Young
Unionists

What is the point in Sinn Fein in a modern Northern Ireland?  I caught the last twenty minutes or so of Break Out last night, and whilst it was, as has been noted, a disgraceful piece of Provo propaganda, it was somewhat comical in how it drew out the hypocrisy of Sinn Fein’s political shifts in the past ten years.

Gerry Kelly, having escaped from incarceration for a bombing campaign that killed one and injured more than 200 , fled to the continent.  He told of how he rejected disappearing into a new life, and chose to continue with the “struggle” from there.  The ending sequence of the programme showed Mr Kelly struggling against the British state and its oppression from the vantage point of the Northern Ireland Assembly in his role as a Junior Minister in British Northern Ireland.

The boxes the Belfast Agreement constructed for Sinn Fein and the DUP have proven to be resilient.  The IRA has surrendered its capacity to murder and destroy, the DUP the pretence of opposition to the Belfast Agreement.  There is still a fear in rural areas of the IRA, and here the legacy of it’s sectarian murder campaign is particularly apparent.  But in this same area not two weeks ago the DUP’s political blackmail, once so effective, was a swing of 120 votes away from failing to win them a by-election.  Sinn Fein continue to agitate about Northern Ireland’s place in the UK and the repercussions of that, but are reduced to criticizing a school in an area they count as “theirs” for daring to do other than what they are told.

Northern Ireland is changing.  The UK is changing. The UUP must change in order to achieve our goals.  Sinn Fein are a party incapable of responsible politics.  The DUP are a party incapable of a positive future for Unionism.  We must do all that we can shape the future we want to see, and take Northern Ireland to where it should be.

Tags: BBC, Breakout, UUP/Conservative Party