Standoff At Drumcree Enters Third Day
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Just how much damage is this standoff on their Gavie Road doing? Not just to all of the locals involved, or to the politicians who have to work with each other when this is all ended, but just also across Northern Ireland, as it seems that old-fashioned sectarianism is coming back into full sight. We've two guests with us in a moment. We'll hear from Martina Devlin, columnist with the Irish Independent. But first, Alex Kane, who is former Director of Communications for the Ulster Unionist Party and is now a political commentator. Alex, how much damage is this all doing between communities in the North?
Hi Matt. I I I think it's doing enormous damage. I I wouldn't say we've ever had, you know, stability and harmony in both sides, you know, enjoying each other's company or even been civil to each other. But we've reached a point now, I think, with this particular situation where the the the the lines, uh the the almost the trenches between unionism and nationalism are so deep. so stark that unless there is a resolution, which both of them can buy into, which in itself I think is going to be extraordinarily difficult, then I think we are facing the collapse of the assembly. And I'll go further than that, Matt. And I don't I don't want to over egg it, but I've been watching this this this for a long, long time.
If this assembly goes down, that I cannot actually see a route to getting them back again because so much damage has already been done to the relationship and if that gets worse over the next few days or or weeks, then I really don't see how they manage to patch up their differences and make it sound like they are capable of running a government together.
Okay. Martina Davlin, what's your assessment of the damage that's been done?
Well, I don't see Stormund collapsing. Um, it's much harder to topple the institutions since the rules were amended in twenty twenty two. There is a kind of a comfort mattress in place now. I see a vote of no confidence in the first minister. Um that's not conducive to respect for Stormund. There was a vote of no confidence in Paul Gov Girvin um over Palestine and Gaza and Israel and It was shrugged off. I see this being shrugged off too, but what I'd say is that credibility of the Northern Assembly continues to be eroded by these disputes and harnessing parties together in government is not a a sensible way to proceed. Stormont's practically a non functioning body nowadays. It's almost a zombie institution.
And the other thing about the Drum Cree standoff is that it's a reminder that peace is a misnomer. That's only about stopping the bullets, but not enough work has been done to um confront the bitterness and the division and to deliver better community relations.
Martina, is that not the more important thing in some respects? I know the institutions are very important and proper governance democratically elected, but is there not the bigger problem what this reveals about the divisions in northern society and that despite the fact that we've had peace since the nineteen ninety eight Good Friday Agreement on the most part, that those sort of sectarian divides have not been overcome.
Well, you know, cracks were papered over. Uh I think the biggest problem is the lack of integrated education. Uh and the Catholic Church ha has to bear a lot of the responsibility for blocking and for not cooperating when attempts were made to um to have um you know, to remove these divides in schooling between people. Because how else are Catholic kids and Protestant kids really going to grow up treating each other as, you know, neighbours if they're somehow othered? Um but I I I think uh this does reveal that society isn't functioning as it should, definitely. Uh and in there should be more work towards integrated schooling. I have a friend who told me that His nineteen year old son, so born long after the Good Friday Agreement, doesn't really thankfully know what it was like.
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