“Get in there and make it about you’” is an online joke about people who twist arguments back to themselves. There is no need for me to do this with the Republic’s argument over immigration as so much of it already involves accusing people of being unionists.
Complaining about a “second plantation” is obviously loaded, with its clear implication that foreigners are worse than Protestants. Some anti-immigration campaigners seem greatly exercised by Garda Commissioner Drew Harris’s background and the possibility of similar Northerners providing extra policing or security south of the Border.
These campaigners are in turn accused by their opponents of being involved with loyalists, the British far-right or British intelligence agencies. The accusation came to a head in Belfast last Saturday with the appearance of several Tricolours and a “Coolock Says No” banner at a loyalist-linked protest, which later descended into violence.
Fallout from this has not been symmetrical. It has sent the Irish ethno-nationalist movement into meltdown, with fraught debates conducted in full public view over whether loyalists are racial allies or ethnic foes. Across unionism, by contrast, the flag incident has generally been regarded as a stunt by a handful of eccentrics. Loyalists are not defining themselves in terms of dealing with their southern counterparts.
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All of this is happening on the political fringes. Among mainstream parties Sinn Féin has suffered the most electoral damage from the immigration row yet it has largely stood its ground against anti-immigration sentiment. However, many of its representatives have accused opponents of involvement with loyalism. Some have alleged dark British conspiracies against Sinn Féin. This is a bit rich from a party that has been governing with the DUP for almost two decades, in a partnership extending beyond the requirements of powersharing.
At Stormont and in councils Sinn Féin chooses to work with the DUP to carve up funding between republican and loyalist groups, much to the annoyance of other parties. This can be defended – it is how the peace process works, although it can legitimately be asked why it is working so slowly. Sinn Féin could be boasting of its leadership role alongside unionism and loyalism. But although it can stand up to racism it will not stand over the complexities of Northern politics when under pressure in the Republic.
The past week’s outbreak of racist violence across the UK has been largely confined in Northern Ireland to loyalist areas, with the PSNI confirming orchestration by a “paramilitary element”. The temptation for Sinn Féin will be to portray opposition to immigration as a unionist prejudice, while urging everyone else, North and South, to follow its example and do better. This would square several tricky circles for the party for the apparently low cost of letting unionists dig themselves into another hole. The eternal struggle in Northern Ireland is to realise everyone is in the same hole.
There is evident annoyance within Sinn Féin that unionists must be enjoying the party’s electoral setback in the Republic. Matters are not quite that simple, however. Former supporters often say they always voted Sinn Féin but can no longer do so due to its stance on immigration. If their support predated the peace process what they are effectively saying – at least to unionist ears – is: “we were fine with the sectarian murder campaign but this time they’ve gone too far.”
Sinn Féin looks better without them.
No major party has been as cynical and irresponsible on immigration as Fine Gael. In May, rather than admit governments failings, it suddenly blamed the UK’s Rwanda deportation plan for problems in Ireland. There was no communication with London or Stormont and no regard for the destabilising effect of portraying Northern Ireland as a back door into the Republic. Anglo-Irish relations were damaged and nonsense began to circulate about Britain seeking revenge for Brexit.
The episode underscored how anglophobia and the othering of Northern Ireland are default political instincts in the Republic. Even a party insulted by its rivals as ‘West Brits’ reverts to Brit-bashing when in trouble.
This raises an intriguing question: to what extent has Ireland’s enthusiasm for immigration been driven by a wish to seem better than Brexit Britain? It must have had some impact. There has certainly been more pride expressed in Ireland as a good European and a responsible member of the international community alongside a consensus view of Brexit as a racist English nationalist project assisted by foolish unionist accomplices.
This might also explain why the enthusiasm has proved so fragile.
Measuring yourself against the neighbours is a normal state of human affairs, especially with an overbearing former enemy next door. But it hardly inspires confidence that all of us on this island, Catholic, Protestant and those viewed by some as “worse than Protestant”, can live together as one big happy family.