Has the time come for Celtic Independence? - Scottish win could spell seismic shift

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond is currently embroiled in a power struggle with British PM over a referendum for Scottish independence, but if he wins the dominoes won’t just stop at Hadrian’s Wall.

If the Scottish win independence, then it spells a seismic shift in not just how the British Union works, but the European one. Salmond’s Scotland has much more in common with the Nordic countries in terms of social provision and much more Europhile than Cameron’s England, and independence would not only copperfasten these differences but create a new diplomatic entity on the EU stage. Especially so, if Scotland win the custody battle for the oil off their coast.
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If Scotland and England do take divergent paths, that leaves Wales and Northern Ireland essentially in a “back me or sack me” situation, stuck between siding with their Celtic brethren (and to a lesser degree Europe) and the Westminster government who supply the block grant for their respective assemblies. And if they do, then it may be the best chance proponents of a United Ireland will have in decades. 

If the UK becomes more of a loose confederation as would be likely the case under Scottish independence, then Northern Ireland’s closeness to the Republic of Ireland will come under closer scrutiny, in terms of trade, services, culture and a host of other things that will suddenly become relevant if such a debate ever arises. Of course, that means it will energise both sides of the argument. 

Already you can see the Unionist side in particular sharpening their swords. This Tuesday on Spotlight, a Northern Ireland current affairs discussion programme, DUP Health Minister Edwin Poots claimed First Minister Salmond was like a dog agitating to get off the leash and went on to essentially claim that the fundamentals of the Union were strong. But United Ireland advocates are getting more nuanced in their approach, with younger members of Sinn Féin like Pearse Doherty providing a counter-balance to old irredentism by considering a range of ideas about how the arrangement could work, even how to accommodate hardline Unionists in an Irish parliamentary setting. More interesting still, they’re focusing on a referendum of their own for around the 2016 mark. 

As I’ve said before, the case of a United Ireland is something I’m intensely ambivalent about and would be of the opinion that an independent Scotland would more likely precipitate a kind of Celtic alliance, each country becoming more independent of London but still under the kind of loose confederation I mentioned earlier. But, the political sands are changing and changing quickly, and for those who dream of a United Ireland they should make their case extremely well for the debate ahead. Their day may finally be coming if they do.

The Ian Paisley paradox - considering the career of Dr. No

As I write this, Ian Paisley remains in the intensive care unit of the Ulster Hospital, and like everyone else in the media I’ve been reflecting on the career of an incontrovertible political giant of these islands.

But it’s incredibly difficult.

Ireland is no stranger to high-profile politicians with mixed legacies who split opinions; Parnell is revered now but his relationship with Kitty O’Shea split his once monolithic party down the middle. Eamon de Valera was a demi-god or a treacherous wretch depending on who you talked to. Charles Haughey and Bertie Ahern are grand lads in the eyes of their deathly loyal supporters, but it wouldn’t have taken you long to round up a pitchfork-wielding posse to picket their houses either. But Paisley is in a different orbit altogether.

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At the time and place I grew up, the word “Paisley” was synonymous with terror, even loathing. I used to dread hearing his booming voice on the radio on television, fulminating recklessly about something or other. It’s been said Bill Clinton could make you feel like the only person in the room, with Ian Paisley it seemed like he could make you feel like the focus of all his hostility and hate. For someone from Donegal in primary school in the nineties, Paisley felt like a genuine bogey man.

Yet, even then you’d hear stories that bordered on urban myths about him that confounded the obstreperous image. He was lovely in person, apparently. Catholics in his constituency supposedly felt well treated if they ever went to him about local business. According to legend he once met some Cork students playing a game of rugby against Ballymena, and gave them a hearty welcome and money to buy fizzy pop or some such.

In more recent years, that side of him seems to have shown itself publically, with his moderated attitude on power sharing and his surprisingly good relations with Martin McGuinness. Last year I even saw him giving a kind of flash mob sermon outside Belfast City Hall, a pious elderly man far removed from the gulderer famed for shouting “Never!” in that very same location a quarter of a century earlier . In a very short space of time, he’s gone from Ireland’s greatest monster to avuncular bridge builder.

While there’s something fitting about the evangelical preacher’s Damascene conversion on the road to redemption, and it’s better late than never that he turned heel, it’s important that when it comes to legacy, recent good doesn’t altogether overwrite past bad. Had Paisley not forced Terence O’Neill from office over One Man One Vote, or poured kerosene on the Ulster Workers Council Strike over Sunningdale, heaven knows how differently things could have developed.

Northern Ireland is in a situation now, mercifully, where past rivals can put aside hostilities and attempt to work together. But when it comes to considering legacy, it’s crucial that we take the whole picture, rough and smooth. Especially so with Ian Paisley.

RTÉ sport's inspirational Colm Murray and his battle with motor neurone disease

RTE sports anchor Colm Murray

The documentary on Colm Murray, RTE's sports anchor, promised to be must-see viewing, and yet extraordinary difficult. 

A documentary about Colm Murray, the much-loved veteran RTE sports broadcaster and horse racing specialist was always going to be an interesting watch, but the circumstances under which it was made tinged it with real pathos. 

A couple of months ago Colm went on the Late Late Show and announced that he had motor neurone disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease after the Yankees player who died of MND aged 37.

Gehrig is well known for his emotional “Luckiest man in the world” speech in front of a rapturous crowd upon his retirement, and in a sense this documentary was Murray’s equivalent to a heartfelt speech on the diamond. 

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The show tracked the methods in which he was living with and attempting to control the disease, including his participation in a trial for a new drug that could be of significant help, and his trips to a speech therapist.

For me, this proved the hardest to watch. It seemed especially cruel that a broadcaster with a voice the whole nation knows would have that taken away from him, especially as within weeks of announcing his condition he was reporting sports news from behind his desk in a wheelchair. The dramatic way in which his life has changed in such a short few months has shocked and saddened the whole country.

But, in spite of the terrible hand he’s been dealt, Colm wasn’t willing to give in to fatalism. Instead he soldiers on, trying to find a cure, trying to keep himself the best he can and live the best life he can.

For years, Colm Murray was not just a familiar face and voice but a quiet hero of Irish life, dutifully reporting on the sporting moments that have coloured the nation, all without ever putting a step wrong. It is with that same quiet heroism and positive attitude that he battles motor neurone disease. The whole country is willing him on. 

Click here to watch the RTE documentary.