SF must make a different sacrifice

■ The only meaningful question Sinn Féin should be asking in relation to abstentionism ought to be: Would ending it benefit Ireland?

The answer is painfully obvious. The narrowness of recent British parliamentary votes should have the party aching to take those seven empty seats in the House of Commons.

Republicans have made numerous painful sacrifices over the centuries for the cause of Irish freedom and, from their perspective, the ultimate good of Ireland.

They have endured the pitch-cap and the rack; lengthy jail terms, transportation and hunger strikes. Patriots suffered death by hanging while others faced the firing squads.

What better way to strike a blow for Ireland right now than by acting to block the dreaded ‘hard’ Brexit that edges closer by the day?

Such a move would speak louder than the crack of an Armalite, the sputtering of a Kalashnikov, or the once familiar ear-splitting boom of a fertiliser bomb in London’s financial district.

As the song goes: “We’re on the one road, maybe the wrong road, on the road to God’s knows where...”

The road ahead might lead to a brighter future if Sinn Féin would just cast aside old notions of republican etiquette. The party needs to face up to a new foe in rapidly changing times.

The Black and Tans have long gone. There are no peasants in mud cabins watching fearfully for the arrival of the Redcoats. Old battlefields are now heritage sites, tourist trails, or quaint public buildings. The Long War has been consigned to the history books.

Brexit is the new enemy at the gates. A century ago, Pearse and his comrades died heroically for Ireland.

The ‘magnificent seven’ can live for the country they serve by taking their seats in parliament and putting Ireland – as distinct from their own party – first.

They can become the 21st century heroes of Irish republicanism.

John Fitzgerald