Dublin Irish Festival Hosts International Panel on Irish Unity
In August, the Dublin Irish Festival was the site of a two-day international panel discussion on the reunification of Ireland. The annual festival held in Dublin, Ohio, is the largest three-day Irish cultural and music festival in the United States, with over 80,000 people attending from across the United States and internationally. The panel was moderated by WBNS-10TV evening news anchor and Emmy award winner Jeff Hogan.
The panel brought together knowledgeable and influential voices from Ireland and the United States. I was privileged to serve on the panel with Ms. Andrée Murphy, a member of the Board of Directors of Ireland’s Future, a non-governmental organization (NGO) dedicated to inclusive dialogue and preparation for potential constitutional change and a future referendum on Irish unity; the Reverend Karen Sethuraman, Vice Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Ireland’s Future. Reverend Sethuraman is an influential voice in the Irish unity conversation, especially on reconciliation, social justice, and inclusive dialogue, and is the first and only female Baptist minister in Ireland; and Mr. Sean Pender, National President of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), the oldest and largest Irish Catholic organization in the United States.
The panelists discussed multiple issues of significance to be addressed in forming a new Ireland. These issues include the recent political and economic shifts in the north in support of reunification, the contemporary role of Irish America in the reunification discussion, reconciliation among the people of the north and the inclusion of all traditions and religions, and what the “Constitutional question” refers to in the context of forming a new Ireland.
At the outset, it is important to identify what the “Constitutional question” is before highlighting the significant issues addressed by the panel. The Constitutional question in the reunification context is not what we in the United States may think it means.
It actually refers to the multiple issues that must be addressed in planning for a new Ireland, such as the issues addressed by my colleagues on the panel. As I stated during the discussion, the laws of the United States are “…backdropped against our Constitution, a written framework, a document that is the supreme law of the land of the United States to which all other elements of government answer to. That’s what we know a constitutional question to be.”
Framing a New Ireland
The Constitutional question is “not just on a document.” It’s far from it, to be quite frank. It is on the issue of what does history, tradition, reconciliation, citizenship, governance, what do they entail?” All of this, including the framework of the Good Friday Agreement, is the Constitutional question to be answered.
Significant change has occurred in the north based on relatively recent socio-economic and pollical events. Ms. Murphy noted several of these events and the impact it is having on the reunification discussion:
“So what’s happened since I was here I think the Brexit vote in 2016 created a momentum for a united Ireland in an unprecedented way. That vote where the majority in the north of Ireland voted to stay in the European Union was superseded by England’s vote and Wales vote together to come out of the European Union. That paid no regard to [the Good Friday Agreement], no regard to my children’s future or any of my neighbors wherever they lived. And that democratic deficit put in place a new train toward a united Ireland.”
Ms. Murphy pointed out that the debate on setting up planning ahead of a referendum has elevated in Dublin:.“[T]his debate has gained momentum to the point that just in the past number of weeks the issue of a united Ireland is being debated by all of the parties in Leinster House in Dublin, in the place [and] site of partition in Dublin. And every single one of those parties now say we want a united Ireland. We want to use the Good Friday peace accords to have a vote on a united Ireland in a peaceful way and the only thing they’re disagreeing on is the timing of [a referendum].”
Irish American Role in Irish Unity Planning
Irish America has a significant role in calling for a planning process according to Sean Pender. “We have been proud as Hibernians to be called [the] voice of Irish America… I think we should be very proud that in the proclamation of 1916 we were called Ireland’s exiled children in America. So, we’ll always have that tie, working for peace, justice, and unity on the island of Ireland. We were very proud to do our part as Hibernians…”
He added, “Remember the Good Friday Agreement was signed 1998 and many of those who are promoting a vote want to move it to 2030. 2030 will be 32 years after the Good Friday Agreement. If we can’t have an honest discussion and a vote 32 years after the signing of an agreement, when are we ever going to have it?
“So, the AOH stands firmly behind, let the people decide. Let’s move away [from] the rhetoric. It’s a democratic process.”
The AOH and LAOH in Ohio have initiated a signature petition effort calling for planning to be initiated in advance of any referendum. The petitions will be sent to the Foreign Ministers Office, Dublin.
Reverend Karen Sethuraman delivered points that are little heard in the reunification discussion here in the United States. “I am a board member of Ireland’s Future, and we are committed and guided by the Good Friday Agreement and [the] right for our people to determine our future. I am a Baptist minister. I grew up in East Belfast. I come from a very different community than Andrée [Murphy] and grew up in a Protestant, Unionist, loyalist background. “So, my background was bands, the orange order, going to the bonfires and all of those things.”
Reverend Sethuraman said that today, “ there are more people from my background, from a Protestant unionist loyalist background, [that] want to be part of that we want to create, something new too … But, we model what we want to become. Different backgrounds, different stories, different views, but we want a new Ireland.”
To view the panel discussion held on August 1st, Click this YouTube link: https://you.be/wjVoOs4FOes
*Judge Michael C. Mentel is an appellate court judge on the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Tenth District. He has participated in round table discussions on the British Legacy Bill at the National Committee on American Foreign Policy and in panel discussions on Irish Unity Judge Mentel is the author of “The 1981 Irish Hunger Strike: An Account From Declassified British Documents”. He is a columnist and contributor to local and national publications. He is a member of The Ancient Order of Hibernians, Patrick Pearse Division 1, Franklin County, Ohio, The Shamrock Club of Columbus, Ohio, The Irish American Club East Side, Euclid/Cleveland, Ohio, the Irish American Law Society, Cleveland, and The Brehon Law Society of New York.
