Fortnight Publications Ltd.

A European New YearAuthor(s): Dennis KennedySource: Fortnight, No. 53 (Jan. 5, 1973), p. 7Published by: Fortnight Publications Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25544413 .

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FORTNIGHT 7

A EUROPEAN NEW YEAR Dennis Kennedy

Like the UK, the Republic dki more than pass from 1972 to 1973 on New

Year's Day. Unlike the British, there was

no celebration, no dancing in the streets

or surfeit of cultural self-indulgence. 'Die

absence of ceremony was no doubt due as

much to lack of Government imagination as to maturity of outlook. A concert before

an invited audience in Dublin Castle was

abandoned before it had been finally arranged

. . . "for security reasons'*. And

there perhaps lies another reason for the.

absence of celebration. Major government

spending and lots of public festivities would no doubt have stimulated the

varieties of Republican into action on

their own anti-Market account.

The economic effects of the violence in

the North on the South have been considerable. There is the obvious

wrecking of the vital tourist industry, but

perhaps even more dangerous is the threat

to industrial investment that the present

situation poses. Huropean community

membership will mean, with increased

competition, at least a continuation of the

serious redundancy rate in non

competitive industry. The case for entry,

in this sector, was based not on the

elimination of redundancy, but on a

substantial net increase in jobs as a result

of fairly massive investment. The

Industrial Development Authority is still

predicting a spate of new factories and

jobs, increasingly adding the proviso that

the violence situation does not worsen.

If 1973 lakes up where '72 left off,

particularly with the spread of unrest and

of the bombing campaign to the Republic, the anticipated boom in investment

following immediately upon entry into the

IJ*C could be lost.

There is therefore, of course,

widespread dismay and apprehension over

the bombs in Dublin, and in the border

towns. 'Die general assumption is that

these have been placed by extreme

Loyalist elements from the North as a

crude form of retaliation, an attempt to

give the South a taste of what the North

has endured for three years. The timing of

the bombings the first one when the Dail was debating the strengthened anti

subversion law, the second when the

authorities seemed to be reluctant to use

their new powers, has led to a surprising

number of people, including less

surprisingly the Sinn Tein elements, to

assert that the bombs have been British as

distinct from Northern, and that have

been placed by British armed forces,

probably the SAS, which enjoys splendid notoriety here.

There is, and has been for some time,

great expectations of what common f-HC

membership will do for Anglo-Irish relations. One aspect of this, which may soon be dispelled, is the idea that

"Furope" will not tolerate the quarrel,

nnd will quickly bring Britain to a sensible view of Irish national aspirations. At a

different-level there has, been a deal of

government talk about the great value of

cross-border co-operation within the

Community. Mr. Lenihan, in his first

interview as Foreign Minister, saw this

leading eventually to unity.

But at a practical level, the

Government, or at least its civil servants^

realise that the LLC framework at present

offers little that could involve major cross

border projects. Regional development

may well do this, but the regional policy of the Community remains a hope and a

commitment rather than a reality, and

even if these hopes are fulfilled it will be several years before, for example,

Donegal and Derry find themselves in the one economic development region.

Over the past year there have been stray

references in Ministerial utterances to the

fact that 26-( ounty Irish people will have much stronger and more direct

representation on all ('ommunity

institutions than will their Northern brethren. Dr. Hillery has on occasions

given the impression that he thinks

Northerners, meaning Northern loyalists, will he impressed by this, and realise that

their interests could be protected better

by Dublin than London. The nomination

of Mr. Brendan Mark in as an Irish

member of the LLCs Lconomic and

Social Committee is presumably meant as

a token of this concern.

Like most other Dublin Government

views on the North this is based on a less

than intimate contact with the Northern

majority. (A Government expert on the

North was asked recently how he

ascertained the opinions of loyalists on

various issues-- -oh, he replied, I ask John

Hume.)

It is true, of course, that the Republic has generous representation in Brussels,

and that its influence, proportionately to

population and economic strength, is

greater than Britain's. Whether

Northerners sec this as something of

potential value rather than as an object of

resentment and fear, may depend on how

the Irish representatives conduct

themselves in Kuropc. ft is plainly not I>ublin's intention to try

and raise the Irish problem in any formal

way within the LLC machinery there is no machinery for doing that anyway but

there will certainly be the temptation to

use an adjacent international platform to

pursue the policy of pressurising the British by embarrassing them. Mr. Lynch did this to a limited extent in his speech to the Anglo-American press association in

Paris on the eve of the <)ctober summit.

Some of the less brilliant

parliamentarians selected for Strasbourg

may, if they speak at all, which would be

something of a surprise, lapse into the

familiar sore thumb approach to Britain. It

would be nice to think that the

Northerners, including the Unionists and

the too-sensitive Mr. Pounder, might take

Dublin at its word, and demand Dublin

support in the Community institutions for

anything that will benefit Ulster. What more natural in a community, after all,

than to expect help from friendly neighbours.

GO COMPREHENSIVE Ron Weiner

The education of a society reflects the

values on which that society is based. That

education in Northern Ireland is sectarian

has never been and cannot be denied.

Fach religion has. its own school system, teacher training colleges and its separate version of history. Those who wish for a

more integrated society in Northern

Ireland see part of the answer as lying in

an integrated, non-sectarian school

system. Yet religion is not the only

criterion in which the Northern Ireland

education system mirrors the standards of

the society. In terms of social class,

Northern Ireland has one of the most

discriminatory education systems of any

part of the United Kingdom, and it is

difficult to understand what people mean

when they frequently claim that Northern

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