Mary KennyThe centenary of the Irish Home Rule bill was finally signed into law on September 18, 1914, and it is a nice coincidence that exactly a hundred years later, Scotland will vote on a referendum for or against Scottish independence.
The debate about Scottish independence does prompt the thought: how would the Irish people have voted, in a full plebiscite, including women and including young people from the age of 16?
I think undoubtedly, the majority would have voted for Home Rule (which is broadly what the ‘Yes’ side in Scotland will get if they win).
If offered a referendum two years later, in 1916, on whether the Irish people wanted a completely independent republic, as declared outside of the GPO, how would our grandparents and great-grandparents have voted?
A fiery minority would probably have voted in favour, but the more prudent majority would probably have voted against. We know that the Catholic Church as a body would have been against the 1916 option, although some younger nationalist priests would have favoured it.
I wouldn’t describe myself as a strong nationalist and yet, the debate on the Scottish referendum has prompted some mixed reflections. Most Scots of my acquaintance are voting “No”, and support the “Better Together” campaign to keep the Union, but then most Scots that I know are not living in Scotland.
And the tenor of the pre-referendum debate has elicited in me a certain retrospective fondness for the spirit of Irish nationalism, which was romantic, high-flown, mystical and self-sacrificing. By contrast, the Scots seem so depressingly practical and utilitarian! It’s all about money, the economy, the health service, the pound and oil revenues. Where is the vision thing, Jock?
Yet if Ireland had gained independence by referendum, I feel sure that the basis of the debate would also have been much focused on practicalities, too. After all, many an Irish person, in 1914-16, thought the two greatest political achievements that had occurred were the Wyndham Land Acts of 1898, which allowed the tenant farmer to acquire his own property, and Lloyd George’s allocation of the pension in 1909, which gave all old people in Ireland, for the first time, a guaranteed income.
We weren’t as romantic as we thought we were, as perhaps recent economic developments concerning banks and property, have shown.
But still, I do remember, as an adolescent, how inspiring Irish nationalism was as transmitted by poetry (Yeats, Emily Lawless, Clarence Mangan), ballad and song (The Bould Robert Emmet, the Darlin’ of Ireland). And also, how willing our elders were to make sacrifices “for the country”.
Different stories, different paths – and different times. I predict the Scots will vote No to independence, because economic considerations are now sovereign. In other words, they’re too fond of the bawbees!
Icon declares 'I am a Christian'
I’ve become attracted by the symbol increasingly appearing on Tweets – an icon (pictured above), which signals, in Arabic “I am a Christian”. Some Tweeters, such as Francis Campbell (Newry-born former British Ambassador to the Holy See) and Caroline Farrow, of Catholic Voices, employ it in black, while some, like Jackie Parkes, an articulate, Tweeting mother of 10, use it in red.
It can be appended to a corner of your picture, or take up the whole space. It’s an imaginative visual way of bearing witness, and I’m minded to add it to my own profile.
‘Suicide tourism’ is on the rise
Sadly, Swiss “suicide tourism” has doubled in the last four years, with Germans and Britons heading the list of candidates travelling to Zurich to take their own lives.
British campaigners for assisted suicide are now claiming that “Britain is exporting its social problems” to Switzerland. If a British person wants to avail of assisted suicide in their own country, why shouldn’t they?
Because there is something called parliament which enacts laws for the common good. Because history is full of accounts of people bumping off other people for financial, or other considerations. Because suicide often leaves a trail of grief and sorrow in its wake which never goes away, and young people, who might be most prone to it, should not be given bad example in this sphere.
Someone might be kind enough to explain all this to Sinead O’Connor, who has said recently: “Ailing animals can have a compassionate death. People can’t. What the f*** more evidence do you need?” Could someone say to Sinead – in words of not more than three syllables, to enhance clarity – that animals don’t write wills and legacies and they can’t be manipulated for financial gain. That’s apart from any other ethical considerations.
Interesting, though, that the British are being told that they are “exporting the problem” over assisted suicide, just as Ireland is told it is “exporting the problem” over abortion. As if national elected parliaments had never been invented.