Justine McCarthy: Northern nationalists are right to detect bias from their counterparts in the Republic

The boozy but stellar movie star Richard Harris used to tell a tale about two newspaper headlines that encapsulated a British double standard about his national identity. “Drunken Irish actor in brawl”, one headline sneered after a hell-raising night on the town by the Limerick native. “Talented British actor...” bragged the other headline after he won an award.Ireland might laugh, but it can be just as hypocritical about who it regards as authentically Irish. Ask this country’s citizens living north of the Border. Their tales may not be as amusing, but the identity bias they detect from the Republic is no less real.When Northerners bring home a haul of Irish medals from the Olympics they are hailed as national heroes, but heaven forfend we might let them vote for our president. Patrick Kielty and the Derry Girls live in our sittingrooms, but they get no say in referendums shaping the country.With talk of reunification slowly cranking up, the constant message rammed home to Irish citizens in Northern Ireland is they simply must go on living with partition, indefinitely. Their circumstances play second fiddle to the priority that unionists must be reassured about prospective unification. READ MORENorthern unionists’ fears must be respected and allayed – but that should not mean airbrushing the wishes of northern nationalists out of the agenda. The more it keeps happening, the more alienated from the Irish State they are likely to feel. Bunreacht na hÉireann has been averring since 1999 that it is “the firm will of the Irish nation, in harmony and friendship, to unite all the people who share the territory”. The will of our politicians, however, is questionable. This newspaper reported on Tuesday that Fine Gael junior minister Neale Richmond acknowledged in a draft speech on reunification that some members of his own party “are simply uninterested or uncomfortable” about even discussing the subject. Therein lies the truth of the matter. Behind all the rhetoric runs a gamut of southern opinion from indifference to over-my-dead-body. For the Republic’s armchair united Irelanders, making the island constitutionally whole again is as nice an idea as never having to die. Deep down, it’s comforting to know it’s not about to happen. “They’re different up there,” some in the 26 counties say, implicitly blaming their fellow citizens for having evolved under different influences since the 1920 Government of Ireland Act carved up the island.During the Troubles, it was a source of frequent puzzlement how anyone stayed in the North. Nationalists could have packed up and crossed the Border to escape the stress of life in the place. Violence on both sides was its extreme manifestation, but triumphalist parades and racist bonfires were routine provocations. The Orange Order’s application to be allowed to march down the nationalist Garvaghy Road this month – 28 years since repeated violent clashes put a stop to it – has tested its residents once again. The muted attention the order’s application has received in the Republic will only compound those residents’ sense of isolation. Southern politicians – not confined to Fine Gael – know that, while the Constitution’s ambition rings with a sort of Celtic romanticism, when push comes to shove their constituents are not all that keen to welcome their compatriots back into the fold. Opinion polls have repeatedly exposed this ambivalence. One such was conducted for the North and South research project run by ARINS (Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South) – an academic collective – and The Irish Times. It showed that although more than two-thirds of respondents in the Republic backed unity, 41 per cent of those said they would be less likely to vote for it if it meant they would have less money in their pocket. This compares to 28 per cent of pro-unity Catholics in Northern Ireland saying less money would potentially put them off.Are citizens in the south prepared to change the national anthem or the flag to facilitate unification? Not on your life. “I’m all right, Jack,” the rescued sailor cried. “Pull the ladder up behind me.”There was a time when the Republic envied the North’s comparative affluence – its motorways and efficient health service. Now the Republic is the richer of the two. Yet the chant grows louder that it cannot afford the monetary cost of unification.Last year’s Economic and Social Research Institute report, Economic Overview of Ireland and Northern Ireland, showed the gap has continued to widen since 2018, when household disposable income in the south was 18.3 per cent higher than in the north. Hourly earnings were 36 per cent higher in the south in 2022 and the Government here now invests substantially more on healthcare provision. Citizens in the Republic enjoy a two-year longer life expectancy than their counterparts in the North.The Central Bank of Ireland reported last month that the total net wealth of Irish households increased by €55.3 billion in the first three months of this year, reaching €1,429.5 billion – an all-time high.It’s a poor republic that cannot give equal consideration to all its citizens. One that is willing to jettison some of its people to ensure a more comfortable life for the rest.The threat of civil unrest is cited as an obstacle to unification, raising the question if a State should renege on its constitutional aspiration for fear of reprisals. The irony is the Ulster Volunteer Force’s threat of violent defiance more than a century ago contributed to ending the plan for home rule from Dublin and set the seeds for the partition that followed. There is a thing called loser’s consent, meaning those who vote against unification in a referendum are willing to accept the majority decision. If not, the new state would have a justice system to deal with violent subversives.It’s easy to spout united Ireland platitudes when a majority in the North remains opposed to it, postponing any poll. There were sighs of relief throughout this island when British prime minister Andy Burnham said it was off the table. Twenty-nine years since Belfast woman Mary McAleese could not vote for herself in the presidential election, there are more borders in our minds than we care to admit.