Thursday, June 30, 2016
Hibernians Call for a Vote on a Reunified Ireland
Hibernians Call for a Vote on a Reunified Ireland
By Neil
Cosgrove – AOH National PEC Chairman
New
City, New York – 6/29/2016– The Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) In the wake of the historic vote
by the citizens of the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, the Ancient
Order of Hibernians calls for a vote, as provided for in the Good Friday
Agreement, to allow the citizens of Northern Ireland to decide if they wish to
leave the United Kingdom and to reunify with the Irish Republic and the
European Union. Per
National President Brendan Moore: “For
those who seek a reunification of Ireland and the return of sovereignty to the
Irish people, the recent ‘Brexit’ vote and the mandate for the United Kingdom
to leave the European Union is not without its ironies. We note that a widely
circulated photo of a pro-Leave banner stated: ‘Vote Leave … and honor those
who died for our freedom from foreign rule.’ Certainly, Irish Republicans from
Wolfe Tone to Bobby Sands would understand those sentiments. In that spirit,
the Ancient Order of Hibernians believe that the people of Northern Ireland should have the same opportunity
to vote to ‘Leave’ the United Kingdom as the people of England were given to leave United Europe.”
A more dangerous irony of the
Brexit vote is a re-emergence of what has been the true curse of Irish History,
not sectarianism, but the “double standard”; that in an alleged “United Kingdom” there is one rule for England and another for Ireland. The poster child for this
duplicity is Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Theresa Villiers. Ms.
Villiers has been an unabashed cheerleader for the Leave Campaign, her
activities taking priority over her more mundane duties such as seeking justice
for the victims of Loughlinlsland and other incidents of state colluded murder.
While celebrating the Brexit vote, Ms. Villiers is simultaneously dismissing
calls for a border poll on Irish reunification on the grounds that, per Ms.
Villiers, “none of the polls indicate there is support for a United Ireland.”
We point out that the most recent “poll” of the people of Northern Ireland, Ms. Villiers’ beloved Brexit
vote, indicates otherwise. In the Brexit vote, over 55.8% of the people of Northern Ireland indicated that they wish to remain
in the European Union, an opportunity that a united Ireland would afford them. For Ms.
Villiers to publicly defend a “Leave” vote on a margin of 4% as a mandate to
reshape the map of Europe while claiming that the 11% margin indicating the
people of Northern Ireland wish to remain in Europe is insufficient to allow
the people of Northern Ireland an opportunity to fulfill their will through a
vote on Irish reunification would appear to indicate that Ms. Villiers is
mathematically and logically challenged. We call on more prudent heads in Westminster, Stormont and Dublin to ensure that the principles of
the Good Friday Agreement are honored and its dividends of peace not squandered
by Ms. Villiers and her continued duplicitous policies in Northern Ireland. Let us not let Ms. Villiers,
through political machinations and equivocations, lose the opportunity for
peace in Ireland in the 21st century as Asquith did
in the 20th. Let us not have another Irish generation lose faith in the process
of peaceful legislative change to achieve their aspirations for their country
because British politicians redefine agreed commitments on a whim to suit their
political agenda and appease their handlers in Westminster.
Let us continue to work to take
down the oxymoronic “peace walls” in Belfast and Derry, not create new Brexit-inspired
walls on the borders of Armagh, Tyrone, Fermanagh and Derry. Let us not risk a return to the
bullet and the bayonet only because, for self-serving political motives, Ms.
Villiers fears the ballot. Let us accord the people of Northern Ireland the same right to choose their
future association with the United Kingdom in the same way the citizens of
the United Kingdom were allowed to speak on their
association with a United Europe. Let us have a vote on Irish reunification now.
