Ertblog

The Queen in Ireland - friends again

This week's visit to Ireland by Queen Elizabeth II was remarkable. It was the first visit by a British monarch to the republic since Irish independence. It marked the transformation in relationships in these islands since the peace process started in the 1990s. But above all, it was a triumph for the Queen - and for another remarkable woman, Ireland's president, Mary McAleese. 

Symbols matter in British-Irish relations, and the Queen played on this to huge effect. She wore Ireland's colour, green, when she arrived on Tuesday. She spoke in Irish at a banquet at Dublin castle (once the heart of British rule in Ireland). And Britain's queen bowed her head in respect to the garden of remembrance to Ireland's freedom fighters. 

By most accounts, Ireland was impressed. That shouldn't be a surprise: relations between Britain and Ireland are as good as they've ever been. We live together, work together and no longer fear republican or loyalist bombs. The people of these islands have been quicker than the politicians to embrace each other. True, Sinn Féin and the DUP have gained ascendancy over more moderate rivals in the north. But they're also in government together - an idea as unthinkable even 10 years ago as the Queen's visit to the republic. 

Sinn Féin was opposed to the Queen's visit - hardly a surprise, as the party relies on antipathy to Britain. Its president, Gerry Adams, insisted in defying accuracy by calling Elizabeth II 'England's Queen'. (There's no such thing as a 'queen of England'.) But the success of the visit put Adams on the back foot. Comically, he told a BBC interviewer that "I'm not a monarchist, in fact I'm a republican". Good of him to solve that mystery... 

The Queen's visit prompts us to ponder the complicated relationship between the various countries in Great Britain and Ireland. In school in Wales in the 1970s, as the Troubles were killing thousands of innocent people on both sides of the Irish Sea, I studied the failure of 19th century British Liberal Governments to give 'home rule' to Ireland. I was convinced that the story of Britain and Ireland would have been very different had the English establishment not stupidly blocked home rule in 1886 and after. By the time a home rule act was passed by the British parliament in 1914, the combination of a treasonous rebellion by Ulster's unionists and the great war killed any chance of a sensible compromise. Fast forward to the present, and home rule (or devolution as it's now called) is established in Great Britain. No one knows if it will lead to the break up of Britain. I doubt it - but at least change is now through the ballot box rather than the bullet and bomb. 

A final thought. The Queen who visited the republic this week isn't just Britain's Queen. She's Queen of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and 13 other territories. It's an extraordinary legacy of the past that Britain's head of state performs the same role for so many other countries. Ireland understandably decided in 1949 that it wanted its own head of state. Its most recent presidents, Mary Robinson and Mary McAleese, have been hugely popular and successful role models for a republican system, unlike Ireland's recent taoisigh (prime ministers). But Queen Elizabeth this week reminded us that constitutional monarchs can also achieve remarkable things.

 

Ireland were robbed by hand of Henry - but football's the loser

The cheats have won. France will be taking part in the FIFA football word cup in South Africa next summer after Thierry Henry stole Ireland's place with a blatant hand ball to grab a late goal. 

The referee's decision may be final, but it's hard to disagree with the countless commentators who demand that FIFA introduce videos to decide such controversial decisions on the night. It works well in rugby. And in answer to those who say it slows the game, so what? Isn't the right decision better than a quick one? 

All the same, I can't get too excited about talk of football's integrity being impugned. Football has very little integrity left. It's a billionaire's game now. Managers such as Alex Ferguson routinely abuse referee's decisions regardless of whether they have a genuine grievance. Millionaire players fall to the ground to try to win penalties even when opposing defenders were feet away from making contact. Fans are charged crazy money to see their teams play. 

In short, there are far greater injustices in the world than Ireland's failure to reach the 2010 world cup finals. 

Is the media making it harder for Northern Ireland to overcome the dissident threat to peace?

The murders of two British soldiers and a policeman in Northern Ireland by dissident republican terrorists have cast a depressing spell over the territory.

It's a curious reflection of the calculating nature of news - and how Northern Ireland has changed dramatically - that the killings would barely have hit the front pages had they happened in Iraq of Afghanistan.

In the days after the atrocities, the British media paid huge attention to the language used by Sinn Féin politicians in their response. Radio 4's Today programme interrogated Sinn Féin leaders on the subject two days running, leading to Gerry Adams accusing John Humphrys of living in the past. The Daily Mail in a leader demanded that Gerry Adams express genuine sorrow for the soldiers' killings. It added that Adams' "callous and ambiguous response makes us all suspect that Adams hasn't really renounced violence at all".

Like many, I found Sinn Féin's words - it said the killings were "counterproductive and a strategic mistake" - chilling. But the Daily Mail's leader writers are the last people to understand or care about the sensitivity of language in Northern Ireland. It simply ignores the fact that the dissidents are at war with Adams rather than the British authorities. We may loathe Gerry Adams, but his painstaking efforts have carried the vast majority of the republican community with him on the road to peace. It's no comfort to the families of the victims, but the fact no British soldier died in Northern Ireland between 1997 and last Saturday reflects that achievement.

Northern Ireland secretary Sean Woodward chastised Today's John Humphrys this morning for imagining worst case scenarios. The people and politicians of Ulster have shown greater maturity than the media in their response to the tragic events of recent days. It's time for journalists to exercise greater responsibility in reporting what we all hope will be an aberration in Ulster's new era of peace.

PS: There's a certain incongruity at the chirpy message: "Hey there! sinnfeinireland is using Twitter"! But Gerry Adams' message via Twitter was clear: "These people [the dissident killers] are traitors to the island of Ireland".. "they don't deserve to be supported by anyone". Time for the Daily Mail to follow Sinn Féin on Twitter!

