Below is a quote from 64 years ago. 3 years after the greatest genocide in Europe for centuries if not of all time. I have typed in bold the word that struck me the most:
“The Nationalist majority in the county, i.e., Fermanagh, notwithstanding a reduction of 336 in the year, stands at 3,684. We must ultimately reduce and liquidate that majority. This county, I think it can be safely said, is a Unionist county. The atmosphere is Unionist. The Boards and properties are nearly all controlled by Unionists. But there is still this millstone (the Nationalist majority) around our necks.”
E.C. Ferguson, Unionist Party, then Stormont MP, April 1948.
The 2011 Census gives us the following Percentages for Fermanagh.
| Catholic | Protestant | Other | None |
| 59.2% | 37.8% | 0.6% | 2.5% |
The most recent Westminster Election for the Constituency (FST. Not quite the same geographical area) saw a Unionist unity candidate defeated narrowly by a split nationalist vote. 53.1% Nationalist, 45.5% Unionist.
The current LGD makeup is Nationalist 12, Unionist 10 and 1 Independent. That’s a delicate balance so why is Fermanagh so evenly balanced electorally?
The answer is simple. The age profile.
E.C Ferguson would despair at the current demographic balance, not just in Fermanagh but across the North. He understood the importance of demographics as does what currently passes for Unionist Leadership. Hence the noises about converting Catholics to the Unionist cause. As we have seen during the past Summer and over the last few days however, the true face of Unionism reveals itself when it perceives challenge. Over the past few days we have seen the likes of the BNP supporting the “fleg” protests. Catholics would do well to remember the lessons of history. Unionists would do well to learn from those lessons.
What is the story behind the photograph? Those two men don’t look to happy about carrying that flag.
The Picture is of two Irishmen forced to parade around Dungarvan by British troops with a British flag tied around their necks. Both were later beaten and dumped outside the town during the War of Independence, Ireland, 1920.
Pic: courtesy of An Sionnach Fionn
Thanks for the information BD.
Thought you might find this interesting if you have not seen it already.
http://hoboroadpoliticalhighway.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/peter-robinson-world-in-action.html
Very pertinent BD, and to the vast majority of Nats, not that controversial tbf, scratch hard enough and a mask shall slip usually very easily for many but not all are THAT bad…
FC,
I agree that the example quoted is extreme by todays standards but my point is that nothing seems to have been learned. I am not for a second suggesting that all Unionists are like this but with very few exceptions, such as Basil McCrea, the same mindset seems to be at work in unionist political thinking, one of entitlement and superiority.
The “yeah but” nonsense trotted out in recent days for example. They need to start telling their voters the truth in my opinion. It might even win them a few votes
Oh no BD, I wasn’t saying that you are trying to tar with a brush, tbh I think that the opinion above may be prevalent among many if they were to have a few drinks in them, just look over on Bullshit Mountain/SOT for how easy people are disparaging Pat Finucane with no decent evidence merely because it doesn’t fit in with their political opinion, it’s not that shocking any more!
FC,
We now know that the UDA was the “Assasination Squad” for RUC special branch (Conall McDevitt- great quote). Wait until the Rosemary Nelson truth comes out.
Any attempts to discredit Pat Finucane are irrelevant. The fact is that the State is now implicated in assisting and directing a terrorist organisation to murder on their behalf. Anything else is bluff, bluster and bullshit. See my post below on the ten D’s. All ten are now being deployed full steam.
http://bangordub.wordpress.com/2012/12/08/unionism-and-the-ten-ds/
its quite an extreme, strange and somewhat disproportionate and strained thing to do, to use a photo from 1920 from Waterford with no explanation, put it over a quote from 1948 Fermanagh giving the impression the photo is Fermanagh, then link both 1920 photo and 1948 quote to Fermanagh for the present day???? Odd logic. Unless there’s an agenda, of course.
Maybe you are playing to the gallery on an Irish republican/nationalist website?
Interesting you choose to use the word ‘liquidate’.
Another angle might have been a much more recent event, one a lot of people remember and which had its recent anniversary – the Enniskillen bomb and the attempted Tullyhommen bomb (on a Boys and Girls Brigade Parade) by the IRA/Sinn Fein, the scars of which run deep in Fermanagh today, where 11 Protestants were ‘liquidated’ by the IRA. If such a liquidation hadn’t taken place (along with scores of Protestants either murdered or ethnically cleansed out of Fermanagh’s border region by Irish republicans, perhaps Fermanagh would have had a few more unionist votes to take hold of the Westminster seat there?? But i guess Irish republicanism or nationalism doesn’t ‘cleanse’ or ‘liquidate’.
Dundonald Gap,
It wasn’t BD who chose the word, it was Mr Ferguson.
You seem to confuse nationalists with unionists in adopting the same standards by thinking that most nationalists can’t see the Enniskillen bomb for what it was. Naked sectarianism. Sometimes I think some unionists are in a perverse way ‘glad’ they have an Enniskillen, a Kingsmill, a Shankill or a La Mon so they have a sectarian straw to clutch as opposed to the rest of what the IRA were up to.
