Two of the GFA was supposed to connect North and South through commonsense economic, social and environmental forums and institutions. Nationalists were committed to these reforms because it was thought that this could provide democratic momentum towards a united Ireland. At the very least, it would provide relief for the impoverished border corridor and seek to coordinate issues of health, education, agriculture, commerce and infrastructure.

Likelihood of a United Ireland

The Good Friday agreement, which most parties (with the notable exception of the Democratic Unionist Party) and both the British and Irish governments support, states that a majority of voters in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland would have to approve a United Ireland. It should be stressed that smaller unionist parties, while supporting the GFA, are as adamant as the DUP in shared opposition to a united Ireland.

No referenda on the matter are planned in the near future; mainly because such a referendum would almost certainly be defeated in Northern Ireland, but also as most political attention is currently focused on the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and the restoration of devolution to Northern Ireland.