July 2017 1 7
I
N ENGLAND conventional prejudice has Irish
Catholics as violent, though with a pictur-
esque charm through it. That wisdom
envisions Irish Protestants – especially
Northern Protestants – as just as fractious,
but also dour and bigoted.
That view has come out in the portrayal of the
DUP since it agreed the Confidence and Supply
Agreement with Theresa May’s government.
The Evening Standard, edited by former Con
-
servative Chancellor George Osborne, ran a
front-page cartoon portraying Arlene Foster as
Dr Evil from the Austin Powers movies.
The DUP’s social conservatism has been high
-
lighted. A headline in The Guardian read: “From
climate denial to abortion: six DUP stances you
should know about”. The Independent had a sim-
ilar headline: ‘From abortion to evolution: the
terrifying views of the DUP you need to know’
and the Mirror referred on its front page to “a
Coalition of Crackpots”.
Certainly, the DUP is strongly socially conserv-
ative, and elected members have made
outrageous comments. However, it is not the
only party in the North to hold such views. Some
of the most outrageous statements and actions
have come from the SDLP, which gets a kinder
press.
In 2015, then SDLP leader and MP for South
Belfast Dr Alastair McDonnell was interviewed
on BBC Northern Ireland about proposed
changes to the North’s legislation on abortion.
He rejected permitting abortion in cases of fatal
foetal abnormality, saying: “…basically, the pre-
dictions in those circumstances are never
accurate. Nobody can predict that a foetus is not
viable, and that’s the problem and, as a GP, I’m
fully aware”.
McDonnell also rejected abortion in the case
of foetuses conceived as a result of rape or
incest, saying: “I have every belief that we will
because I know a number of people, who are very
good, normal people, who make a tremendous
contribution to society who were conceived as a
result of what might be termed a crime”.
At the April meeting of Bel-
fast City Council, DUP
councillors voted with all
other parties for a motion
condemning ‘pro-life’ picket-
ers who intimidate women
attending the Marie Stopes
Clinic in the City centre.
Three SDLP councillors,
alone, did not support the
motion. The three abstained,
including the SDLP group
leader, and deputy group
leader. Declan Boyle, one of
the three said: “I am proud to
be pro-life and I have abso-
lutely no regrets about how I voted”. The SDLP
quickly suspended the three.
Their views are a caricature of what many
would see as DUP members’ views. In fact the
DUP, like any political party, listens to its elector-
ate and can’t ignore that on social issues surveys
have found Northern Protestants – most of
whom vote for the DUP – are more liberal than
Northern Catholics. The Free Presbyterian
Church is still disproportionately influential, but
the fundamentalist wing of the party has been
weakened by recent election results.
The decision by the British government that
Northern women will no longer have to pay for
abortions in England offers a (Northern) Irish
solution to a (Northern) Irish problem. Abortion
will be available for free for women in the North
– but in England, not at home. And so with what
we might describe as Irish Republican elegance
the DUP will side-step any vote to introduce it.
When commenting on the DUP, many British
commentators have forgotten that it is a suc-
cessful and pragmatic party. Like other
mainstream parties, its priority is power rather
than principle. Those who under-
estimate the DUP are the same
people who wrote off the possi-
bility of the UK electorate voting
for Brexit, Trump being elected
as US President, and positively
gloated that Corbyn was leading
the British Labour Party to elec-
toral disaster.
For Theresa May, the embar-
rassment with the DUP will
almost certainly come from sec-
ular issues: NAMA, the
Renewable Heat Initiative, build-
ing contractors Red Sky, or some
workaday, modern, new scan-
dal. NAMA and RHI in particular have not gone
away for the DUP. They smell more of Charlie
Haughey’s Fianna Fáil than the Gospel Hall.
Of course, as is traditional for smaller parties
propping up governments, the Conservatives
will burn the DUP, unless the DUP gets its burn
in first. In the meantime, in making their bargain,
the DUP have shown itself a better negotiator
than the Irish Labour Party. As in so many things
like Fianna Fáil with a ten-year lag, really.
The DUP is no closer to the
backwoods, on corruption or
abortion and LGBT rights, than
Fianna Fáil was a decade ago
by Anton McCabe
DUPed
commentators
Many British commentators
have forgotten that the DUP is
a successful and pragmatic
party. Like other mainstream
parties, its priority is power
rather than principle.
DUP: not popular on the Left
1 8 July 2017
1. CONFLICT OF INTEREST
Blue in the face with Bluebells
McLoughlin Healy suspended from Fine Gael for championing ethics in case
of alleged conflict of interest against Fianna Fáil TD, Fiona O’Loughlin, though
Council has denied the issue big enough to attract legislative prohibition.
The beautiful ‘Bluebells and Buskers’ Festival in Rathangan, Co Kildare, was
founded by Fianna Fáil’s Fiona O’Loughlin, now a TD and formerly – and rel
-
evantly for this purpose - a Councillor in Kildare County Council, and her family
- in memory of her father, a former Councillor, some years ago.
The Leinster Leader of 30th April 2013 notes: “The family of former county
councillor Jimmy O’Loughlin, who passed away last January, is organis-
ing “Bluebells and Buskers” in his memory, with 15 musical acts dotted
amongst the trees. Kilinthomas Woods held a special place in his life”.
In 2015 an application was made to Kildare County Council for
€600 towards the €2,300 required for catering, printing, room
costs and sound hire for a 1916 version of the event. Mr Brian
O’Loughlin, the brother of then-chair of the Council committee
considering the matter, former Councillor Fiona O’Loughlin of
Fianna Fáil, was listed as the “Contact Person” on the applica
-
tion form. He stated that the grant was transferred directly to
the bank account of the Rathangan Community Association
Limited, a charitable company limited by guarantee and with
published audited accounts. Though the application form was
filled in by ‘Buskers and Bluebells’ not Rathangan Community
Association.
In late 2015 then-Fine Gael Councillor Fiona McLoughlin
Healy (no relation of Fianna Fáil Councillor O’Loughlin)
asked for a breakdown of funding allocated by the
Decade of Commemoration Committee and expressed
concern that a play written about 1916 failed to get
funding while an annual woodland festival did. When
she asked if any conflicts of interest had been
declared all hell broke loose. She subsequently
tabled a motion seeking a breakdown of the grants
paid out by the Decade of Commemorations commit-
tee, only to gain no support.
Notes from the discussion of her motion show a
fierce exchange, as the councillor fought with figures
Fiona’s
no rezona
Councillor Fiona McLoughlin
Healy has risked her reputation
challenging ingrained low standards
in Kildare County Council
by Michael Smith
NEWS
Former FG, now Independent, Councillor Fiona McLoughlin Healy

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