Adams, SF and pursuit of unity

How long more are Sinn Féin and Gerry Adams going to be dreaming about a unitary state that is not coming at their annual televised ard fheis?

The decades have passed one after another and there isn’t the slightest sign that a one-state solution to Sinn Féin’s aspiration will ever see the light of day. Words, words, words. Adams and others have written and spoken entire encyclopedias on a united Ireland. However, the sober reality is that a united Ireland is no closer now than it was in the upheaval of the 1970s and appears to be getting further away with almost a century gone.

Ironically, 1916 centenary celebrations will be without a united Ireland, and instead of being a celebration of Irish independence, should be a reminder that it has not happened. Moreover, Irish affairs are now very much in the hands of the European Union, run by superpowers which Sinn Féin acknowledge. In fact, constitutional Irish independence has been a very shortlived thing since the enactment of the Constitution in 1937 to the signing of the Maastricht treaty in 1992 — just 65 years of sovereign independence.