Hello. Sorry I'm late. I was reading something else on this apparently fine blog and clicked here too.
Let's not overlook the profundity of social change in the Irish Republic over the decades which precede us. And let's question how on earth England is supposed to maintain status as beacon of liberalism in the face of Ireland changing, in the space of fifty years thereabouts, from the era of the Magdalene Sisters and A Girl A Is Half-Formed Thing and contraception being confiscated by Gards from Catholic females as they returned south from shopping trips to Belfast or Newry or wherever to maybe, at least in urban Ireland, perhaps the most progressive society in Europe. So what exactly is England supposed to be do stay more liberal than Ireland?
I am not an expert and most of my experience of Ireland, as an Englishman, is in Northern Ireland where I spent three years. I got very familiar with the Protestant notion, and up to a point sympathetic to the idea, that traditionally it's backward down south, that the Catholic Church has all the power and that is manifested in the strangulation of personal liberty upon which Protestantism is based. It is easy to understand that Protestant suspicion when you look at the would-be Republic of Ireland of 1916, the, errrrmmm, awkward stance it had around WW2, or even of the years immediately preceding the Troubles.
But since then the Irish Republic has voted to:
-Reduce the voting age from 21 to 18
-Removed the Catholic Church;s privileged position in the constitution
-Removed the constitutional ban on divorce
-Loosened laws prohibiting abortion
-Then loosened some more
-Then loosened even more
-The loosened some more divorce restrictions
-Dropped the territorial claim on Northern Ireland as part of the Good Friday Agreement
- Banned legislation in favour of the death penalty ever being created
- Deepened and deepened and deepened its position in the EU, even when asked twice because Brussels didn't like the answer first time
- Joined the euro
-Legalised gay marriage
-Removed blasphemy provisions from law
- More liberalisation of abortion law
-...and more liberalisation of divorce law
So in the face of this breakneck period of liberalisation in the Republic, what exactly would Mr O'Toole have England do to stay ahead? And why should it do a single damned thing to satisfy the Irish commentariat?
This is one of your best Conor. Very good.
Thanks so much!
Very perceptive Conor. I heard Derek has arranged to go for a pint with Tim Chapman next time he’s in London.
Hello. Sorry I'm late. I was reading something else on this apparently fine blog and clicked here too.
Let's not overlook the profundity of social change in the Irish Republic over the decades which precede us. And let's question how on earth England is supposed to maintain status as beacon of liberalism in the face of Ireland changing, in the space of fifty years thereabouts, from the era of the Magdalene Sisters and A Girl A Is Half-Formed Thing and contraception being confiscated by Gards from Catholic females as they returned south from shopping trips to Belfast or Newry or wherever to maybe, at least in urban Ireland, perhaps the most progressive society in Europe. So what exactly is England supposed to be do stay more liberal than Ireland?
I am not an expert and most of my experience of Ireland, as an Englishman, is in Northern Ireland where I spent three years. I got very familiar with the Protestant notion, and up to a point sympathetic to the idea, that traditionally it's backward down south, that the Catholic Church has all the power and that is manifested in the strangulation of personal liberty upon which Protestantism is based. It is easy to understand that Protestant suspicion when you look at the would-be Republic of Ireland of 1916, the, errrrmmm, awkward stance it had around WW2, or even of the years immediately preceding the Troubles.
But since then the Irish Republic has voted to:
-Reduce the voting age from 21 to 18
-Removed the Catholic Church;s privileged position in the constitution
-Removed the constitutional ban on divorce
-Loosened laws prohibiting abortion
-Then loosened some more
-Then loosened even more
-The loosened some more divorce restrictions
-Dropped the territorial claim on Northern Ireland as part of the Good Friday Agreement
- Banned legislation in favour of the death penalty ever being created
- Deepened and deepened and deepened its position in the EU, even when asked twice because Brussels didn't like the answer first time
- Joined the euro
-Legalised gay marriage
-Removed blasphemy provisions from law
- More liberalisation of abortion law
-...and more liberalisation of divorce law
So in the face of this breakneck period of liberalisation in the Republic, what exactly would Mr O'Toole have England do to stay ahead? And why should it do a single damned thing to satisfy the Irish commentariat?