A nation once again, free to abuse and misuse our sovereignty

THE soon-to-be-fulfilled promise of Ireland walking upright from the bailout, beyond the maw of the troika, needs a national song to be celebrated. Sunday, Dec 15 is the day of reckoning; when Ireland regains her sovereignty. Great moments — like good marching — need music, and marching and music are indispensable to civic pride.

Stephen Foster’s ballad, ‘Hard Times Come Again No More,’ of more than 150 years ago and adopted by an America traumatised by civil war, would be apt. It is sober and mournful, but hopeful — and there is a good version by the Chieftains. The regaining of Irish sovereignty will preface President Michael D Higgins’ State visit to Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle — within months, two powerful signs of a renewed, reinvigorated Ireland. The president won’t go to Windsor a beggar on horseback. He will be the proud head of a sovereign state. We won’t be renting the top hats and tail coats from the court costumiers, thank you.

Oh, hard times come again no more. There’s achievement to be proud of, to be sure. There is hope that hard times, if not no more, may be waning. For three budgets and three years, the Government has stuck to a course of economic rectitude and responsibility. The State has slowly regained a measure of strength and capacity. Whether that adds up to sovereignty is doubtful. But it may appease recent memories of humiliation, and redeem past hubris. It will allow the Government to claim, with justification, that sovereignty is about to be reclaimed.