It is indeed refreshing to listen to a young Deputy speaking on a rather hackneyed subject in a manner that is both original and courageous. Deputy Declan Costello brought to the consideration of the problem of Partition a logical, sincere and young mind. Some Deputies said last night that he spoke without appreciating the realities of the situation, that he made good debating points in theory but that they had no basis in reality. It might be desirable for those who think in that fashion to re-examine the whole problem themselves. It is possible that those who have been in close contact with this question, probably prior to the time at which Deputy Costello was born, overlook aspects which are clearer to him.
Some of the Deputies from the Northern Counties who speak on this question are invariably intolerant or impatient towards Deputies representing the rest of the country. They appear to suggest that only those who live in the Ulster Counties really understand the difficulties. Very often the man who is standing close by a wood cannot see it as clear in outline as can the man who is standing upon a hillside some distance away from it. It is, therefore, possible that a fresh young mind applied to this problem may see its difficulties with clearer logic than those who have been dealing with it for years.
Candidly, I have never been entirely satisfied or in complete accord with the attitude of the Fianna Fáil Government towards this problem but I think their manner of dealing with the matter has been more prudent and less dishonest than the attitude of their opponents. Partition is a national problem of tremendous magnitude. If it is dealt with in the right way and a solution achieved, our country will become immeasurably stronger. If it is dealt with in the wrong way, we may find ourselves drifting towards national disaster. Because of that, I think it is a matter that requires the most careful consideration.
There is a general acceptance of the view that force must be ruled out in the solution of this problem. Whether that view is accepted by all our people is open to question. There are various ways in which coercion can be applied. One can have military coercion. One can have economic coercion. Coercion can be applied directly by our own people or indirectly by inducing some other country to bring pressure to bear on the Six Counties.
If we decide coercion is to be ruled out, there is only one alternative and that is peaceful persuasion, or a serious and sustained attempt to win over at least the majority of the people within the Six Counties to our side. It is essential that we should indicate our objection to the manner in which this State was established and the way in which it was carved out without any reference to our historical background or to economic or geographical considerations. At the same time we have to remember that 30 years have elapsed since the late King George V came over to Belfast and established that little State on the North-East of our country. Those 30 years have left their mark particularly on the boundaries and institutions of the Six Counties and it will be a difficult task to obliterate that mark.
In dealing with this problem, we should get down to essentials and make it clear whether or not we want to abolish the Six Counties State and the Border or secure the establishment of national unity. The two things are not identical. Possibly it clarifies things to a certain extent for people to say they are against Partition, but it would be a more realistically factual statement for people to assert that they are in favour of national unity. One can have many partitions in a dwelling but the dwelling remains all the time a single unit. We can have in an independent Ireland a number of self-governing States while at the same time preserving the essential unity of the nation. I think, therefore, we should indicate clearly that what we want to do is not so much to abolish Partition as to establish national unity.
The basis on which this separate State exists in Northern Ireland is fear and mistrust of the people in the remainder of the country and of the Irish nation as an entity. The first objective of a sane, progressive policy directed towards national unity should be to remove that fear and mistrust.
If we indicate to the people of the Six Counties that they can have their Parliament if they wish, that they can retain the institutions which they have at present and that all we need is that they should recognise, accept and become affiliated with this State, then I think we would prepare the way to a certain extent for national unity. In addition to that, we must I think be prepared, and a start should be made right now, to establish a better relationship between the people of the Irish Republic and the people of the Six Counties. That better relationship can be established by closer contact, particularly on economic matters, to start with. There are transport problems, hydro-electric problems, drainage problems and other matters of that kind in which there is a community interest as between the Six Counties and the rest of Ireland.
In meeting representatives of the Six Counties and discussing with them these problems, we would be preparing the way, I think, for the establishment of a certain amount of mutual confidence. It is true, and it must be accepted, that the position of the Nationalist majority in the Six Counties is a difficult one, that their path is a hard one to travel, but, in dealing with this matter, if we want to remove mistrust and establish confidence, we should deal with the injustices that are being inflicted on our Nationalist brethren in the Six Counties in a constructive way, aiming not at showing up these injustices for the purpose of destroying the Six-County State, but rather to reveal them for the purpose of having them removed and rectified. That is a constructive approach to this matter. If instead of exposing the injustice of, perhaps, the gerrymandering system or of the enforcement of law in the Six Counties, all over the world, we were to take up these matters directly with the Government of Northern Ireland and seek to have these wrongs righted as quickly as possible and the position of our Catholic fellow-countrymen in the North of Ireland improved, then we would be taking a long step towards establishing that better relationship between this State and the Six Counties which is desirable if national unity is to be achieved.
There are people, and there will always be people, who cherish the hope that there is a short way towards the solution of the problem and that that short way is to use force by which the Government of Northern Ireland could be swept away and the Six Counties brought completely within the State, but I think the long way might be the surer way and that it might have more lasting results. Even if national unity could, on the surface, be achieved by force, the achieving of that result would mean, in effect, civil war, because we must accept the fact that the people of the Six Counties and the people of the rest of Ireland are all citizens of the Irish nation. Civil war always leaves behind it bitterness and bitter memories which it takes years to eradicate. I think that the action of the Dublin Fire Brigade during the emergency, when it went to Belfast to assist the people there, did more for the cause of national unity than much that is talked about on public platforms.
It must be remembered also that there is one factor which must make for the eventual establishment of a united Ireland, and that is the position of the Protestant minority in the Twenty-Six Counties. So long as their position is secure, so long as they can say to their co-religionists in the North that their position is satisfactory in every respect, that I think will make for a strengthening of the ties between the two States. Because that is so, I deplore in the strongest way certain statements that were made in this House recently. We heard a statement from an ex-Minister in which he said in referring to the Protestant minority in the Twenty-Six Counties: "If trouble comes we shall send these Brookes and fifth columnists across to the place where their spiritual home is."
