Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The fact that the protests over the restrictions on the flying of the Union Jack at Belfast City Hall have receded, at least for the moment, should not prevent an analysis of what transpired or lessons to be learned. The Taoiseach referred to the protests and used the words “underlying causes”, which suggest that while there were reactionary loyalist hard-liners stirring up sectarian divisions many young, working-class Protestants were involved and there was support initially from a wider strata of the Protestant population. Is the real underlying cause that the peace process has not delivered a transformation of life for working class people whether Protestant or Catholic? We have a considerable economic crisis and suffering as a result of that among working class people right across the spectrum.

Is the institutionalisation of sectarian division that is enshrined in the Good Friday Agreement not glaringly obvious in the flags issue? When Sinn Féin and the SDLP raised the flag issue, there was no groundswell of pressure coming from within the Catholic community, yet the Unionist bloc embraced with gusto what it saw as the challenge from an opposite perspective and went with 40,000 leaflets to stir it up among the Protestant people. What we had was establishment politicians on both sides in the Executive and the Assembly stirring up divisive issues on a sectarian basis and cynically diverting attention from their failure to address the real issues confronting working class people, namely, unemployment, the housing crisis, poverty and the grim future for young people which affects both Protestants and Catholics. It also diverts from the Welfare Reform Bill – a vicious attack on social welfare recipients - which was not vetoed by a single party in the Executive when it was passed last autumn. Is it not reckless for political parties to manipulate issues in this way and to stir up sectarian divisions, which is the reality, to divert attention from their own failures and shortcomings?

Equally, is it not in the interests of working class people and working class youths – Protestant and Catholic – not to be divided but to come together to address the real issue, but also to oppose the austerity that is decimating society in Northern Ireland, as the Government’s austerity is decimating society in the Republic by continuing such a programme? Working class people should come together across the divide to address these issues with radical solutions rather than be divided by manipulating politicians.

See this speech in context