Irish Examiner view: Inconsistent democrats

DUP leader Arlene Foster. Though abortion has been legal in the UK for decades the DUP is preparing another never-never-never campaign.

This republic’s established political parties and Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party have little enough in common other than a common enemy. Though Fianna Fáíl and Fine Gael have enough on their plates to enliven any parliamentary party meeting, neither seems a besieged, fundamentalist cabal happily out of step with the zeitgeist. One or both of the Dáil parties may soon achieve that status. Nevertheless, they seem capable of change if only to try to ensure their survival. The DUP does not.

The DUP seems shackled to a worldview that defies the first adjective in its name. When challenged about Brexit despite a 44.22% to 55.78% NI vote to remain in the EU it insists the relevant ratio is the overall UK one of 48% to 52%. 

Yet, that commitment to democracy seems selective. That cherry-picking will play out this week when plans to implement NI abortion services reach the Commons. Stormont may be told to commission abortion services voted through Westminster in 2019 while Stormont was suspended.

Though abortion has been legal in the UK for decades the DUP is preparing another never-never-never campaign. The party uses Britain’s collective shield when it feels the need but asserts regional independence on other occasions. This is not good for the DUP, those it represents, nor relationships on these islands. Logic and consistency are all too absent, a lacuna with consequences across all aspects of public life.