It was almost forty years ago when the Irish Cold War showed the first signs of thawing. Appropriately enough it was a snowy day in January 1965 when Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Sean Lemass’ limo made its way up the long drive of Stormont estate on the outskirts of Belfast. By going to the seat of power of the Northern Ireland government to meet Prime Minister Terence O’Neill, Lemass entered the history books. It was the first ever official visit to the North by a southern premier. In its own way, the meeting that day was comparable to Nixon’s first summit with Mao or Rabin’s reluctant handshake with Arafat.
On both sides hardliners protested at this tentative détente between the two Irish states. Indeed, even as Lemass’ motorcade approached the building, it was pelted with snowballs by disgruntled loyalists. TV cameras were there to capture the scene for posterity. Chief among the small mob that day was a large man with an even larger voice - the Rev. Ian Paisley.
Over the course of the intervening forty years Paisley has been the implacable foe of co-operation, whether between unionist and nationalist, or between north and south. Ranting against “Dublin interference” has been a staple of his Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). Paisley views the southern state as irredentist, pro-IRA and run by the Catholic clergy. Insults are frequently directed towards the Irish republic on issues as varied as the poor standards of their roads to their less than exemplary record during the Second World War. Stories of paedophile priests are jumped on with almost sadistic glee as proof of a wider sickness south of the border.
Just four years after Lemass’ historic visit to Belfast the reformist O’Neill was finished, defeated by Paisley at the polls and consigned to the dustbin of history. In 1974 Paisley led a huge strike by loyalist workers to bring down the Sunningdale agreement which had formalised north/south co-operation for the first time. In 1985 Paisley was again at the forefront of loyalist protests against the Anglo-Irish Agreement which gave the Republic a say in the running of the North. He was at the head of a series of demos, strikes and stunts, a veritable unionist intifada, in the following years.
After the 1998 Good Friday Agreement expanded north/south co-operation, Paisley led the “no” campaign in the ensuing referendum. What then was the DUP’s reaction today when the current Taoiseach Bertie Ahern visited the largely Protestant town of Coleraine? The weather didn’t oblige with snow, but surely there would be some sort of protest, or heckling, or stunt? No, as it turned out. The Taoiseach’s visit to Coleraine passed without incident. In fact the town’s lord mayor, Dessie Stewart of the DUP, was on hand to welcome the Irish premier.
Why the lack of animosity? There are several reasons. Firstly, since the DUP became the largest unionist party in November’s election the party has embarked on cautious engagement with the Irish government. Several meetings have held between the two sides in a cordial atmosphere. The party, increasingly under the influence of less extreme elements, wants to be part of a new deal and that means working with the two governments, not yelling at them.
Secondly, there is the Taoiseach himself. Unlike his predecessors such as Albert Reynolds and Charlie Haughey, Bertie Ahern does not elicit strong personal dislike from unionists. He’s not seen as being particularly “green”. On a radio programme today the Taoiseach was asked if he thought he would live to see his country united. “Perhaps, if I live to be an old man” was the reply.
Finally, unionists actually find themselves in the strange position of having common ground with the Taoiseach’s party Fianna Fail. Ahern has ruled out sharing power with Sinn Fein in the South until the IRA dismantles. Ironically, this is exactly analogous to the DUP’s position in the North. What’s more, Ahern has supported comments by his Justice Minister describing Sinn Fein as “morally unclean” because of their links to criminality. When was the last time that a British minister spoke of republicans in such strong terms?
These are strange days we live in. Strange days when some unionists are more open to power sharing with Sinn Fein than many in the South are. Strange days when the stronger condemnation of republican paramilitarism comes from Dublin, not London. And strange days when handshakes replace snowballs.