Partitionism - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, partitionism refers to views on Irish politics

Politics of Ireland

In Ireland there are two countries, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The politics of these are managed separately but share a common history of Ireland. Respective articles are as follows:*Politics of the Republic of Ireland...

, culture

Culture of Ireland

This article is about the modern culture of Ireland and the Irish people. It includes customs and traditions, language, music, art, literature, folklore, cuisine and sport associated with Ireland and Irish people today. However, the culture of the people living in Ireland is not homogeneous...

, geography

Geography of Ireland

Ireland is an island in northwest Europe in the north Atlantic Ocean whose main geographical features include low central plains surrounded by a ring of coastal mountains. The highest peak is Carrauntoohil , which is above sea level. The western coastline is rugged, with many islands, peninsulas,...

or history

History of Ireland

The first known settlement in Ireland began around 8000 BC, when hunter-gatherers arrived from continental Europe, probably via a land bridge. Few archaeological traces remain of this group, but their descendants and later Neolithic arrivals, particularly from the Iberian Peninsula, were...

that treat Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

and the Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

as distinct. Partitionists may emphasise the perceived differences between the two jurisdictions and the people who live within them. It has mostly been used to describe those in the Republic who claim to be Irish nationalists

Irish nationalism

Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...

(and hence opposed to partition

Partition of Ireland

The partition of Ireland was the division of the island of Ireland into two distinct territories, now Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland . Partition occurred when the British Parliament passed the Government of Ireland Act 1920...

) but who view Northern Ireland and its people as separate. It is usually used among nationalists and republicans

Irish Republicanism

Irish republicanism is an ideology based on the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic.In 1801, under the Act of Union, the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland merged to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

as "a term of abuse to other nationalists".

The border

The Derry Journal
Derry Journal
The Derry Journal is a newspaper based in Derry, Northern Ireland, serving County Londonderry as well as County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. It is operated by a Johnston Press holding company entitled Derry Journal Newspapers. The paper is published on Tuesday and Friday and is a sister...

has described partitionism as "a criticism of those in the south who pay lip-service to the ideal of Irish unity

United Ireland

A united Ireland is the term used to refer to the idea of a sovereign state which covers all of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. The island of Ireland includes the territory of two independent sovereign states: the Republic of Ireland, which covers 26 counties of the island, and the...

but who are smugly comfortable with the 26 county Republic". Likewise, in his book Luck and the Irish, Roy F Foster used the term "partitionalism" to describe "the tacit acceptance in the South of a border that worked to its economic advantage".

In 2009, Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin

Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

MLA

Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland)

Member of the Legislative Assembly is a representative elected by the voters to the Northern Ireland Assembly in Northern Ireland.- About :...

Martin McGuinness

James Martin Pacelli McGuinness is an Irish Sinn Féin politician and the current deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland. McGuinness was also the Sinn Féin candidate for the Irish presidential election, 2011. He was born in Derry, Northern Ireland....

used the term in denouncing Lord Mayor of Dublin

Lord Mayor of Dublin

The Lord Mayor of Dublin is the honorific title of the Chairman of Dublin City Council which is the local government body for the city of Dublin, the capital of Ireland. The incumbent is Labour Party Councillor Andrew Montague. The office holder is elected annually by the members of the...

Eibhlin Byrne

Eibhlin Byrne is a former Fianna Fáil politician, and served as Lord Mayor of Dublin from 2008–09.Byrne has held a number of senior positions including Acting Director of the Daughters of Charity Child and Family Service, Head of Communication and Advocacy at Depaul Trust , and Chair of the...

who had suggested it was "unpatriotic" for the Republic's citizens to go shopping in Northern Ireland. Commenting on McGuinness’s remarks, Peter Robinson

Peter Robinson (politician)

Peter David Robinson is the current First Minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party...

said: "For republicans, partitionism, I think, is defined as the practice of advocating the removal of the border but behaving in a manner which reinforces it".

Ireland and Irishness

When the island was partitioned in 1921, thousands of Irish Catholic

Irish Catholic

Irish Catholic is a term used to describe people who are both Roman Catholic and Irish .Note: the term is not used to describe a variant of Catholicism. More particularly, it is not a separate creed or sect in the sense that "Anglo-Catholic", "Old Catholic", "Eastern Orthodox Catholic" might be...

s and nationalists were left "stranded" in the "Protestant, Pro-British state" of Northern Ireland. Some nationalists have described partitionism as the belief that "Ireland" and "Irishness

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

" is confined to the Republic. For example, during a debate in the Dáil

Dáil Éireann

Dáil Éireann is the lower house, but principal chamber, of the Oireachtas , which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann . It is directly elected at least once in every five years under the system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote...

on 9 March 1999, Austin Currie

Austin Currie

Austin Currie is a former politician who was elected to the parliaments of both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland....

denounced those in the Republic who questioned the Irishness of 'northern' Catholics:

I am sorry to say it was not only in the North that our Irish identity was questioned. Some in this State questioned our Irishness and there are some who still do. Partitionism over the years of separation became a fact of life; sometimes in the most unexpected quarters, as I found through personal experience including an occasion in this House.

Likewise, a columnist for The Irish Times
The Irish Times
The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...

wrote on 25 September 1997 that "those elements in this State who query the Irishness of Northern nationalists, who speak of their difference in almost racist

Racism

Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...

terms, should seriously consider counselling".

During the 1997 presidential election

Irish presidential election, 1997

-References:...

campaign, Fine Gael

Fine Gael

Fine Gael is a centre-right to centrist political party in the Republic of Ireland. It is the single largest party in Ireland in the Oireachtas, in local government, and in terms of Members of the European Parliament. The party has a membership of over 35,000...

printed and circulated leaflets that stated:

The presidency
President of Ireland
The President of Ireland is the head of state of Ireland. The President is usually directly elected by the people for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the President does exercise certain limited powers with absolute...

is about the nation behind the state. About all the individual people who make up Irish society. It is the only public office elected by the direct vote of all the people of Ireland.

The 23 October 1997 edition of An Phoblacht
An Phoblacht
An Phoblacht is the official newspaper of Sinn Féin in Ireland. It is published once a month, and according to its website sells an average of up to 15,000 copies every month and was the first Irish paper to provide an edition online and currently having in excess of 100,000 website hits per...

(official newspaper of Sinn Féin) criticised these statements as "a perfect example of partitionist thinking" and argued, "the clear import of this statement is that people in the Six Counties are not Irish, that Ireland stops at the border and that Irish society is confined to the 26 Counties".

Speaking in the Dáil on 13 April 2000, Sinn Féin's Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin is a Sinn Féin politician from Ireland. He has been a Teachta Dála for the Cavan–Monaghan constituency since 1997 and was the parliamentary leader of Sinn Féin in Dáil Éireann from 1997–2011.-Biography:Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin was born in Monaghan in 1953. He was educated at St....

said:

In the republican political tradition, to which I belong, the State is often referred to as the 26 County State. This is a conscious response to the partitionist view, prevalent for so long and still sadly widespread, that Ireland stops at the Border. The Constitution
Constitution of Ireland
The Constitution of Ireland is the fundamental law of the Irish state. The constitution falls broadly within the liberal democratic tradition. It establishes an independent state based on a system of representative democracy and guarantees certain fundamental rights, along with a popularly elected...

says that the name of the State is Ireland, and Éire in the Irish language. Quite against the intentions of the framers of the Constitution, this has led to an identification of Ireland with only 26 of our 32 counties in the minds of many people.

The border

Ireland and Irishness

See also