The Irish Border

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28167, 4 January 1957, Page 6

The Irish Border

By attacking army, police, and civil establishments in Northern Ireland with gun, bomb, and dynamite, the self-styled Irish Republican Army draws attention to the unsettled issue of the partition of Ireland. But the I.R.A. lives in a world of its own when it proclaims (as it did when the present series of raids began three weeks ago) that it fights “ British aggres- “ sion ”, and when it pretends that Northern Ireland is not joined politically with the Republic of Ireland because it is occupied by “ British cohorts ” It has been inexpedient for Dublin politicians to admit that the obstacle to Irish unity is not the British Government or the British Army, but the people of the six counties of Northern Ireland. However, this most telling point against the LR.A.’s argument was made by Mr Liam Cosgrave, Minister of External Affairs in the present Costello Government, last year. Mr Cosgrave said: “Let us not “ deceive ourselves into thinking “ that the partition problem “ would be solved if only the “ British troops were with- “ drawn. It would not. We “would still have to face up to “ the differences which separate “ some of our fellow-countrymen “ in six -counties from the “majority of our people”. The I.R.A continues to ignore this fact, and its members also disregard denunciations of the I.R.A. by the Roman Catholic hierarchy as “a sinful and “ irreligious body ”, and the hierarchy’s assertion that no good son of the Church must try to upset the decisions of a democratically elected assembly by force. Indeed, most Irishmen know very well that the senseless and vicious activity of the I.R.A. pushes the prospect of a united Ireland even further into the distance. I.R.A. activities harden support in Northern Ireland for the idea that only separation protects the six counties from an unsympathetic and bigoted domination.

But the futility of the I.R.A.’s campaign does not lessen its danger. It unsettles many in the Republic by recalling old memories; opposition to the I.R.A. is condemned as a betrayal of the cause for which many Irishmen struggled and fought for many years. Sympathy, however, illogically based, for men “ in arms against “ Britain ” places the Government in difficulties. It would be unpopular for it to take really stern measures to suppress the 1.R.A., and even more unpopular to appear to be acting in concert with the Government of Northern Ireland against a nationalist movement which has deep roots in the Republic. The Costello Government, with a majority of only five in the Dail, and facing serious economic difficulties, is in no position to court unpopularity. In Northern Ireland, outrages by the I.R.A. are bitterly resented on patriotic and political grounds Northern Ireland has good reason to resent damage to the great industrial plants which are now being developed. Large new industries have recently been attracted to Northern Ireland; hopes of attracting other industries could be blighted by serious terrorist trouble. In Northern Ireland there are men ready to emulate the I.R.A. The Orange Lodges are said to be angry at the failure of the Government of the Republic to curb the I.R.A. and are threatening to take matters into their own hands. It was significant that the first reaction of the Prime Minister of Northern Ireland, Lord Brookeborough, to the new eruption was to counsel restraint nn the part of his own people. Preferably the two . Irish Governments should take joint action to end terrorism; but if the Government of the Republic is ill-disposed towards such cooperation it certainly has the greater responsibility and, at present, the greater opportunity, to take positive action on its own account.