IF only staunch unionists put the same amount of effort and passion into making this place work for all as they do obsessing on the Irish language.
With clanging inevitability this week, TUV woman Ann McClure lost her multi-point challenge to Belfast City Council procedures on the Irish language.
Ms McClure initiated the proceedings in the wake of last October’s approval by City Hall of a draft Irish language policy which will see increased use of the language across a wide range of Council activities, from signage and uniforms to facilities and properties.
Five areas of dispute in the attempt to scupper the new policy were dismissed by Justice McLaughlin, with one point partially upheld. That related to the brief flying of a Palestinian flag. While the judge identified a legal defect in the mechanism used to hoist the flag, he declined to overturn that decision as it would have been proper had it been arrived at by way of the Council’s current standing orders.
The comprehensive defeat is of course a heavy blow to the TUV and to the rag-tag bunch of other unionists who attached themselves to the action. And since a catastrophic reversal it was, it had to be wrapped up as a win with a red, white and blue bow. So the technical discrepancy in the Palestine flag incident was seized on as a highly significant win, with unionists being asked to ignore the fact that the flag decision had not been overturned and would be straightforwardly repeated through existing channels should councillors decide to fly it again in the future. And unionists were also invited not to take the time to consider why a win would necessitate the appeal of losses.
It appears that the three unionist parties have no intention of doing what necessity and common sense demand. The Irish language is going to be accorded a place in the life of this city that it has been cynically denied in the past whatever unionism does or says – this week’s verdict is a 24-carat example of that reality. The writing is quite literally on the wall. The smart thing would be to manage how that reality manifests itself – to negotiate an agreed strategy that acknowledges and acts on any genuine concerns that unionists may have about the new face that this city will be presenting in the future.
Instead, grubby electoral advantage wins the day and unionists prefer to make angry and bitter noises about how they’re being shafted again in an attempt to keep their voters so disillusioned and suspicious that they’ll vote for the very people who are making them disillusioned and suspicious.
At some stage someone is going to have to say stop. New(ish) UUP leader Jon Burrows has already proved himself incapable of being that person, preferring to involve himself in the kind of culture war irrelevancies that he said he was going to avoid.
Which means that only continued electoral decline can change the record. Those unionists who see the Irish language opposition for the folly it is may not vote accordingly, but they will stay at home – and unionism already has so many stay-at-home voters that it just can’t afford any more.