I’m not from Fermanagh, but I know some people who are. They always strike me as a queer lot. Friendliest folk you’ll ever meet but they breed them hardline down there.
This ‘gentleman’ unionist no doubt represented the broad sectarian opinion of unionist politicians down there. When Harry West lost to Sands, he used to quote how he began ‘behind in the register’ before a single vote was cast . And more recently, the unionist unity candidate was designed to line up as many prods as possible under one banner, with no need to worry what the different unionists parties say about health, education, employment tourism, anything. So if that’s how the politics runs I’m sure Mr Ferguson wasn’t lying when he talked about the ‘atmosphere being unionist’ as most businesses were unionist owned. It was the hopelessness that scenarios like these that made thousands of catholics up and leave for good in the hope of getting a good job. Apart from the state sponsored collusion and sectarian loyalist death squads which I could spent an eternity on, the forced emigration resulting from systematic discrimination was another form of protestant cleansing that was regularly employed. No more so than in Derry, a city with a much larger nationalist majority than Fermanagh had.
Step 1. Rig the boundaries to corrall as many fenians as possible into a densely populated, but under represented ward.
Step 2. Only give votes to primary occupants of rented housing. Other adults cannot participate. Give up to 6 votes to business owners (sounding familiar yet)?
Step 3. Apply a FPTP election to get the result you want.
Step 4. Using your new rigged council, give jobs to you mates and don’t built houses where they’re needed.
Step 5. Watch fenians emigrate in droves and repeat from step 1.
So for you to use a disgusting attack in Enniskillen to make a political point is, to be frank, such a pitiful manipulation of a dead man to completely sully the memory of them.
One last point, liquidate was quite a common terminology in unionist circles.
Watch this clip from 4 minutes in. This gentleman may have something to say.
Well said. The die-hard Unionist mentality just can not get its head around reality, past and present. The fact is that evil deeds were committed on both sides with the Unionist Party government and the British government in it up to their necks directing and orchestrating all sorts of illegal activities starting with the division of Ireland. It seems to me, down south, the British (post Thatcher etc) have woken up in a pile of sh1te and discovered a conscience and are trying, with the government of Ireland, to balance things out in the last years. The reversal of the English Judicial scandals, resulting in the release of the innocents, the Bloody Sunday Inquiry findings and the current situation regarding the Finucane findings bombshell show a willingness, nay a national imperative to admit wrongdoings in the past and to try to make amends. These scandals and all the others have caused shock and horror in Perfidious Albion but everybody in Ireland has known since they were perpetrated! The Finucane family want and deserve a public inquiry but alas that would be a step too far- what if, as even the dogs in the street in Ireland believe, the direction came from the TOP TABLE ( by the way I don’t mean her most gracious majesty). More scandals will undoubtedly raise their heads in the coming years, Rosemary Nelson etc, so the British will continue to be contrite but prevent the top table from being implicated. After all, they have a self constructed reputation (undeserved and false) of “fair play” to maintain internationally in order to occupy the moral high ground in dealings with errant governments.
The majority of unionists, at least the ones we hear and see, have not moved on and continue within the siege mentality. Some pretend to play the game but when push comes to shove they revert to type, i.e. the flag issue. What was the cost of this financially locally and in terms of reputation abroad. The business community was less than impressed. Is there an answer to all this? I certainly do not know but Unionism seems certain that the growing Catholic population will become good citizens of the status quo (good unionists)!
The big question is therefore: Why would turkeys vote for Christmas?
Interesting Stat. BD.
Its always been a curiousity that 43% Prot. comm. back. could always comfortably deliver 3 unionists with a bit to spare, whereas next door in UB, 43% cath. community back. is always a fair way short of a third quota, although getting closer.
While I guessed there must be some of that, could you show me your stats as I’m interested to have a look for myself.
Charlie
Is it that the older age profile of the 43% in Fermanagh are much more likely to vote than the younger Nationalist 43% in Upper Bann?
bangordub, just bringing to your awareness the full details of the recent Beltel poll
http://www.lucidtalk.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/BelTeleResBTPoll.pdf
Very intersting is that 10% of Sf/SDLP support is protestant and also that a much higher percentage of the non religious are also likely to support nationalist parties. SF will be pleased to see that their support is concentrated among under 45′s but McGuinness’es ego will be deflated that women are less inclined to support the ‘republicans’.
Given these polls seem to precisely correlate with the census on Northern Ireland identity does this indicate that the 7% non religion of that census are also less likely as suggested here to support Unionism?
Interesting stats when you see them broken down. So the nationalist parties have more protestants voting for them than catholics voting for unionists, the majority of other and none also vote for nationalist parties so surely the nationalist parties should be polling better than the usual 42%? I also find it strange that so few women vote SF especially when you look at the party it is full of female politicians probably more so than any other party! — Any ideas why?
I really have no clue why women are turned off by SF. I also think theyshould go for Mary Lou has national leader. Unfortunately she’s in a 3 seater very marginalised area and devoting alot of energy to All-Ireland issues would be an issues or opponents would use among the 50% od Dublin Central who just want the state to provide everything for them. I think your SDLP, so good to see the Protestant support your attracting. But if you look at your demograph, you’re attracting a much higher proportion of Public Serrvice employees than Sf. Is this because your perceived more as a catholic defense party than an agent to actually dismantle NornIron and reunite the Island.
