Irish Examiner view: Online tirades are a threat to democratic participation
A considered approach for an inclusive re-united Ireland by Labour chairman Jack O'Connor received an onslaught of hateful online abuse. Picture: Chris Bellew / Fennells
In a Mayday speech, Labour chairman Jack O'Connor made a thoughtful contribution around what kind of accommodations might ensure that a reunited Ireland could be a successful entity rather than a failed state — as so many post-colonial societies are. The partition of India and the murderous carnage that provoked, the simmering legacy of imperial Britain's role — America's too — in Palestine and any number of African countries showed what can go wrong when a suzerain's district commissioners retire to gardening and their dotage in Perthshire or Devon.
Mr O'Connor proposed a guarantee for a number of unionist ministers in a reunited Ireland government. That seems worthy of deep consideration especially as it does no more than transfer the idea of powersharing southwards. It underlines too, the real essence of democracy; that it must be about more than numbers, that an electoral majority must be more than a stick to beat a minority. That those principles were historically so offended by Unionism means that this week's milestone — a century since the establishment of Northern Ireland — can hardly be celebrated.
