To grizzled old cynics like me, there was something devilish about seeing Hillary Clinton celebrating St Patty’s day with a wistful speech about the auld days when herself and Bill partied in Belfast. There was Gerry in the audience smiling away. He might have been thinking about inviting Hilary to join him on the trampoline.
Hil and Ger. Two people who love to make reality suit their needs. Hillary needed a personal email account to keep in touch with Bill (who may or may not actually have an email address) while Gerry has been Taoiseach in waiting since the start of time. Nothing will stop his progress. The party will make sure of that. He’s been through so much to free us that we should be in awe of him.
Gerry and Hil got lucky with the Peace Process. It suited both of their narratives. Hillary can do the "hands across the border" trick while Gerry strode the stage like a statesman. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, how about a gang of soft free-staters who actually think the ‘war’ raised more questions than answers and those folks who have ‘gone away’ (or not) need to understand our truth and that our idea of what law and order is needs to be understood by them.
We don’t like the idea that the war is over and we can get on with our lives. We don’t like idea that the struggle happened to help us. We definitely do not like the idea that the 26 counties were used as a ‘dumping ground’ for black sheep who blotted their copy books up north. We knew there were safe houses but in a strange game of double-think we thought ‘aw well, that’s bandit country for you’. That was until Mairia. Mairia changed everything.
Some of those great volunteers spirited south were actually child abusers. We know that abusers do not change their behaviour over night.
What does that mean? Was the south seen as somewhere lesser than the north? We have seen this thinking before and it led to turning our backs on the Church. I’m not the only one thinking this.
Today on Lunchtime, we heard from Austin Stack. His father was murdered in an IRA attack (despite the movement denying responsibility) because he was a prison officer. Austin was brave enough to ask questions. Lots of questions. To give him credit, Gerry came up with the answers. Austin met people who were close to the war and they agreed. They shot Austin’s dad. Then Austin heard that the shooter was also a paedophile. You can hear the interview here:
I call that disturbing.
I also think the manner of the meeting is disturbing. Driving around in plywood clad vans does not strike me as the mark of a wholly democratic party. Have they gone away? Can quasi-state exile members instead of handing information to the state?
As I said before, you can decide at the next election if you think this behaviour is OK.
Use your vote wisely.
