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A green peace
By Steve Lewis
slewis42@mscd.edu

Now that St. Patrick’s Day is over and faux Irishmen the world over have reassumed their authentic nationalities, the news from the real Ireland is very good. Age-old combatants Ian Paisley and Gerry Adams have overcome their deep-seated animosity to strike a power-sharing agreement that will advance the peace process started with the Good Friday Agreement of 1998. If the blue and the green (Protestants and Catholics) in the North of this troubled isle can finally coexist and shed centuries of bitterness, then there is hope for everyone, perhaps even the Israelis and the Palestinians.

Ulster, the northernmost province of Ireland, remained part of the United Kingdom when Ireland gained its independence in 1922. The majority Protestants wanted no part of an Irish Republic where divorce, abortion and contraception were illegal and the living standards were the poorest in Europe.

For their part, the Catholic minority was indeed discriminated against and dreamt of salvation in the shape of “one Ireland.” Their frustration spilled over into IRA violence, which prompted Loyalist counter-violence and extremists who disgraced themselves and their country for forty years.

Don’t be fooled by the songs and the blarney. The Catholic IRA and the Protestant UDA were rival gangs profiting from drugs, prostitution and organized crime. Both sides killed innocent civilians in the course of their business, all too easily forgotten when Irish-Americans were encouraged to “support the brave freedom-fighters” with dollars that bought bullets, not bread. I’ve been there, in Belfast and Dublin, and know the crime firsthand.

That Paisley and Adams can agree on the time, far less the political future of Northern Ireland, is nothing short of a miracle.

A general war-weariness among both communities is clearly the biggest factor, but the populace has been tired for a long time. What tipped the scales is a combination of economics and demographics. The economic emergence of Ireland as the Celtic tiger and the lessening of the influence of the Catholic Church has made the new Ireland in the South more acceptable to Northern Protestants. But possibly more important is the realization that their majority status is close to over and that they can negotiate a better deal now than they will be able to in 10 years.

At the height of the Troubles in 1971, the population of the province was split 61 percent Protestant to 37 percent Catholic. Now it’s 49 to 46 and trending toward Rome in a hurry. For Sinn Fein, the dominant Catholic party, political power and participation now trumps more violence and the possibility of ultimate victory years hence. The fates have been aligned, the governments of Britain, Ireland and the U.S. are pressuring both sides, and it looks like these rival politicians – Paisley the bigot and Adams the man of violence – have finally listened.