Junior makes his own Irish land grab

Yesterday's debate in the House of Commons makes interesting reading at one point:

"Like the hon. Gentleman, who is also a great Unionist committed to the Union, I believe that the same benefits should flow whether in the north of England or the northern part of Ulster. [Interruption.] That includes Donegal; we will get it back into the Union at some point soon."

For these are the words of Ian Paisley in response to an intervention from David Anderson the Labour MP for Blaydon. Anderson has referred to the North of Ireland and it appears that Paisley was pedantically pulling him up that the most Northern point of Ireland is not the off shore part of his North Antrim constituency, Rathlin, but is Malin Head in Donegal.

But he has gone beyond pointing out that fact as has asserted that Donegal will be back in the Union soon. Now Paisley's party the DUP have recently been telling Sinn Féin there colleagues in the Northern Ireland Assembly that there will be no need in the near future for a border poll regarding the status of the six counties of Northern Ireland. So how, if there is to be no border poll, can he claim that Donegal will be back in the Union soon?

Is he suggesting a county by county poll? Results could lead to an interesting patch work across Ireland is certain counties vote to come back/stay in the UK and others vote to leave or remain in the Republic of Ireland.

Or his he going to launch a military strike on some part of another EU member?

Electorally in the last general election it doesn't look like the voters of Donegal are Unionists. Of the six Teachta Dálas elected two were from Sinn Féin one in each seat* and the independent elected for Donegal South West was previously a Sinn Féin councillor.

Now my family has direct roots in Donegal and indeed the neighbouring  county Londonderry. There would be uproar if both of those counties were no longer border regions. The people of Derry couldn't buy their cheap petrol in Euros just over the border an the people of Donegal couldn't buy cheap electronics etc in The Foyleside shopping centre in Derry City.

So just how is Ian Paisley junior planning to get Donegal back into the Union soon?

The answer my friends is simple.

In his (and only his) dreams.

* Indeed in both seats electing under STV Sinn Féin topped the poll. In Donegal North East it was enough to be elected on the first count, in SouthWest it left them 202 votes short of quota.

When you fail to respect Donegal Loyalism you lose my respect

As regular readers of my blog will know I have a family history that goes back to Donegal. Indeed one of my Great Grandfather's was a Grand Master in the Orange Order in that county pre-partition.

Therefore with my roots divided by the imaginary line across our island I naturally associate myself as Irish as much as anything. Because even though my roots are largely within Ulster, they are by in large from the part of Ulster that joined the 26 Counties of the Republic of Ireland.

Therefore the meaning of the Tricolour means something to me. The Orange quarter furthest away from the flag pole actually represents those Presbyterian farmers from Donegal who were relatives. It represents those Loyalist men and women who also signed the Ulster Covenant but were not kept within the United Kingdom. At the other edge of the flag is of course the green that represents Ireland and the nationalist movement and in the middle is white for peace.

Today yet again the Tricolour was burnt outside Belfast City Hall. As will all such burnings the so called 'loyalists' burn from the end furthest away from the pole. Little do they realise that in so doing they are burning away the legacy of those Protestant men and women who did not remain within the United Kingdom. They are burning away the legacy of my ancestors some of whose descendants still live in Donegal and other parts of the Republic.

They claim that the removal of the Union Flag is a chipping away at their Britishness. Well the burning away of the Orange third of the Tricolour is a disrespect to the Britishness of those Loyalists who were cast away in 1922. The burning of that flag and the symbolism of it is also a disregard of those of us proud of our roots which lie outside of Northern Ireland, who come from Loyalist backgrounds, but realise that we are Irish and British at the same time, through no fault of our own making.

Disrespecting a flag that actually goes out of the way to recognise your Orange brethren (if indeed you are Orange) is no respect of tradition or vexillology and the meaning behind it. The Irish Republic when creating their flag recognised that they were a divided community. Yet the Loyalist of Belfast cannot recognise the same here, even though the flag will now be flown to mark all the birthdays of the senior Royals and important days in the Queen's reign. Surely more honouring to the crown to notice these events as special than the current 365 day flying of flags that end up getting frayed as a result.

Arson not the answer even if words enflame

As I've said before on this blog I'm proud to be an Ulster man. I may also have mentioned that the family heritage comes from the North West of the Province and by that I mean Donegal, which of course is now in the republic.

So when last weekend DUP MLA for Mid Ulster Ian McCrea tweeted this last weekend:

I was actually rather divided. You see while the family historically is from Donegal, my father's line for at least four generations comes from the city on the Foyle, that give the County of Londonderry its name. Indeed the last Gaelic game I saw live was the Derry v Antrim game at Casement Park after doing some Yes! campaigning outside.

However, this being Northern Ireland you have to be careful of the words you use. In the early hours of Sunday morning the picture to the left shows the remains of the MLA's car after it was torched.

The MLA was disgusted, and quite rightly so, as there is a Oil Cylinder nearby and this inferno was not far from his front door. Yes his is right that arson is too much of a response, no matter how much his inappropriate Tweet enflamed, but of course it was his lack of respect that led to an increase in the heat over this issue. But if we are to start talking about a shared future, maybe Mr McCrea needs to visit the young Gaelic team on the Shankhill Road, which I blogged about the week before his comments.

Maybe if some of our DUP members were to attend a Gaelic game and see that the crowd mingle more like a Rugby crowd than the segregation of an Association Football match. If they see there is less crowd trouble here than at a Linfield v Glentoran game (two team with largely loyalist support). My challenge to Mr McCrea and his DUP colleagues is go to a GAA match with your SDLP and DUP opposite numbers and take them along to a Rugby game. Learn about the sports that many have seen dividing the community in unity, look around you and see people enjoying themselves. Wanting their team to win at the level that they are competing, that is a common trait in all sport for all sections of our community.

If you are elected to represent a constituency you need to represent all of the people, you don't need to support all the same teams but you have to respect those that do follow a team that makes up part of the community that elect you want to see that team win.

We shall find out in 17 July whether Donegal or Derry will be successful in the Ulster Championships.