Unionists returned in force to Ballinamore, Co Leitrim, after a gap of 100 years. Three Ulster Unionists formed a majority on a panel in the town's Commercial Hotel where they engaged in open and frank discussion with republicans and nationalists.
The last time Unionists gathered there was in the early 1900s and they have not been back since – that is until Friday evening. The panel was chaired by county librarian Sean O'Sullivan and consisted of Ulster Unionists David Thompson, Steven McColl and myself, Senator Joe McHugh of Fine Gael and Dara O'Hagan of Sinn Féin. A representative of Fianna Fail failed to appear.
Leitrim is not well known in Belfast and yet Ballinamore, in the heart of rural Ireland, only lies about 10 miles south of Enniskillen. It is the most sparsely populated county in Ireland but by no means the smallest. The decline in population began with the Famine and continued until the last census. Hence there is now only a tiny minority of Protestants in
Leitrim, which also boasts an Orange Lodge. Ballyjamesduff in the adjacent Co Cavan has a magnificent museum collection of Orange, Black, Apprentice Boys as well as nationalist banners housed in a former convent.
The debate in Ballinamore focused on the question, "Is the solution to the conflict within the Good Friday Agreement?" The panel agreed that in some sense it was central although more was required than a piece of paper. David Thompson said the solution did not lie in the document but in ourselves – we had to change and make it work. The audience raised a range of other issues. The unionists emphasised the need for the IRA to decommission and effectively to disband. Steven McColl referred to a recent article in the Irish News by Denis Bradley in which he called for Sinn Féin to generate what Steven referred called a "Mandela moment".
This idea was to act in such a generous fashion that opponents would be stunned into silence, thus making solid and substantial progress possible. Dara O'Hagan, however, argued that to precipitate decommissioning of all arms would be a recipe for war and I agreed. Complete and immediate decommissioning was unrealistic and could destabilise the situation and bring us back to violence. It could leave the initiative with physical force people but it was not possible for republicans to avoid the issue.
If republicans are to have places in a democratic system of government they could not ride two horses. Further substantial acts of decommissioning had to inspire confidence in the whole community. The price for the unionists is likely to entail the inclusion of former paramilitaries in government as well as a range of other changes.
The price for republicans would include the effective dismantling of private armies and an acceptance of the norms of democratic life. Such changes cannot be initiated overnight but more than five years have passed since the agreement and the instability generated by the failure to begin decommissioning in a way that inspires confidence, makes this an extremely urgent matter.
Everyone agrees that the road ahead is strewn with obstacles. These have to be cleared through mutual confidence-building measures.
One of the issues raised by Dara O'Hagan was that of equality. I asked what she meant because deprivation and disadvantage exist within both communities. Dara confirmed that republicans are aware of this feature of loyalist working class life.
Another question was whether we would accept Irish unity, given a majority vote for this.
All panellists saw this as a complex matter because the situation was changing. I said that territorial unity was not the issue and recognition of the legitimacy of each tradition was more important. A question about civil rights in the 1960s was raised and local republican Martin Kenny said it was the first time he had heard a unionist accept that there was legitimacy in the demands of nationalists. I stressed firstly that the unionist leadership had wanted change but were effectively stymied by hardliners.
Secondly, issues like universal franchise in local elections affected both communities and thirdly, such disabilities could never justify the ensuing violence.
The unionists returned home knowing they had been heard. They had also listened and are conscious that there is growing mutual understanding of the difficulties faced by each tradition. Clearly there is a need for further encounters.
