Northern Ireland

Non Brits often ask about Northern Ireland, usually in some form like 'How can you justify holding on to a colony in this day and age, against the will of the people?'

Of course, it isn't against the will of the people, and that's the problem. Successive governments for nearly a century would have been delighted to hand the Province over to someone else, Sudan for example, but the people stubbornly insist on remaining British.

Just to recap, there was a series of terrorist outbreaks even during the First World War, when we would rather have had our security forces elsewhere. The Irish Republican Army, or IRA, became a name on the lips of every British subject. In 1922 we handed over the large part of the island to an independent state, whilst six counties in the north insisted on remainng British. Some republlicans (Catholics) went against the Treaty and insisted on maintaining a claim to the North as well. Things blew up again in 1969 and the people of the North existed in a living hell of terrorist outrage. The IRA had largely given up and it was the Provisional IRA which was committing the outrages.

In 1998 we, the Irish Republic and most politicians signed the Good Friday Agreement. Many people, myself included, warned that there didn't seem to be enough involvement of all the militant groups, nor proof they had given up their weapons, but Tony Blair, you may recall, felt the 'hand of history' on his shoulder.

By this time the militant score was: IRA (retired); Provisional IRA (put down their arms); Real IRA (still active); Continuity IRA (still active); Irish National Liberation Army (still active); and several spin-off groups. It will be one of this lot, or another group, which murdered the young policeman in Omagh this weekend.

It is like the Hydra in Greek mythology, which, each time it had one of its heads hacked off, grew two more. Each time we have given in, in return for peace, a new section has sprung up and we are back to square one. We have handed over the large part of the Island, and in 1998 we allowed terrorists to enter a regional administration.

I have heard only two sensible suggestions about Northern Ireland. The first was that at the time we handed over Hong Kong we should have granted residence to all HK Chinese, but just in Northern Ireland. The principle was that the Chinese gangs and brotherhoods were so much more aggressive than the IRA that they would keep things quiet.

The second suggestion is that of the 1.8 million inhabitants, the level of Catholics is now over 40% and is growing at a higher rate than the Protestant population. We wait until the Catholics have passed 50%, call a referendum, and let the South cope with protestant terrorism.

Can't wait.