09 June 2010
Statement by TUV Leader Jim Allister:-
“Ian Paisley’s pilgrimage to Dublin last week, when he visited the Dail, O’Connell’s tomb and held a private lunch with the Irish President, demonstrates how far the DUP has departed from its roots and principles.
“Such fraternisation with Dublin was once anathema, now being lauded by republican leaders, including the Sinn Fein leader in the Dail, is craved. O’Neill, Faulkner and Trimble were vilified for far less, but now for ‘nua DUP’ such is chic.
“This is the same Republic which in its Constitution still pursues an expansionist agenda, proclaiming “It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish Nation.”
There is no such Irish nation and, therefore, no entitlement or birthright on the part of anyone to belong to such a mythical nation. To identify and hold to a single Irish nation, co-terminus with the island of Ireland, is to treat contemptuously all who live on the island of Ireland but are British and Unionist in nationality and persuasion. This contempt is compounded by the Irish Constitution’s affirmation that it is “the firm will of the Irish nation” to politically unite all the people of the whole island in a “united Ireland”.
“As the DUP once believed (page 16 of 2004 publication ‘North South East West’), “The constitution of the Republic of Ireland should not claim the people of northern Ireland any more than it should have claimed its territory”. Now, it seems this irredentist claim is so palatable that a Paisley pilgrimage to Dublin is par for the DUP’s Belfast Agreement course.”
NI politics
