e w n o i s i v i To end d n o i t i t r a P d n e must BY SEÁN Mac BRÁDAIGH
It’s been a bad time for some newspaper columnists and broadcasters. Recent months witnessed an ill-judged pile-on by a group of Dublin-based commentators against President Michael D Higgins in the wake of his decision to decline an invitation to a church service in Armagh marking Partition and the establishment of the 'Northern Ireland' state. The episode served to confirm the utter detachment of a coterie of self-appointed ‘opinion formers’ from the views of the vast majority of people and highlighted the collapse of a political narrative some of them have propagated for decades. From their privileged media platforms, a small group of loud voices sought to portray the decision of Michael D Higgins as “controversial” or “divisive”. This, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary, including the fact that opinion polls showed more than 80% of people in agreement with the President. So it was that we were treated to hack-
• Simon Coveney and Jack Chambers
From their privileged media platforms, a small group of loud voices sought to portray the decision of Michael D Higgins as “controversial” or “divisive” neyed tropes about “two tribes”, “narrow nationalism”, and how it was time we all showed “maturity” and “sophistication” when it came to Partition. Yawn! They ridiculed any idea that the Armagh event - to be followed by others, including a state reception at Hillsborough Castle and the illumination of historic buildings in Britain and the Six Counties to celebrate Partition - could actually cause offence to many. Not once did they question the idea of holding a church service around the forced division of Ireland and all that followed, or whether the attempt to sanitise a conten36
• President Michael D Higgins
tious proposal by seeking to involve the President merely exacerbated things. No. They ploughed on as each day passed, deluded about their own moral superiority and encouraged by the groupthink which has made much Irish media commentary a hermetically sealed echo chamber. That such sermonising was delivered in the main by middle class, Dublin-based columnists and radio presenters, well cush-
ioned from Partition’s worst consequences, to an audience which included those who experienced the harsh reality, was utterly lost on them. Their obsession with the President’s decision was in stark contrast to their silence on the British government’s proposals to deal with the legacy of conflict which have alienated victims from all communities in the North, further highlighting their utter lack of
ISSUE NUMBER 4 – 2021 - UIMHIR EISIÚNA 4 anphoblacht
