{"id":545675,"date":"2025-11-03T06:15:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T06:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/545675\/"},"modified":"2025-11-03T06:15:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T06:15:20","slug":"it-is-the-head-of-state-in-britain-not-ireland-that-creates-a-cold-house-for-communities-in-the-north-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/545675\/","title":{"rendered":"It is the head of state in Britain, not Ireland, that creates a cold house for communities in the north \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The north may have become a more equal society since the 1998 Agreement, but the manner in which many issues are framed continues to betray a residual prejudice coming from a time and place when unionism\u2019s desires, interests and outlooks were afforded priority status.<\/p>\n

Consider the use of the terms \u2018fears\u2019 and \u2018concerns\u2019, invariably ascribed collectively to unionists when a political development is seen to go against them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Independent TD\u2019s long-standing support for Irish unity and her endorsement by Sinn F\u00e9in have raised concerns\u201d amongst unionists, declared the BBC after announcing the election of Catherine Connolly to \u00c1ras an Uachtar\u00e1in.<\/p>\n

Concerns?<\/p>\n

\"Pat<\/a><\/p>\n

The elevation of King Charles to the position of British monarch two years ago, Connolly\u2019s equivalent as head of state, was not reported as an episode arousing \u201cconcerns\u201d amongst Irish nationalists, and nor should it have been.<\/p>\n


\n\"Join
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That is not to say people did not experience emotions at the time. Families of victims of the British Parachute Regiment, for whom Charles serves as Colonel-in-Chief, could have been entitled to experience anger, dismay or sorrow, but \u2018concerns\u2019 or \u2018fears\u2019 would not have been a rational response.<\/p>\n

Over the years, the BBC and others have exceeded themselves in suggesting unionist fears, sensitivities, anxieties or concerns (used interchangeably) were aroused when Orange parades were re-routed from nationalist areas, bi-lingual signage erected or any time support for Irish unity is mentioned.<\/p>\n

Since Connolly\u2019s election, we have heard from unionist politicians that abusive comments \u2013 many sectarian \u2013 by anonymous trolls on X and other platforms directed at Heather Humphreys amounted to an insight into the dark and ominous world unionists would face in a united Ireland, where Britishness and Protestantism would not be respected.<\/p>\n

\"IndependentIndependent candidate Catherine Connolly and Fine Gael candidate Heather Humphreys (Niall Carson\/PA) <\/p>\n

Yet if we are going to talk about the head of state position and how it relates to the constitutional question, we should compare how it exists within the current UK context and within an Irish context.<\/p>\n

In Ireland, the head of state is an elected office, open to people of all persuasions and backgrounds so long as candidates are able to successfully navigate the nomination process.<\/p>\n

That process has led to 10 presidents being elected, with two being Protestant, including the very first, Douglas Hyde.<\/p>\n

The very fact Heather Humphreys served as a prominent government minister and was nominated by a party of government confirms how religion was by no means a significant factor in this election \u2013 none of which makes any less contemptible any sectarian commentary that may have appeared on social media or in comments raised to canvassers.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s look at the UK.<\/p>\n

The head of state position was specifically designed to exclude a Catholic from ever holding the post.<\/p>\n

If the serving monarch wanted to become Catholic, they would be unceremoniously dumped from office. Up until 12 years ago, an heir to the throne who even had the temerity to marry a Catholic was disqualified from being an heir.<\/p>\n

Last month, Britain\u2019s King Charles met with the Pope and they prayed together. That led to condemnation from the Orange Order and a prominent Free Presbyterian Minister \u2013 and son of the DUP founder \u2013 publicly calling on the King to resign.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Pope and the King joined in prayer in a historic moment in the Vatican (Aaron Chown\/PA) <\/p>\n

Now imagine the reaction if the Irish President \u2018had\u2019 to be a Catholic. We would hear regularly about how alienating that was for Protestants and unionists and how that would have to change in a united Ireland.<\/p>\n

Yet for Catholics in the north of Ireland today, the reality that the head of state post excludes Catholics is treated by the media as a non-story, never raised as something with implications for the current sovereign status of the north.<\/p>\n

Senior unionist politicians have somehow evaded answering the question as to whether they supported the monarch praying with a Pope \u2013 an important clarification as it would provide a means of demonstrating a desire to reach out to a Catholic community excluded by design from ever being able to hold the UK head of state position.<\/p>\n

The fact Michelle O\u2019Neill attended King Charles\u2019 coronation logically should have already led to the media spotlight being on Deputy First Minister, Emma Little-Pengelly, regarding her intentions or otherwise to attend Catherine Connolly\u2019s inauguration in a week\u2019s time.<\/p>\n

By any objective measure, it is the head of state post within the UK, and not Ireland, which creates a cold house and confirms a culture openly hostile and antagonistic towards one of the two communities in the contested space that is the north of Ireland.<\/p>\n

Why that never arises as a topic for discussion says a lot about work yet to be done in order to level the playing field in our society.<\/p>\n

If you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article and would like to submit a Letter to the Editor<\/a> to be considered for publication, please click here<\/a>Letters to the Editor are invited on any subject. They should be authenticated with a full name, address and a daytime telephone number. Pen names are not allowed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The north may have become a more equal society since the 1998 Agreement, but the manner in which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":545676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,15458,175356,1144,175357,712,16,15,1764,51029],"class_list":{"0":"post-545675","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-england","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-irish","14":"tag-irish-presidential-election-pa2025","15":"tag-northern-ireland","16":"tag-president-wparota","17":"tag-scotland","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom","20":"tag-wales","21":"tag-wparota"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115484303631051498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=545675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/545675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/545676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=545675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=545675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=545675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}