Sinn Féin is biggest obstacle to Irish unity

Irish unity is in the air. Irish unity is inevitable. Apart from the philosophical problems with such assumptions, there is the overhanging legacy of the ‘Troubles’. This raises awkward ethical issues about the pursuit of Irish unity and the ethical foundations of a new constitutional arrangement for the whole island. Unless there is an open acknowledgement of responsibility for the Troubles by the principal historical actors, it is difficult to see how northern nationalists and Ulster unionists might contentedly cohabit within an all-Ireland state. A disavowal of past violence, it is argued, is an essential part of laying the moral foundations for a new Ireland. A recent UN report, Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-recurrence, offers some ethical and practical guidelines as to how this might be effected.

Liam Kennedy is at the Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's University Belfast and his article One Island, Two Peoples: Ethical Perspectives on Ireland's Consitutional Future is available open access in Irish Studies in International Affairs on JSTOR. He wrote an opinion piece on the same topic which was published in The Irish Times.

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