So, this is interesting. In the dual Referenda in March 2024, the entire Republic of Ireland 'establishment' campaigned and lobbied the population for a "Yes" vote. But the people thought otherwise and returned a landslide 67.69% "No" vote. The shockwaves were enormous, so much so that the immediate aftermath the government postponed its proposed, and controversial, "Hate Speech" legislation.
But, here we are about six months later in October, and with various crises around the world, and a likely election in the next few weeks, guess what? Two days ago, this happens.
Five Bills were considered and passed in the Dáil in under six hours, a process that normally takes weeks. The most contentious was the Criminal Justice (Incitement to Violence or Hatred and Hate Offences) Bill which was amended because of a groundswell of opposition that turned into a backbench revolt, after it had been passed in the Dáil.
The Bill that was passed at speed was amended from the original version, rightly separating "hate crime" from "hate speech", but it has all happened so suddenly that no-one seems to have got into the detail yet. Once the election is over, something closer to the original version will probably be back on the table again.
People - and politicians and political journalists - in Northern Ireland who obsess over the prospect of a "United Ireland" and fill up our heads with identity and nationality as a subject, would be much better to actually scrutinise the substance of the sort of Ireland - and also the sort of UK for that matter - that has developed.
The pathetic Brexit excitement about "blue passports", or chatter about what would the flag be like in a future United Ireland, are exactly the types of cosmetic nonsense that are used to distract populations while the politicians strip their liberty away.
I spoke with an octogenarian, extremely wealthy, Dublin man a few days ago. He likes coming up to Belfast, but openly said to me "in 1921 the unionists were right to go for partition. Who would want to live in the repressive Ireland that I grew up in? I went to London, I went to America".
The Ulster Covenant of 1912 stated that it was right to be concerned that a new Home Rule Ireland would be "subversive of our civil and religious freedom". Whatever the Parliament, in Dublin or London or Belfast, it remains right to prioritise freedom.
The Belfast "Good Friday" Agreement created space for dual nationality. The real issue is liberty, for all people, of all cultures, in all nations.
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