Until the 2017 Snap Election, I had never taken the time to look into Irish politics. It had never been relevant. Now with the prospect of a coalition of chaos between the Conservatives and the DUP, I thought it prudent to educate myself accordingly.
The Northern Ireland Assembly is the legislature of Northern Ireland, a democratically elected body of 90 members. The Assembly is one half of two institutions created under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement that sought to end the violent Troubles which saw the deaths of more than 3,500 people, 52% of which were civilians. The Good Friday Agreement focuses on the shared power of Northern Ireland, with Ireland.
The Republic of Ireland hate England, and the fact we still retain Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom. I never understood why until now looking into it properly. This is predictably "British" history. After the Protestant Reformation when Henry VIII crowned himself the King of Ireland in 1542, we literally established ourselves as their illegitimate monarch. Then shortly after, James I imposed the Plantation of Ulster in 1609 to assert our dominance over the country and quash rebellion from the Gaelic Irish in the north.
The ROI have fought tooth and nail to reclaim their independence without any English involvement of their country ever since with repeated "Irish Home Rule" Bills in 1886, 1893 and 1914. The reality is that England literally took their land at gunpoint and added it to our Empire; anyone who rebelled against us holding their lands was executed. Northern Ireland wants to remain in the UK however the Gaelic Irish of the Republic of Ireland do not consider the Ulster Unionists as true Irish, and rather borne out of the Plantations of English and Scottish invaders who confiscated their lands. They view the Ulster Unionists as descendants of the oppressive British and dismiss their claims to Northern Ireland.
This is why the Republicans became established as the IRA and sought to turf the Ulster Unionists out of their lands. Their logic, "get out of our country or we'll force you out". This is why there pervades an inherit tension between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and resultantly the Sinn Fein party (Republicans) and the DUP (Unionists). The Good Friday Agreement was meant to be England taking a back seat, not getting involved and letting ROI and NI democratically rule Ulster. This was seen as the only way to broker a ceasefire - basically by ceding some control of Northern Ireland to the Republicans.
The Troubles were a three decade period of civil conflict between Ireland (Republican's such as the IRA) and Northern Ireland (Loyalist's such as the Ulster Resistance). The IRA wished for Northern Ireland to leave the UK and join a united Ireland; the Ulster Resistance wished for Northern Ireland to remain part of the UK. The Ulster Resistance caused more civilian deaths than the IRA; 85% of those they killed were civilians; the Ulster Resistance was founded by a collection of people who went on to be prominent DUP politicians.
The Good Friday Agreement included a ceasefire between Ireland and Northern Ireland, and introduced a democratic, diplomatic process that would help maintain stability. The DUP were the only major political group in Northern Ireland who opposed the Good Friday Agreement. Under the Good Friday Agreement, England acts as a mediator between Ireland and Northern Ireland to keep the peace.
The Sinn Fein party are the second largest Northern Ireland party, and also have representation in Ireland. They are Republicans, whereas the DUP are Loyalists making it a tense affair between the parties given the IRA/Ulster history during the Troubles. Sinn Fein refuse to actually take their seats at parliament as they do not consider the Northern Ireland Assembly a legitmate Government.
Sinn Fein have also refused to share power with DUP due to accusations that the DUP were responsible for the misspending of £500,000,000 of public money in the RHI scandal. The last Assembly collapsed in March 2017 after their latest snap election that saw the DUP take 28 seats, and the Sinn Fein party take 27. This means at present Northern Ireland do not have a Government, and the Republicans have a very firm foothold in Northern Ireland.
Concerns are mounting about the Tories giving DUP power in Westminster, as this will raise the ire of Sinn Fein and could potentially undo all of the progress made under the Good Friday Agreement. The view is that England cannot act as an impartial mediator between the Republican party Sinn Fein and the Loyalist party DUP when they have a vested interest in one side for their own purposes.
At present there are very justified concerns of a potential breakdown of the ceasefire in Ireland, and a resurgence of IRA and Ulster bombings in the near future as a result of the Tories aligning themselves with the DUP.
There is a rational logic to why the UK welcoming the DUP into a position of power would serve to further frustrate the Republicans. It is like we stole their country, refused to leave part of it, and agreed begrudgingly to allow them to influence how it's governed. To the Republic of Ireland, a close partnership with the Tories in Westminster will seem like the DUP can leverage preferential treatment at Stormont, the headquarters of the Northern Irish Assembly. This is not a strong and stable decision by our Government.
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