Ireland’s Call: an anthem to lift the spirit of any true republican
Of course, this was another of those publicity stunts at which Sinn Féin is so proficient.
The SF representative said that there are essentially two problems that our national flag is not being used and that using the tune Ireland's Call instead of the national anthem "adds insult to injury". He told Radio Kerry, for instance: "The national anthem, Amhrán na bhFiann, is recognised throughout the 32 counties.
"It is recognised by this State and it is also recognised by republicans and therefore it is representative of the majority of the Irish people."
He was basically arguing that the unionists are a minority on this island and they have no right to have their views considered when it comes to the national anthem. His emotional argument was utterly groundless. No true republican can claim that Amhrán na bhFiann is the national anthem of the North.
The great majority of people on this island recognised the existence of Northern Ireland as a separate state by voting overwhelmingly for the Good Friday Agreement.
We repealed Article 2 of the Constitution and agreed to "recognise the legitimacy of whatever choice is freely exercised by a majority of the people of Northern Ireland with regard to its status, whether they prefer to continue to support the union with Great Britain or a sovereign united Ireland".
Furthermore, we agreed to "recognise the birthright of all the people of Northern Ireland to identify themselves and be accepted as Irish or British, or both, as they may so choose".
We can all look forward to that day when the people of the North decide freely to join with the rest of the island, but until then all real republicans are solemnly committed to accepting the separate existence of Northern Ireland.
Sinn Féin has formally affirmed its "total and absolute commitment to exclusively democratic and peaceful means".
Moreover, the Good Friday Agreement declares that "it is the firm will of the Irish nation, in harmony and friendship, to unite all the people who share the territory of the island of Ireland, in all the diversity of their identities and traditions, recognising that a united Ireland shall be brought about only by peaceful means with the consent of a majority of the people, democratically expressed, in both jurisdictions in the island".
Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Martin Ferris have signed up to that, and the only means to unity is by persuasion. Does any intelligent person think that we could ever persuade people to join us by breaking our word and arguing that we will have no time for their sentiments or traditions?
Ireland's Call, written by Phil Coulter, a Derry nationalist, is intended as a compromise to appeal to both traditions. The self-delusion of those so-called republicans who have been phoning Radio Kerry all week reminds me of a story told by a friend who was driving through Arizona and New Mexico one Sunday morning.
He was trying to find some music on the car radio, but he kept coming up with church services. Then one preacher grabbed his attention. He was complaining about Mexican-Americans, not because they were mostly Catholic, but because they were calling for bilingual schools.
"If English was good enough for Jesus Christ," the preacher said, "it should be good enough for the Mexicans."
We are witnessing the same kind of self-delusion. While many other Irish sports were promoting partition (including the GAA, with its ban on foreign games and the ban on the Northern police and army), the IRFU remained a true union, uniting Orange and Green.
The IRFU decided that Amhrán na bhFiann would be played at international matches in the 26 Counties and the British anthem would be played at Irish international matches in the North.
THE problem of what to play abroad first cropped up at the initial rugby World Cup in New Zealand. Mick Doyle, the Irish coach at the time, explained to Niall Madigan on Radio Kerry during the week that he only learned that there was a problem on the eve of Ireland's first game.
The national anthem was dropped and the Rose of Tralee was played instead. Presumably it was the only distinctive Irish record that they could find in New Zealand at such short notice.
There has been no fuss even at the biggest sporting events when our national anthem was fouled up.
Those read like a litany of the greatest Irish sporting occasions on foreign soil: Eamonn Coughlan's win at the World Championships in 1983, Ireland's three great matches in the European Cup finals of 1988, the five games in the World Cup finals of 1990, Michael Carruth winning the gold medal at Barcelona, Ireland's games in the 1994 World Cup and each of the three gold medals that Michelle Smith collected at the Atlanta Olympics.
The Germans, the Italians, the Spanish and the Americans all got the Irish national anthem wrong each time. They played both the first stanza and the chorus of the Soldier's Song, while our national anthem is just the chorus. Could it be that our authorities were misinforming them?
During the 1996 Olympics I called the Government Information Service (GIS) to see if they knew the national anthem.
The first two people I spoke to were not sure. The second person said that she would check it out and call me back. An hour later, she called to say that nobody there knew, so I should call the Government Publications Office. "Yeah," I thought, they were just singing the bureaucratic anthem, "send the fool further!"
Next morning, however, the GIS kindly forwarded the answer. "The text of the Soldier's Song (Amhrán na bhFiann), consisting of three stanzas and a chorus, was written in 1907 by Peadar Kearney who, together with Patrick Heeney, also composed the music.
"It was first published in the newspaper Irish Freedom in 1912. The chorus was formally adopted as the national anthem in 1926, displacing the earlier Fenian anthem, God Save Ireland."
Fair play, they admitted that they did not know, when I called. After all, it had only been the national anthem since 1926 a mere 70 years at that time!
Nobody kicked up a fuss on any of those occasions when our national anthem was fouled up, but now some so-called republicans are trying to stir up discontent, when we are making a proper gesture towards our unionist brethren by playing a tune that stands for unity between the divided people of this island.
The more we hear Ireland's Call from Australia, the more popular it will become. Just two more renditions after tomorrow morning and it will be a great hit.
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