On why there is a discrepancy in the figures – well
It looks as if the housing collapse send 20,000 at least of young nats to SE England and Australia. Plus our nat percentage is proportionally higher at non voting age. What this means is that if Norn Iron is again booming when the next census comes around than the catholic/protestant proportions will have reversed but will the Norn Iron identity have increased.
Thanks for all your comments. If I may reply to some of the points raised:
Dundonald,
My post was deliberately linking the Unionist position from 1920 through the middle of the last century to the present day. I thought that was clear from my last comment in the post. I also clearly referenced the origin of the picture both if you hover over it and read the description and in my reply to Hoboroads first question. The picture was intended to be a somewhat ironic comment on the “fleg” protests.
As Charlie says, I did not use the word “liquidate”. Subsequent excellent contributions have referenced other material which shows Craig and others using the same terminology. Even David Trimble tries to justify it.
Yes I am a Republican, although possibly not as you would understand the word.
Your comments about the Enniskillen bomb are best answered by Charlie again.
I in no way excuse or attempt to justify that atrocity.
Some of you have supplied some great stuff here for further research and I’ll get my teeth into it asap. I’ve been busy workwise over the last few days so apologies for not replying sooner.
Boondock and Feckit have brought up good questions so I’ll try to get some stats and analysis together
Some very interesting points above chaps, if I may throw in my own tuppence.
For percentages voting I would note that the elderly are renowned for being more enthusiastic and proactive when it comes to voting, especially in comparison to the young so I personally feel that regarding increases in the number of Nat pols or representation this may not occur until 2 assembly elections from now when younger Nats decide to start voting (that’s if they decide to vote Nat, after all Robbo may convince them to vote DUP sure!)
Then there is the rather awful point that unionism is comprised of a sizable proportion of elderly people who vote.It is not nice to say, merely stating reality, that these people are closer to passing away than the young who are not of the same demographic as them and in increasing numbers will not share the same cultural or maybe even constitutional aspirations as them so there will be changes ahead, however, who knows what they will be?
As for SF finding it hard to attract women voters, this is an increasingly ongoing problem for them and is the same in the South. While they do have a huge number of women in its ranks or at least up front, questions have to be asked whether or not the are wholly representative of the hopes and desires of women in general?
It should be stated from the outset that women are not some homogeneous group that all want the same thing. Though I am not his biggest fan, I think Mick Fealty is right that the party and SDLP really need to be thinking about producing policy initiatives and really thinking it through to include how it’ll work from an operational perspective (tying it in with departmental implementation and funding etc), who you can get on board for it’s implementation, who it shall effect and who it is designed to benefit, the real nitty gritty of a policy.
SF is big in areas of poverty and if they get family friendly policies in place this would surely shore up their vote amongst the economically deprived while giving it an opportunity to start getting middle class votes. This is also an area where they could surely work with SDLP, Greens, Alliance and McCrea, McAllister and McClarty too, right?
Mekonged, I wouldn’t worry too much about Mary Lou’s seat. The redrawing of the constituency is very bad news for Fine Gael’s Paschal O’Donoghue, who loses a lot of the middle class voters in Drumcondra and Glasnevin. I’d say he’s a goner.
I’m not sure that Maureen O’Sullivan will run again and, besides, I think the cult of Tony Gregory is beginning to wane. A lot of that vote will go to SF.
Fianna Fáil came close here last time and the Independent Ciarán Perry is one to watch. He’s on the left, and could take some votes from Mary Lou, but she should still come out on top.
I’d take a punt on Mary Lou to be a good national leader. Northern nationalists are probably unaware of the venom, misogyny etc that has been aimed at her because someone of her background joining the Shinners upset the neat stereotypes that Section31 imbued in the southern populace. RTE etc celebrated with glee her loss 5 years back. Garret Fitzgerald smirking rabidly at her. I actually thought she would’ve just upped and left politics and all the hassle that deigning to care about the national question in-stews. So credit to her and I believe she can be a convincing advocate to carry the sentimental southern nationalist impulse into the hard Unification camp.
But Nordie N what i’m fearful of is that her opponents will drive home in Dublin Central, with only 3 seats and no margin of error, is that her commitments – if leader- to leading an All-Ireland entity means she can’t deliver for the Social Welfare class, or even worse that her commitment to unification if it’d ever arise means that SW entitlements cant be guaranteed. I think even if SF is at 20%+ her situation is precarious and I’d now make the switch to Dublin North East a new 5 seater and bring back Kehoe in Dublin central. Her loss would be a major blow to SF in the south and she’d be a banker inthe new enlarged 5seater.
To stay on topic about Fermanagh, well my comparison between this and the 2001 census suggests that 3000 catholic community background have migrated/emigrated. And the same picture is repeated west of the Bann except for maybe N’Mourne. I’d guess that many will eventually return as Ireland recovers and the allure of factor50 sunblock fades.
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