Border areas struggling..and so is Adams

Sinn Féin this past week held the northwest launch of the party's vision of a United Ireland, a vision no doubt that many unionists would be enamoured with!

Party president Gerry Adams, vice-president Pat Doherty and chief negotiator Martin McGuinness were in Derry to oversee the launch and Mr Adams claimed that Partition had had "a disastrous impact" on border areas:

"The northwest is the poorest area of the poorest regions.

"We would argue that we cannot understand these problems or seek to solve them unless we view them in the context of partition."

I was with Mr Adams up to this point. Then, regrettably, he proceeded to drag up one of the most stupid, utterly pointless concepts his party has come up with in recent memory - the infamous 'green paper' on Irish Unity which none of the parties in the Dáil want to touch with a fifty foot barge pole.

The whole thing strikes me as similar to a whiny child writing up a Christmas list that includes a pony:

"But Timmy, Santa can't bring you a pony. It's just not possible. The pony wouldn't want to live with us unless we could provide for it."

"But I want a pony! Convince Santa to get me a pony!"

Sinn Féin seem to have forgotten that the onus is on them to convince unionists of the merits of Irish unity. But, alas, as Adams continued his speech, it was as if we were sucked into a time warp and taken back to 1986 rather than being able to deal in the present here in 2006:

"The Irish government has a responsibility to take the lead and develop a strategy for Irish self-determination."

What the Dickens is this all about? Does anybody have any clue what on earth he's on about here? Anyone?

"The British government should act as persuaders for Irish unity..."

Why's that? Isn't that your job? Shouldn't the job of the British government be to accept the will of the people? You know, govern?

"...and there should be an ongoing engagement with unionist opinion."

Um, here's a whacky thought Mr Adams. Why don't YOU and YOUR PARTY engage with unionist opinion? Wasn't that the whole logic behind the Good Friday Agreement anyway - the one your party signed up to? The GFA stated that, being a participant of the Agreement, you chose to:

"acknowledge that while a substantial section of the people in Northern Ireland share the legitimate wish of a majority of the people of the island of Ireland for a united Ireland, the present wish of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland, freely exercised and legitimate, is to maintain the Union and, accordingly, that Northern Ireland's status as part of the United Kingdom reflects and relies upon that wish; and that it would be wrong to make any change in the status of Northern Ireland save with the consent of a majority of its people."

And yet, rather than attain the consent of a majority of the people, bafflingly, Mr Adams instead wants the British government to persuade unionists to support a United Ireland!

Dear oh dear, oh dear!

And people believe these guys are going to be able to bring about a United Ireland? I don't think so.

Sorry Timmy, you can cry and moan all you want but Santa ain't bringing you that pony...