Arthur Morgan, your future lies in Fine Gael

arthurmorgan
Originally uploaded by iomhanna.

I was struck by this comment from Arthur Morgan, posted on http://unitedirelander.blogspot.com/:


"At last year’s 1916 commemorations – the Government were falling over themselves to honour our Patriot dead. Even Fine Gael are trying to present themselves as Republicans!"


A quick history lesson for you Morgan, followed by a prophecy.


-- The founders of Sinn Fein, Arthur Griffith and WT Cosgrave, ended their political journey in Cumman na nGaedheal/Fine Gael (CnG/FG). I watched "your" centenary celebrations to see if you were going to airbrush them out of the party history, but I guess even you couldn't manage that.

-- CnG took over the 26 counties from British rule, under a treaty that was endorsed on multiple occasions by the Dail and by the electorate. Even if the six counties had been included in these elections, the Treaty would still have been endorsed. No, the Treaty wasn't ideal, but that's democracy my friend. The rejectionist wing of Sinn Fein spent 10 years in the political wilderness, because they refused to accept a pretty decent treaty. If it hadn't been for the Labour Party during those years, we wouldn't have had a political opposition of any kind.

-- CnG dismantled the Anglo-Irish Treaty between 1921 and 1932, so that by 1932, the Irish state was free to leave the British Commonwealth.

-- Fianna Fail arranged for the return of the Treaty Ports in Cork and Donegal in 1939. Not a square inch of Ireland has been handed over since. Or to put it another way, PSF hasn't gained a square inch of territory from the UK.

-- Fine Gael established the Republic of Ireland in 1948 and left the Commonwealth.

-- Fine Gael negotiated the Sunningdale Agreement, the first power-sharing agreement in Northern Ireland -- "The Good Friday Agreement is Sunningdale for slow learners."

-- When the founder of the civil rights movement, Austin Currie, joined a southern political party, he joined Fine Gael, not PSF.

-- Fine Gael negotiated the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which made the unionists realise that, one way or another, power-sharing couldn't be avoided.

-- Fine Gael led the campaign to introduce civil divorce in Ireland, one of the leading issues to establish a truly non-sectarian republic in the south of Ireland.


Here's my prophecy. Provisional Sinn Fein (the splinter group of a splinter group of a splinter group of a splinter group of Sinn Fein that has enjoyed a huge growth in popularity since the beginning of the beginning of the peace process) will continue to grow in popularity, because they put a lot of energy into grassroots issues and because they were instrumental in the peace process. Good for them.

Just as the Good Friday Agreement is Sunningdale for slow learners, Fine Gael is politics for political firebrands who've grown up and gotten sense. PSF has already embraced power-sharing and the principle of consent, acknowledging the reality that 1,000,000 unionists aren't going to disappear and even if they did, we'd kind of miss them. Over the next few years PSF will embrace free trade and the EU. They will abandon their 1970s-style socialist social and economic policies and embrace the slightly left-of-centre/slightly right-of-centre policies of Fianna Fail. And Fianna Fail is Fine Gael for slow learners. So, welcome to The Party.