The new minority communities: Of all the parties in the North, the DUP is most opposed to migrants. Sílim go bhfuil siad ag vótáil ar son an chinéal ruda a tchí tú i mBéal Feirste.go bhfuil fáilte roimh gach duine" - #ToghchánanTionóil /oXmaA2r183 "Níl daoine ag vótáil ar son an ghlais a bheith in uachtar. Even as the waters rose, they turned away those who might have been sympathetic to their pro-Union cause. Instead of doing any of that, they prayed for victory and cursed their enemies. Most of all, they could have shaken the outstretched hand of Martin McGuinness in friendship rather than spurned yet another olive branch. They could have treated the defeated republicans post-1921 as equal citizens they could have granted civil rights protesters their demands rather than batter them off the streets they could have heeded rather than harried the hunger strikers they could have rolled out the red carpet for Sinn Féin as the party entered the political process rather than try to steamroller their first representatives. OUTSTRETCHED HANDĪnd it’s not that unionism didn’t have many opportunities to save itself. Similarly, at the Westminster elections in 2019, unionists won only a minority of the 18 seats up for grabs, losing their North Belfast bastion in the process.Ĭan unionism hope for a revival in the Assembly elections tomorrow Thursday, 5 May? It’s hard to see any evidence that they have taken steps to reverse the flow of events – unless you count praying for salvation. Speaking to the Prime Minister, Leader says: "The Irish Sea border is harming our economy, it is undermining political stability in Northern Ireland." /PK0JbKOCrP In 2019, for the first time since the UK entered the EU, unionists saw their number of seats in the European Parliament reduced from two-out-of-three to one-out-of-three. In 2017, unionists lost their majority in the Northern Ireland Assembly and held just 40 out of 90 seats in the last parliament. In 1997, unionists lost their grip on Belfast City Council as the first representative from the Catholic community was elected as Lord Mayor - after a wait of a mere 384 years!
The DUP party, the flagship of unionism, is holed below the waterline. It’s doubtful whether there was ever a political grouping who could embrace such vibrant colours and yet make of them a monochrome political landscape.īut that is the achievement of unionism 101 years after the establishment of the state of Northern Ireland. In the years since, unionism has continued to retreat in the city where only one of the four MPs returned to Westminster is now a unionist.ĭespite the mounting evidence that their beloved province is taking on water, they are praying that everything is well and that the tide of a United Ireland can be held back.īut while unionists refuse to change, all around them society is moving on, leaving the diehards with nothing to cling to but their red, white and blue flags and their Orange parades. Peeved, St Peter responded: “Come to your rescue? Sure Our Lord sent a motorboat and a helicopter to save you and you turned both away.” “Despite all my prayers, God did not come to my rescue.” “I was drowned in a flood,” replied the recently deceased. “How did you die,” asked the guardian of the pearly gates. Shortly afterwards, he drowned and appeared before St Peter at the Gates of Heaven.