On Thursday I attended the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation as an Ulster Unionist in a personal capacity.
This was the first of two days devoted to Northern Ireland – regrettably in the view of some southerners who want to see reform of the Irish state.
On Thursday an Orange delegate, Ulster Unionists and Protestant clergy gave updates on present thinking and concerns. This was considered important because, unlike most other political parties, Unionists are not members of the forum. A second day this week will concentrate on sectarianism and inter-group relations.
I had made a submission to the forum on February 10 1995 when I was the first and, at that stage, the only Ulster Unionist attending. Although I had the support of some leading loyalists, it was not a popular thing to do and at one party meeting a leading anti-agreement Unionist urged me not to attend because of his fear that I would be misled by "Irish Blarney". Afterwards an internal investigation concluded that I had not damaged unionism.
Apart from some anti-agreement unionists I received universal encouragement and people often congratulated me in the street.
On that first foray to Dublin Castle I felt king for the day and actually sat on a seat apparently given to Dublin Castle by King William III. I had previously researched my own family history and discovered we had come to Ireland from Essex via Wales with Strongbow's Normans before settling near Dundalk. On the way north Roger Garland could have been in Dublin Castle.
I must have been among the first of my family to return after 825 years. I visited Norman ramparts and the ancient Viking moat that still exists beneath the castle. The edifice breathes the ethos and atmosphere of our British-Irish past and the people I met seemed as deeply touched by the presence of a unionist as I was to be there.
Last Thursday was somewhat different. Things had moved on and a serious impasse now faces Northern Ireland's new political institutions. About 10 days earlier I had addressed a PUP conference on Belfast's Shankill Road.
Although loyalists remained confident, they were facing strains and Billy Hutchinson expressed concern about the way they were being portrayed in the media. There was suspicion that the authorities were deliberately misrepresenting all loyalists as Neanderthals. Ten days later Chief Constable Hugh Orde seemed to confirm this impression by vowing to crack down on loyalists – again without qualification – arrest their leaders and clear them off the streets. Apart from questions of legality raised by Robert McCartney QC, Mr Orde should bear in mind that some loyalists have suffered precisely because of their work for peace and progress and have faced sustained opposition from anti-agreement militants as 'hard men gone soft'. Nor are they all criminal gangsters.
At the Dublin forum on Friday unionists were agreed that progress towards a peaceful and democratic society was painfully slow. They argued that a major responsibility lies on the shoulders of republicans. Liz O'Donnell TD also honestly accepted that the "disarmament we had in mind has not happened". People were not scapegoating Sinn Féin but were expressing genuine regret at the apparent stalemate and failures. We had come to a point where only substantial progress on banishing the shadow of IRA gunmen can save the institutions.
Professor Paul Bew, at the opening of the forum, pointed to the fallacy of expecting the DUP to somehow rescue the process.
There is little doubt that the DUP are hoping for a breakthrough in their bitter life-and-death struggle with the UUP. The problem is that even were they to find a formula and an electoral mandate to have first or second minister in partnership with Sinn Féin, many supporters would jump ship and the UUP could feel impelled to move decisively to the right – at which point many pro-agreement unionists might desert.
In the early 1970s Ian Paisley tried to present himself as a reasonable, moderate figure but soon found he was captive to his own right wing. Because of populist credentials and pandering to the lowest common denominator, the DUP offers nothing positive or creative to the people of Northern Ireland and Stalinist/Hitlerite alliances could prove highly unstable.
The positive side is that the DUP is showing signs of welcoming dialogue. The experience of those who have engaged in no-holds-barred dialogue at the forum and elsewhere is an entirely positive one. The primary need is to acquaint each other with the realities and complexities of the other's experiences.
The DUP could play a helpful role in this if they dared but, by its very nature, dialogue should in general be private and not a high-wire act to be engaged in for effect – or for votes.
