Playing the green card is likely to leave us looking like the knave

LONG ago I laid down what I believe to be an iron law of Irish politics: as long as partition lasts, the national question is the only game in town.

That’s why, when the other political pundits are watching passing clouds like budgets, I am watching Sinn Fein aggravating anglophobia in the Republic.

Because if you study most major issues you will find a link, however faint, to Sinn Fein, the IRA and the fanatical core of Irish nationalism.

Last week, the national question could be linked to two apparently separate issues: the Take Back the City march and Leo Varadkar’s greening of Brexit with the full backing of Sinn Fein.

Let me begin with the light thrown on the SF-FG love affair by the Take Back the City march.

Could I really be the only political commentator who noticed that Sinn Fein, so prominent on the water charges, was completely absent from the Take Back the City protest on September 22?

Sinn Fein’s party Twitter account never mentioned the march. Mary Lou McDonald confined herself to a semi-detached retweet from the official TBTC Twitter page. But there was no sense that she, or anybody else from SF, were immersed in the protest.

Eoin O Broin, Sinn Fein’s housing spokesman, was equally silent on his Twitter account about the march — but all talk on RTE and in the Dail.

Why was Sinn Fein so visible on RTE and so voluble in the Dail, but so invisible on the streets?

The startling answer is Sinn Fein was afraid that taking to the streets might turn off Fine Gael supporters and threaten a post-election FG deal.

This supine strategy has been working well for the past six months. Last February’s Sunday Independent poll showed that Leo Varadkar was much more loved by Sinn Fein than Micheal Martin.

Even more startling, only a minority (49pc) of Sinn Fein supporters were dissatisfied with Mr Varadkar’s leadership.

Time the Irish Times pundits got over their prejudices about Fianna Fail long enough to ask what Leo Varadkar has done to make himself so loved by Sinn Fein, a party mired in lies about everything from rape to political murder, and whether that strange and sinister attraction is a good thing for the rest of us.

The second place the national question showed up was the gloating reaction of nationalist pundits on social media to Theresa May’s humiliation at Salzburg.

But Brendan Keenan saw nothing to gloat about in a particularly grim column in the Irish Independent.

“The chances seem much higher than a fortnight ago that we will drive over a cliff in March. The chances are also higher that, on the Irish question, we will get most of the blame.”

I could quibble with whether “we” deserve the blame. It was Leo Varadkar and Fine Gael who decided to wave the green flag while Micheal Martin steadfastly warned against it.

Keenan went on to comment on Donald Tusk’s warning that if there was no breakthrough on the border issue within weeks, the talks would break down.

“If they do, it will represent an act of folly by the Irish Government on a par with Mrs May’s solo run on leaving the single market and the customs union.”

Keenan deplored the failure of the Irish Government to follow a more prudent path behind closed doors.

“Instead we got death or glory: a choice between a wonderful all-Ireland economy after Brexit or a disastrous division.”

By now the green flaggers have demonised the DUP. But facts are brute things. Let me remind you of a time when Arlene Foster was visiting Roman Catholic schools, speaking a bit of Irish, and repeating that she did not want a hard border.

So when did the iron enter her soul? When Varadkar made the Irish Border a “united Ireland” issue and Sinn Fein wound up the tribal tension on an Irish Language Act.

From the start, Micheal Martin grasped the green nettle tightly and tried to take away the sectarian sting. On The Late Late Show he reminded us the British were our neighbours.

Lisa Chambers backed him on RTE radio in the teeth of FG and SF Twitter trolls. So did Billy Kelleher on The Week in Politics.

In a sharp insight about the UK’s self-inflicted wound, Kelleher said: “They need help because they will damage us if they go down.”

Eamon Ryan agreed and asked when was the last time Simon Coveney had spoken to Arlene Foster.

Ryan was also alert to the cosy chemistry between the Fine Gael and Sinn Fein participants in the studio, which he blandly exposed.

“I’m sorry but I disagree with Eoin (O Broin) and the minister (Helen McEntee) on this.”

The naff nats also rushed to praise British Labour’s Stephen Pound for his tribal smear that “the DUP would love a rock-hard solid concrete border”.

But when Pound tried to repeat the smear on Morning Ireland, Bryan Dobson was swift to correct him: “In fairness to the DUP, we should say that their stated position is that they want to see a frictionless border.”

But The Irish Times seems blind to bad politics. Vivienne Clarke reported on Pound’s interview on Morning Ireland with the headline: “Stephen Pound: The DUP would love a rock solid hard border.”

Clarke did not report Pound’s provocative use of the word “concrete” or Bryan Dobson’s correction. The IT report just let it stand. Just like they are letting Leo Varadkar’s dangerous green game stand without scrutiny.

*******

As a Cork man living in Dublin for most of my working life, I am continually baffled by how little the Dublin bourgeoisie seem to care for their city and its human capital.

In Cork, all classes close ranks to replace what is lost or to protect who or what is threatened. The English Market was rebuilt as before. Cork city is currently rallying to save Redmond’s GAA club from closure.

Let me contrast that with what happens when Dublin looks like losing a local hero.

David Seaver’s small butcher’s shop is halfway up Newtown Park Avenue. He is the best butcher in Dublin, if not in Ireland. And no wonder. He comes from seven generations of butchers.

David sets himself high standards. His spiced white pudding is a luxury meal in itself. Above all, he passes my spiced beef test: Seaver’s spiced beef is as good as the best in Cork’s English Market.

But the big supermarkets are squeezing Seaver’s to death and now Dunnes Stores is moving in massively next door.

David Seaver sadly says that will see the end of the Seaver-Drinkwater dynasty of artisan butchers.

If Dunnes had any cop on it would employ him as a consultant butcher. Ditto SuperValu or Tesco — the latter of which badly needs a lift.

Saddest of all is the lack of community comment, never mind lament, on the loss of a local landmark.

If it happened in Cork, Jimmy Crowley would write a song about it and people would drive the extra mile to buy their meat from Seaver’s.

Cork bards mind their butchers. Let’s hope Crowley takes his audio-visual show Songs from the Beautiful City to Dublin and shows the capital how to love what matters most.

‘Sinn Fein was happy to be seen on TV or pontificating in the Dail — but not on the streets. Why?’