Fergus Finlay: Stirring words of O'Connell can help us beat our greatest enemy

As rugby legend Paul O'Connell urged his teammates in the dressing room of Croke Park in 2007, 'It's time to go bananas'. They beat England that day, and we can beat Covid

Ireland's Paul O'Connell driving past English captain Phil Vickery at Croke Park in the memorable clash between the two counrtries in 2007.

We’re facing a really deep crisis now. When I try to figure out how I want to address it, I think of David Ervine. And I think of Paul O’Connell.

David Ervine was a Belfast man, an egalitarian and a socialist. He was also a staunch loyalist, with a serious criminal conviction in his past. And a powerful peacemaker. We were briefly friends, before he believed I had let him down over something. (I hadn’t, but that’s a longer story).

COVID19 now out of control in our communities. Numbers of hospitalized patients rising exponentially and are a serious threat to healthcare. Coming weeks will see further deterioration. We must all act now - please stay at home unless necessary. Níl tuile dá mhéid nach dtránn pic.twitter.com/5PXTchn098

— Dr Colm Henry, CCO HSE Ireland (@CcoHse) January 3, 2021

He asked me once why I was so proud of being Irish. “Take your time,” he said. “Tell me really why it matters so much to you.” So I tried to explain my love and pride for the land of my birth, for its valleys and hills and coastline, for its history and traditions and culture, for its pride and independence. I told him I would never want to live anywhere else, not raise my children anywhere else.

Above all, I said, I was proud of the people I was raised with and by. I was proud of the way they had surmounted difficult histories, had carved out a place in the world, could hold their heads high anywhere they went. I told him I was proud of the Irish tradition of sticking up for each other – on the playing field, on peace-keeping missions, in the corridors of power and influence.

Most of all, I was proud of the fact that we were an honest people – not above the odd stroke, but able to admit mistakes and learn from them.

When I finished my little speech, he said something that left an indelible mark on me from that moment on.

“I’m glad for you,” he said, “and I understand and respect those feelings entirely. Now tell me,” he added, “how much more Irish will you feel, and how much prouder of your Irishness will you be, if you force me to feel less British?” 

Some of the ideas that emerged from discussions between David Ervine and me, and were largely written by him – including six principles that enshrined fundamental civil and religious rights for both communities – were later enshrined in the Downing Street Declaration, which led to the first IRA ceasefire and the loyalist ceasefire and apology. I’m also very proud of the fact that I helped in some small way to draft a lot of that language.

The Downing Street Declaration became in time the founding document of the peace that Ireland enjoys today. It was built on by other historic achievements, but none of them would have been possible without that.

In particular, that document enshrines the notion of consent several times, and most particularly in the sentence where then taoiseach Albert Reynolds confirmed that “in the event of an overall settlement, the Irish Government will … put forward and support proposals for change in the Irish Constitution which would fully reflect the principle of consent in Northern Ireland”. 

It’s in the Irish Constitution now, of course. But I never think of that hard-won commitment without thinking of David Ervine and what he said. My pride in my Irishness, and his pride in his Britishness, are one and the same. No more, no less.

Not every Irish person, not every British person, not every nationalist or loyalist or unionist, believes that. In every ideology or way of thinking about nationhood there is a tinge, at least, of superiority that can become chauvinism or even worse. But there was nothing of that in him, and he taught me as much about equality and respect in one conversation as any book I’ve ever read, any meeting I’ve ever attended, any campaign I’ve ever been involved in.

It’s extremely important, now more than ever, that everyone knows how and when to safely self-isolate.

This video from @CMOIreland explains it. Please watch and RT. #COVID19 #StayHome #HoldFirm

pic.twitter.com/lYBKBLJOS4

— Department of Health (@roinnslainte) January 4, 2021

And here’s the thing. As proud as I have always been, throughout a longish life, of being Irish, I’ve never been prouder than I am right now. There’s nothing chauvinistic about the battle we’re fighting against the vicious, wilful and resourceful enemy called Covid 19. We’ve been fighting it passionately and together.

We’ve beaten it back before. We were told how to flatten the curve in the first wave, and boy did we do it. In the midst of the second wave, we set about getting the numbers under control again, to the extent that we led the rest of Europe in our fightback.

But the virus has regrouped and come back at us again, and this time, with the aid of a mutation, much more strongly. The figures are really frightening now, and apparently climbing inexorably.

But I don’t think the Irish people will allow themselves to be beaten by a virus like this. I don’t believe we’re capable of letting each other down in that way. We have overcome subjugation and civil war and economic isolation and recession and depression, and we have emerged stronger because we stand by each other when we have to.

We’ll also emerge stronger from this. For starters, we have the best of the best on our team. I’ve worked for more than a year now with the HSE, and I’ve had a chance to see leadership, real leadership, up close and personal. It’s inspirational and it works.

Every day of the week, every hour of the day, there are people working with skill and passion and commitment to see us through this. That has to stand to us, no matter how tough the going gets.

But most of all there is us, our history, our battles, our traditions. We’re not going to let each other down. We’re not going to shirk the necessary sacrifices. We’re going to look out for each other.

Among many memories that make me proud to be Irish, one that stands out always is 2007 in Croke Park, on a day when the Irish rugby team had borrowed the stadium to play England.

Every rugby fan alive, and many others, can remember the emotion of that day. The pressures, the tensions. The crowd was drained but there was one player at least who wasn’t.

WATCH: RTÉ Six One interview with Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Ronan Glynn | https://t.co/tYEC8LLEYh https://t.co/mYIifhJAbN

— RTÉ News (@rtenews) January 3, 2021

Ireland were 20 points up at half-time, but it had been a titanic struggle against an equally skilled and passionate English team. At half-time, in a sweaty and exhausted dressing room, Paul O’Connell spoke to his teammates. It wasn’t the earlier legendary speech where he talked about manic aggression, but a quieter, more thoughtful speech.

But it came to a sort of crescendo when he concluded: “No one here is tired. I feel like I haven’t played yet … we should be going bananas for 40 minutes!”

Well, we’re at half-time in the battle against the pandemic. We might feel tired, but we’re not. There’s families to be protected, lives to be saved, hopes to be rebuilt. We haven’t played yet – in many ways, against frightening numbers, we haven’t begun to play.

We need to show this pandemic that it’s never going to beat a proud and independent people when we stick together. No one ever has, and nothing ever will. As Paul O’Connell might say, though in a different sense, it’s time we agree, ourselves, to do whatever needs to be done to put this virus down. It’s time to go bananas against our common enemy.