Gerry Adams: Ian Paisley's unexpected admirer

"I think his willingness to reach out and to work positively with Sinn Féin was a genuine endeavour to make things better for the people who live here.

Will I miss him? Well, maybe I can get to know him better now that he is retiring to the backbenches. I would like that. He is a fascinating figure, with many facets to his character. In my dealings with him I have always found him cordial, good-humoured and respectful."

So wrote Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in today's Guardian. Strange to think that the leader of political republicanism could find such respect for the man whose slogan was never surrender. (But I wonder whether Paisley would return the compliment?) 

Some might argue that Adams is simply showing the respect for another member of the political class who prolonged Northern Ireland's sectarian agony. But that would be harsh. Adams himself displayed great courage in leading the way to peace, notwithstanding his share of responsibility for the dark days of the Troubles. (Sharrock and Devenport's book, Man of War, Man of Peace, gave a dramatic insight into Adams' role in the birth of the peace process.) Those of us who remember the shattering violence of the Seventies and Eighties once thought peace was an impossible dream. See my earlier post about the end of the British Army's operations in Northern Ireland.

We may question what drove Paisley to join Sinn Féin in government in Stormont. Was it personal glory, in the position of first minister? It's unlikely that the perennial outsider would have found this sufficient reason to abandon his forty year campaign against Irish republicanism. Better, surely, not to question the motives and to rejoice in this most unlikely of political coalitions.

Irish eyes aren't smiling: Aer Lingus axes Shannon to Heathrow flights

We've just spent five days in Ireland, enjoying the charms of Galway and Kinsale.

We flew into Shannon airport in the West of Ireland, only to discover that the airport was at the heart of Ireland's biggest news story: Aer Lingus's decision to end flights from Shannon to London Heathrow. The story was the front page lead story throughout our visit, and judging by last night's RTÉ report is still dominating Ireland's news.

It was fascinating as an outsider - but fellow Celt - to see how the Irish media and bloggers were handling the story. The main angle, naturally, was the threat to the West's economy, and while we were in Ireland the media reported a stream of TDs (Irish members of parliament) and councillors condemning Aer Lingus's move. (See Irish Independent's report that Aer Lingus would not change its mind, and Limerick Blogger: Aer Lingus screws the west for a flavour.)

But the other key question was the role of the Irish government, which still holds a 25 percent stake in the former state airline. Ministers appeared slow to respond - many were on holiday - and only after a week did the Government rule out intervening as a shareholder to block the move. Defence Minister Willie O'Dea, who has been a lone voice in the Irish Cabinet actively opposing Aer Lingus's move, accused the airline of deliberately timing the announcement while the Cabinet were on holiday - see today's Irish Examiner story.

The Shannon story carries echoes of Britain's Westland affair of 1985/86 when Margaret Thatcher's Cabinet was at war over the future of the Westland helicopter business. Michael Heseltine was the Willie O'Dea of that saga, opposing his government's decision to favour an American rather than a European future for Westland. Heseltine famously walked out of the Cabinet as a result.

Much of the coverage of the Aer Lingus affair appears superficial: the classic reporting of angry reactions but little analysis of the issues underlying the story. (One honourable exception was Laura Noonan's business story on Saturday 11 August.) There was much questioning of Aer Lingus's right to switch its valuable Heathrow slots for Belfast rather than Shannon flights (see Kevin Myers in the Belfast Telegraph) but no one seems to have thought to ask aviation industry experts for their take on this complex subject. As a result, readers and viewers found it impossible to separate fact from polemic.

The one other aspect of the story that has been only lightly examined is that Aer Lingus is moving the flights to another state, the United Kingdom. This goes to the heart of north-south relations in the island of Ireland. It's hardly surprising that few in the Republic have raised this issue as to do so would underline the partition of Ireland at a time when north-south (and Ireland-UK) relations are better than at any time since 1922.

It's easy to think of the Shannon saga as a peculiarly Irish affair. But a very similar row would blow up in Britain if British Airways announced it was ending flights to, say, Aberdeen. It's about the classic clash between the interests of big business and a region; about what role governments should play in influencing business decisions. Shannon and the mid west of Ireland won't be the last region to wonder how best to protect themselves when a major business pulls out.

PS: we weren't impressed by the chaotic scenes at Shannon. Hundreds of people were called to their departure gates, which were all in a tiny corridor without anywhere to wait. The airport kept changing its mind about which flight went from which gate. Finally, the cafe in the departure lounge broke the rules by insisting on taking payment on our debit card in sterling rather than euro, pocketing an extra 3 percent or so of the cost. It would be good if some of the energy spent campaigning against Aer Lingus could go on improving Shannon...

The day we thought we'd never see: the British Army ends operations in Northern Ireland

The momentous news that the British Army has ended operations in Northern Ireland came as a reminder of the grim days when the evening news was scarred by the latest atrocity in the province.

I still remember where I was when I heard about the 1979 murders of Lord Mountbatten and 18 British soldiers at Warrenpoint. Those twin outrages shocked a nation that had become weary of the Troubles. The idea that one day the army would pull out seemed an impossible dream.

The photos are stills from a cine film shot by my father Bob Skinner on an official visit by the Lord Mayor of Cardiff, Hugh Ferguson-Jones, to the Royal Welch Fusiliers in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s.

Oddly, in decades of the Troubles I don't remember once hearing the Army's role in the province referred to as Operation Banner.