Sunday 7 February 2010

Vox pop on the Agreement

This blog’s initial reactions to the Hillsborough agreement were that it represented a climb-down by the DUP. While it is, of course, too early to know how things will actually turn out, it is interesting to note that the feeling of ordinary working class Protestants on the Shankill Road are not dissimilar to those of this blog. A vox pop carried out by the Irish Times provides the following comments:

On the Shankill Road, there’s a very different atmosphere. The shops are pulling their shutters down early, and most people seem more concerned with getting home at the end of a long week than discussing the new political deal. The majority of those who do stop feel aggrieved, sidelined and let down.

“We’re just fed up with the whole lot of them, that’s what everyone says on the Shankill,” calls one woman. At Mooney’s butchers, Alexander Brown and Darren Hinds are despondent about the future of the Protestant community. “Our politicians haven’t negotiated hard enough. Now everyone thinks the Prods are too soft,” says Brown. “I don’t think there will be any Orange parades now, and in another five or 10 years, we’ll be seeing a united Ireland.”

“The British government has just given in to Sinn Féin. If I had my chance I’d be out of here and away to Australia,” adds Hinds.

At her greengrocer’s shop across the road, Kathleen Dalton says that unionists have been let down by their representatives. “I won’t vote for the DUP again. I’ll give Jim Allister my vote next time. He stands up for his principles.”

But pensioner Malcolm McCalmont says that politicians have got their priorities wrong. “Too much has been made of parading. And they’ll argue about policing and law and order for another 100 years. They’re going on about the Garvaghy Road while hundreds of thousands are unemployed in Northern Ireland. It’s a load of rubbish.”

“Sack the lot of them,” agrees James Pollock, behind the counter of SOS Shoe Repairs. “They’re not worth a bag of onions. You feel you can’t trust them. Where’s the honesty and the integrity?”
Will the DUP will listen to these sorts of comments, and try to row back on their commitments? It seems that if they don't then they stand to lose a lot of votes - but perhaps they hope to compensate for them by taking (or keeping) the more moderate unionist support that would once have gone to the UUP. Is there really room any more for the DUP between the rejectionist TUV and the UUP-UCUNF, though? Unionism cannot provide enough votes for three major parties - one has to go, maybe even two. The DUP will have to box clever to avoid being one of the victims.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Australia sounds good.

Anonymous said...

What's with this "protestant state for a protestant people " bollix ? If you want to be taken seriously you could at least get the quotation right.

Anonymous said...

There's recently been an amount of handbags between certain Northern Irish contributors at the Irish Times. The originator of this report was fingered in an IT column in late January for making what the writer identified as ill-informed and prejudiced declarations about the unionist working class. But maybe it's a class war as much as a religious one, since the latter columnist is scheduled to speak at the Sinn Fein 'Irish Unity' conference in London in late February.
The quoted report certainly seems to fall into that worthy school of traditional vox-pop current since '69 - quick counterpoint traverse of Shankill and Falls. Not too hard on the shoe leather and the afternoon off.

bangordub said...

Horseman,
Is it too early for your predictions re the upcoming elections?
Given that there are so many unpredictable elements this time, Sylvia, unionist pacts, TUV effect, Robinson effect, etc
Should be fun I think

Horseman said...

bangordub,

I don't intend to do predictions, as such. I will look at the different constituencies when we know who is standing, and draw some conclusions based upon known electoral and demographic data, opinion polls and betting odds (if any). But beyond those things I have no crystal ball - and, as you say, there are a lot of new uncertainties. I think lots of people will find their predictions are wrong.

hoboroad said...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markdarcy/2010/02/jostling_for_position_1.html

hoboroad said...

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/first-minister-peter-robinson-lobbied-for-developer-who-funded-irisrsquos-lover-14673038.html

hoboroad said...

http://www.nuzhound.com/articles/Daily_Star/arts2010/feb8_Unionists_in_a_mess__JCoulter_Star.php

hoboroad said...

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/minister-quizzed-over-peter-and-iris-robinsons-support-for-businessmanrsquos-plans-14673036.html

Anonymous said...

I don't know if this will interest the writer of this blog or not, but there was some writeups in the Canadian press about the expensive new renovations and enlargements of the Irish embassy here in Ottawa. The embassy is now the envy of the town but Ireland's economy is in a rough patch.

Horseman said...

Anonymous from Ottawa,

Yes, it interests me and disgusts me. It has been in the press here too, but has not (yet) received the amount of condemnation that it should. It is a sad reality that even in tough times the Irish elite feathers its own nests. It has always been thus, and while it could be ignored in the boom when it seemed that money was plentiful, it is inexcusable now. There are many of us who aspire to a true republic where such blatant abuses would not happen.