Irish Examiner view: Shared Island project a low-key catalyst for agreement

A “Shared Island” unit has been established in the Department of the Taoiseach by Micheál Martin to create space for certainty to grow, for certainty to replace wishful thinking. File photo

America has voted and the counting has begun. When a conclusion might be reached is unknown. 

Uncertainty and anxiety are the order of the day, despite a record voter turnout and polls consistently predicting a change in the White House. That uncertainty may be unnerving, as was the inaccuracy of 2016 opinion polls, but it is far better than the certainty around the election in Ivory Coast. 

There, president Alassane Ouattara, 78, has just won a third term with 94% of the vote. Ouattara’s opponents say a third term is illegal and urged supporters not to vote in protest. 

In some circumstances, uncertainty can be more attractive than certainty even if it feeds our anxiety-ridden zeitgeist.

Anyone with even a mild disposition towards anxiety could be overcome today as one fretful subject after another, and a few far more than fretful, play musical chairs with our attention and confidence. One day climate change dominates consciousness, another day is spent trying to see a way through the Brexit maze. 

The shadow of coronavirus and its unknown timescales persist, as do many other issues. Some are on such a grand scale that developing a concerted response is more than difficult. 

Others, more confined and specific, might be more successfully addressed. Sustaining peace and deepening relationships on this island is one such project.

The Cabinet yesterday got an update on a stepping-stone initiative in that journey. The shared island project will be, over the next five years, funded to the tune of €500m. 

The headline objectives are to support cross-border co-operation and dialogue. The more important sub-text is to foster the kind of trust, friendship, mutual understanding, and respect that underpins all successful bridge-building. 

Our history makes these low-key, foundation projects necessary while the possibility of a confrontational Brexit brings a new urgency to the project.

A “Shared Island” unit has been established in the Department of the Taoiseach by Micheál Martin to create space for certainty to grow, for certainty to replace wishful thinking. In a break with Fianna Fáil orthodoxy, Mr Martin criticised traditional “Brits Out” drumbeating as a pointless failure. 

When he launched the programme he said: “It’s not about rhetoric, we can all announce that we want this and that... Let’s go the hard yards. You have to meet with people, talk with people, engage with people.” 

The #SharedIreland team caught up with @EmmandJDeSouza a few days ago. We discussed subjects such as #Citizenship #GFA #BorderPoll the pros & cons of #SocialMedia and much, much more.

💥Tune in for the full #Podcast this Friday, Nov 6th💥#Conversations #OriginalContent pic.twitter.com/73C4oowGuf

— Shared Ireland Podcast Team (@SharedIreland) November 3, 2020

All too predictably the initiative has been criticised by Sinn Féin who want an early border poll which they hope would bring a reunited Ireland. Just as is the case in America this morning, achieving a result and seeing it made real are two very different things.

There have been many attempts to achieve psychological, if not political, unity on this island. Most, but not all, have run into the sand. 

There seems to be an air of pragmatism, in scale and objective, around this initiative. The timing seems appropriate too as the majority in NI voted to stay in the EU. 

Low-key as this positive initiative may seem today it might just be a catalyst for great, agreed change. No-one can be certain about timescales but we can be certain that this project can only come to fruition through consent.