Nationalists should welcome the celebrations of Northern Ireland’s centenary

By Neil McCarthy
Published 8th Sep 2020, 13:13 BST
Updated 8th Sep 2020, 13:59 BST
A military parade past the GPO in Dublin in 2016 marks the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Some voices argued that It was argued that unionists should be generous about those celebrations and attend them. Nationalists should be the same about centenary celebrations of the founding of Northern Ireland in 1921. Photo: Niall Carson/PA WireA military parade past the GPO in Dublin in 2016 marks the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Some voices argued that It was argued that unionists should be generous about those celebrations and attend them. Nationalists should be the same about centenary celebrations of the founding of Northern Ireland in 1921. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire
A military parade past the GPO in Dublin in 2016 marks the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. Some voices argued that It was argued that unionists should be generous about those celebrations and attend them. Nationalists should be the same about centenary celebrations of the founding of Northern Ireland in 1921. Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire
A fascinating letter was published recently in this newspaper from a correspondent in Cork (August 27).

It detailed the reprisals carried out against the Catholic population of Lisburn in 1920 in direct and immediate response to the shooting dead of RIC District Inspector Oswald Swanzy in the same town by an IRA unit from Cork.

(The letter can be read here: ‘Remember victims of anti-Catholic pogrom in 1920’)

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It is believed this latter killing was ordered by Michael Collins himself, who allegedly had evidence that DI Swanzy had been the leader of the party of men who had shortly beforehand killed Tomás Mac Curtain, Lord Mayor of Cork.

Another glimpse into the history of the same period was also recently provided by a spirited exchange in the News Letter’s letters section concerning the Listowel Mutiny (which also took place in 1920) (see link below.

Publishing such a wide range of opinions and viewpoints on events which were crucial to the formation of the two jurisdictions on this island, and particularly to the formation of Northern Ireland, strikes me as a fine example of the kind of broadly based civil discussions which could inform events and debates commemorating the upcoming centenary of Northern Ireland’s founding next year.

In 2016 the Irish government set about commemorating the seminal events of 1916 which led ultimately to the creation of the independent Irish State. Ben Lowry of these parts argued, not uncontroversially, in an opinion column in this newspaper at the time that unionists should take up the invitation to attend which they had received from Dublin (see link below).

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Regardless of continuing and legitimate differences of political opinion, he opined that 100 years was long enough for a “family quarrel” to be let gently drop and that good manners apart from anything else dictated a positive response to the invitation.

In addition, Ben pointed out that the Republic of Ireland was now a modern pluralist European democracy which had matured to the point where 1916 was being openly interrogated by figures such as ex-Taoiseach John Bruton, as well as intellectually dismantled by other people like the Jesuit philosopher Séamus Murphy.

I believe that the exact same arguments apply to how Irish nationalists should react to any invitations to attend commemorations for Northern Ireland’s centenary celebrations.

In fact, apart from responding positively to invitations, I believe that nationalists should pro-actively welcome the celebrations and associated commemorative events.

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