I think we found the most tone deaf, idiotic plan for post-Brexit Ireland yet

DUPs Jeffrey Donaldson and ghost empire image over the Union Jack
Peadar O'Cearnaigh


On Saturday 7 September, DUP MP Sir Jeffrey Donaldson suggested Ireland could join the British Commonwealth. Donaldson made his ridiculous suggestion during a debate about relationships on the island of Ireland.

And as there’s so much confusion over the outcome of Brexit negotiations, Donaldson might have thought this ludicrous suggestion was sensible. But given the attitude expressed by close colleagues towards Ireland, it’s hard to believe that. So his suggestion was firmly rejected with the appropriate online mix of logic and laughter.

Online reaction

People online were very much aware of the nonsense in Donaldson’s suggestion. So they couldn’t contain their responses. Some explained quite logically how they felt about the Commonwealth:

Others took a much lighter approach to Donaldson’s daft suggestion:

Others then reminded Donaldson just how antiquated his suggestion was:

Facts about the Commonwealth

The Commonwealth describes itself as a “voluntary association” of 53 states. Most of these states are former colonies of the British empire. Ireland left it and became a republic on 18 April 1949.

Ireland, like so many other nations around the world, suffered from the ills of the British Empire. And having fought so long and hard to get out of it, there would just be no sense at all in walking back into it in any form. The DUP and its colleagues created this Brexit shambles, so it’s their job to put it right. Not the job of the Irish.

Ridiculous suggestion

It’s irrelevant whether it’s the British Commonwealth or a monarchical Commonwealth of any country. Joining such an organisation is a backward step for any democracy. Because no self-respecting democracy should ever have a monarch as its head of state in any form.

And it’s a backward step to a time that never should have been. Irish people and other democracies went through so much misery and lost so many lives to be free of monarchy. There’s no sense in giving all that up now, or at any stage in the future, to compensate for Tory / DUP chaos.

Featured image via YouTube – DUP / Flickr – CHRISTOPHER DOMBRES

 

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  • Show Comments

    1. I’d go one step further; Ireland should rejoin the UK. Just think; the paddies would get all the benefits of a free health service, they would get the Pill; they wouldn’t have to travel to England to find “one of them women that takes that tablet that stops them getting babies when you fuck ’em” in order to get their leg over; and we could put the paras on the streets in Dublin and hunt down those IRA bastards and end the troubles for good.

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