SOMETIMES what’s happening is captured in the fate of one person; other times it’s seen in the actions and mood of a whole community. Unionism and nationalism have reached that point where their present state and future prospects show as clear as day.
The person who encapsulates unionism is, of course, Jeffrey Donaldson. By the time he joined the DUP in 2003 he had built a formidable base in Lagan Valley and he kept on getting comfortably elected decade after decade. When he joined the DUP in 2003, he brought with him a hefty swathe of unionist voters whom the DUP could otherwise never have hoped to capture.
Alas, over twenty years have passed and movement in the DUP has been steadily downward. In 2017, the DUP captured 36% of the vote; in 2019 it was down to 30.5%; in 2022 the DUP’s first-preference vote dropped to 21.3%, electing just 5 MPs. In 1997 they’d elected 10.
The line marking the state of Northern Ireland remained, but what was happening inside that line was steady and relentless. The line had been created to maintain a permanent majority of votes for unionism. The voting pattern showed with terrible clarity that the good ship Union was leaking in what looked like a terminal way. As Jim Allister had once predicted, the DUP’s vote was going down, down, down.
As if loss at the ballot box wasn’t enough, former DUP leader Donaldson has been revealed as a sexual predator and a hypocrite, and today sits alone in a cell in the hospital wing of Maghaberry prison. The men and women who had stood beside and behind him for Stormont interviews, nodding in approval at every syllable from Jeffrey’s lips, were now scurrying in a mad race to put as much distance as possible between him and themselves.
Gavin Robinson, Jeffrey’s successor, sighed and declared that Jeffrey’s deeds were "heinous and despicable," his behaviour "predatory and repugnant". And in case we missed the point, they were “wicked”.
Paul Givan declared his former leader’s actions "evil" and that there could be "no mitigation and no excuses". Words like "heinous, despicable, predatory and vile" flew freely from DUP lips, and the party has announced an independent review following the emergence of fresh allegations surrounding its disgraced former leader.
Senior members of the DUP denied the party had any knowledge of inappropriate behaviour by the convicted paedophile before the former leader’s arrest over historical sex abuse allegations.
In a statement on Friday night, the DUP said its leadership is “deeply concerned” by allegations that have surfaced in recent days relating to inappropriate behaviour by Donaldson, and the indication that some may have had knowledge of inappropriate behaviour but which was never reported to party officers.
Earlier, Stormont Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons said Donaldson was “duplicitous” and there was “no inkling” in the party about his propensity for exploitative or abusive conduct. Lyons’s party colleague Paul Givan said there were rumours about Donaldson, but no evidence, and none of a “criminal nature”.
Maybe unionist voters might conclude that the election of such see-nothing-hear-nothing representatives suggests bad judgment by the electorate that voted them in.
And what are nationalists and republicans doing as unionism shrinks and shatters? Nationalists and republicans are preparing for an influx of some 120,000 visitors to Belfast for the August Fleadh. Belfast City Hall will have an outdoor ‘Gig Rig’ stage. The city centre will be pedestrianised to accommodate the crowds. This is the first time Belfast has hosted the Fleadh, the world’s largest celebration of Irish traditional music and culture.
Bobby Sands got it right big-time: “Our revenge will be the laughter of our children."
