What is democracy, Joxer, what is democracy?

If Scottish MPs can decide for Northern Ireland, doesn’t the opposite apply, asks Pól Ó Muirí

It is one of the most famous lines in Irish drama: “What is the stars, Joxer, what is the stars?” Spoken by Captain Boyle in Seán O’Casey’s Juno and the Paycock, it speaks of tumultuous times in Irish history. Were O’Casey to write the play today, perhaps he might repurpose the line as “What is democracy, Joxer, what is democracy?”

Voters in the Republic are preparing for a poll on who should govern the State. It is an odd poll, to be sure, as both main parties, Fine Gael, a fistful of independents and Fianna Fáil, through a supply and confidence arrangement, have all been running the State up to now anyway.

Leo Varadkar, having inherited the mantle of Taoiseach from Enda Kenny, now faces into his first general election as Taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader, Micheál Martin, who has propped up Mr Vardakar, now faces the challenge of persuading people that he is the better man for the job.

It is not an original observation on my part but it is worth making again – Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are in broad agreement about so many issues that people are not being made to choose a different party on an ideological basis – “we believe in things the other side do not” – but rather on a managerial basis – “we will deliver the same policies more effectively”.

Little 
difference

The two main parties are offering little of difference to the voter and that old-fashioned hope amongst the electorate that casting their ballot might make a difference seems unbelievably quaint now. You vote for Fianna Fáil but they prop up Fine Gael; you vote Fine Gael but they take advice from a party you do not support.

All that is certain is that the politicians will make a very healthy living. Where is the duty, the ethical obligation, on parties to provide a distinct alternative to what the other side represent?

That managerial impulse is one that is also to be seen in the North. The main parties – from unionist to republican and everything in between – have formed a new Executive and have divvied up the various ministries, much like you might see at the local GAA agm. The ideological differences are set aside, as it suits, and the talk turns to the mundane; improving health services, the education system, infrastructure and whatever else needs improving. The new ministers will move the sun and stars in order to improve the ordinary voter’s lot, they say. None of the big parties believe that their beliefs are so well defined that they need to sit in opposition to the other parties. To sit in opposition would involve the sacrifice of ministerial office.

The tensions are still there, of course. The DUP will do all it can to continue to put manners on the rival Ulster Unionists and the upstart Alliance. Meanwhile, the love-in between the SDLP and Sinn Féin has come to an end. With the Assembly up and running, the SDLP thought that they had an ‘understanding’ with Sinn Féin that the SDLP’s Patsy McGlone would become speaker.

Sinn Féin understood differently and had their man, Alex Maskey, take the prize. The ‘understanding’ that both parties had during the general election in which they offered each other a free run in Belfast has come to an end, it seems, but that is little consolation now to SDLP voters who would have thought themselves morally superior to Sinn Féin and for republican voters who, well, felt the same about the SDLP.

Scottish independence, like Brexit, would pose a number of challenges to the people and economy of the North”

The SDLP’s two new MPs, Colum Eastwood and Claire Hanna, made it over to Westminster to try to stop Brexit only for Brexit to become a done deal, thanks to Boris Johnson’s huge majority in the House of Commons. The SDLP were reduced to objecting, politely, to the fact that they had to swear an oath of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II. It was all a bit incongruous as neither seemed to be too animated about legislation that Westminster had already passed for Northern Ireland. Why object to the rules of joining the club while not objecting to what the club actually does?

More incongruous again was the sight of the leader of the Scottish National Party’s MPs in Westminster, Ian Blackford, taking on Boris Johnston last week. Mr Blackford thundered that: “Devolution is under attack from this Tory government. Powers are being grabbed back to Westminster. There is no respect for the people of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, their governments or their decisions”.”

It was the sort of statement made with the kind of chutzpah that only a professional politician could make for, ironically, Mr Blackford and most of the SNP MPs joined the parliamentary pile-on to change the North’s devolved laws during the summer.

Devolution

Mr Blackford said that while his party “would always defend the principle of devolution, there are a specific set of circumstances in Northern Ireland where there has been no functioning Assembly for an extended period. In these circumstances, we believe it is right to give MPs a vote on these important human rights issues”.

So, while acknowledging the principle of devolution, he thought it a good thing to ignore it entirely and allow his MPs and, by extension, their voters, to have a say in the running of Northern Ireland. Was that not a power grab? Did it not attack devolution in a very real way? Did it show respect to the people of Northern Ireland?

Principles, once broken, are no longer principles and broken principles tend to set new precedents and perhaps open up unforeseen dangers. Surely what is good for the Ulster goose is also good for the Scottish gander? After all, if Scottish voters and their politicians have had a say on what goes on in Northern Ireland, why should voters in that region not now have a say on what goes on in Scotland?

Scottish independence, like Brexit, would pose a number of challenges to the people and economy of the North. Will there be a hard border between Belfast and Edinburgh? What about people from the North who live, work and study in Scotland? How will their rights be affected?

Now that the SNP have set aside the principle of devolution, why shouldn’t every voter and every politician in the UK have a voice in Scottish affairs? Certainly, the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, might want to “defend the principle of devolution” but could he not argue that were now “a specific set of circumstances” which meant that others might also have a say on Scotland’s independence? It would be ironic indeed if voters in Belfast, Ballymena and Bellaghy ended up with a say in Scottish affairs.

What is democracy, Joxer, what is democracy?