Northern Ireland

Michael Connarty Excerpts

Tuesday 11th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Villiers]

As I have said, I have repeated on many occasions the Government’s support for the Union and for Northern Ireland’s place within it. The question of Northern Ireland’s future is settled on the principles of the Belfast agreement; it will only ever be decided by democracy and by consent. When it comes to the politics of identity, I think that it is very important that when decisions are taken, whether on flags or other issues, the very different traditions, perspectives and perceptions of identity in Northern Ireland are taken into account, but I will never be in doubt about my support for the Union or about the UK Government’s support for it.

[Michael Connarty (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (Lab)]

I fear that in many of these replies to the questions on the statement the idea of identity in Northern Ireland is being treated as somehow a theoretical construct. Last Thursday, when you, Mr Speaker, assisted by calling me to speak on the 41st anniversary of the McGurk’s bar bombing, what was revealed to me was that the people who had researched a book on the bombing and come here to launch it are deeply locked in the past. Clearly those people from west Belfast still feel a deep bitterness towards the United Kingdom and the involvement of its armed forces in their community. Similarly, in my work in the peace process over there, I have found that the people on the ground, not the politicians, feel deeply threatened by the turmoil that goes on at street level about identity, which leads to continued violence by IRA paramilitaries and the clear ability in loyalist communities to round up people on the streets and create violence. I urge the Secretary of State, apart from helping me get to the truth about the McGurk’s bar bombing, to get on the ground, talk to people and stop lecturing them from above.

[Mrs Villiers]

I can assure the hon. Gentleman that I and the Minister of State do talk with people on the ground about these matters—it is a crucial part of being effective in our roles. With regard to the matter of identity, the important thing is to remember that one of the fundamental principles of the Belfast agreement was the need to recognise that people in Northern Ireland view their identities differently. The agreement recognised the ability of individuals in Northern Ireland to define themselves as British or Irish, and indeed some may choose to define themselves simply as Northern Irish. The politics of identity is fluid and changing, but a key part of the Belfast agreement was recognition of an individual’s right to define their identity in whatever way they choose.