by antiaristo » Mon Feb 27, 2006 1:19 pm
I never bother reading this guy in the Obsever. He is so obviously an apologist for the British. But it does show us the Unionist perspective.<br><br>Saturday's planned march was clearly the dry-run for the old slag and her triumphant procession through the heart of Dublin. They will have to think again, won't they? <br><br><br><!--EZCODE QUOTE START--><blockquote><strong><em>Quote:</em></strong><hr><!--EZCODE FONT START--><span style="font-size:small;">Point of disorder</span><!--EZCODE FONT END--> <br><br>The weekend rioting in Dublin constitutes a serious setback both north and south of the border, writes Henry McDonald <br><br>Monday February 27, 2006 <br><br>Driving through the chaotic aftermath of Saturday's riots in central Dublin you could not help wondering what the city would be like if and when the Queen finally visits the Irish Republic. The presence of just 300 Ulster Protestants, including victims of terrorist violence as well as unionist politicians, in the capital provoked widespread trouble and turned O'Connell Street - Ireland's main thoroughfare - into a battleground. If republicans could do this, and force the re-routing of the Love Ulster rally, what will they have in store for the British monarch when she comes to town?<br><br><!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The Irish president, Mary McAleese, has paid several visits now to Buckingham Palace. There is said to be a friendly rapport between the two heads of state. McAleese has made no secret of her desire to see a royal visit to Dublin, the first since the Irish state was founded in 1921</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->. Inside the Irish department of foreign affairs policy wonks have been hoping that the Queen in Dublin would send a powerful message to northern unionists, not only that the centuries old antipathy towards Britain has gone but that their British culture is respected by government and people south of the border.<br><br>After Saturday's disturbances, which saw mobs attack the Irish police, journalists, cameramen, foreign tourists and property, the prospect of a groundbreaking royal visit this year must surely be remote. Although the Queen is hardly likely to parade down O'Connell Street in a golden coach, republicans, especially those in the dissident camp, will seize upon her mere presence in the capital as an opportunity to wreck Dublin, cause international headlines and mar the visit.<br><br>Normality may have returned to Dublin's streets, but there are two other long-term casualties from Saturday's orgy of destruction and looting. The rioters and those that helped them organise the disturbances have handed a propaganda gift to the people behind Love Ulster. Although the loyalist organisers had nothing but fulsome praise for the Garda Siochana and the Irish government for inviting them down, some of their more politically astute members will seize upon the violence and hostility. <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>The Irish foreign minister, Dermot Ahern,</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> said he had no problem with the Love Ulster rally, pointing that the Republic is a free country. To which Willie Frazer and the other loyalist organisers will counter: "Not unless you happen to be a unionist". Although they didn't get to march down O'Connell Street, in the minds of the loyalist march organisers the violent reaction proved their point. If Frazer and friends really wanted to underline that point, they would seek permission for another march in the near future.<br><br>Another casualty of Saturday's disturbances is the <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>political process north of the border.</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> The impression - no doubt exaggerated for political effect by some - created in unionist minds that deep down republicans won't allow them to be unionists injects further poison into an already toxic process. In the short term at least, the weekend's events push further back any chance of a <!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>breakthrough in Northern Ireland</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--> that would lead to the unlikely scenario of Ian Paisley sharing power with Sinn F&eactute;in.<br><br>The only thing to be relieved about is that it could actually have been much worse. Standing beside the statue of Charles Steward Parnell - the Protestant nationalist leader of the home rule struggle - awaiting the Love Ulster rally, it became apparent that a section of the republican protest was baying for blood. Between a nearby pub and the middle of O'Connell Street was a narrow bottleneck the Protestant marchers would have had to pass through.<br><br>If the Garda had forced the parade down the street 300 men, women and children including loyalist bandsmen would have had to run the gauntlet of jeering, angry, young men, many of them inebriated and almost all of them armed with some kind of missile. There was a real danger in that pressure point of a life or lives being lost, and if that had happened retaliatory sectarian violence would have escalated north of the border. That's how close Ireland came to plunging the island back into the dark days last Saturday afternoon.<br><br>· Henry McDonald is the Observer's Ireland editor<hr></blockquote><!--EZCODE QUOTE END--><br><br>A few comments on the bolded sections.<br><br>Mary McAleese, Irish President, is not entitled to an Irish passport under the Constitution revised by herself. She is British.<br><br>Dermot Ahern. That's the brother of the prime minister. Nothing like keeping power in the family, is there?<br><br>Breakthrough in Northern Ireland. That's what is supposed to have happened in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement, isn't it? Strange how there is always one more process to go through with the British.<br><br>Political process north of the border. What political process is that? Sinn Fein Members of Parliament are not allowed to take up their seats in the Commons. And the Regional Assembly has been in suspense since a British spy within Sinn Fein was accused of spying on the British more than two years ago.<br><br>The word of the Windsors is without value.<br><br><br><br> <p></p><i></i>