Move over, darling

national | history and heritage | other press

Saturday October 03, 2009 14:16

by Blazes Boylan

An ignored outcome of the Lisbon II referendum; a new role for Tony Blair, our next über-President. Move over Mary Mac, and be glad that he is a convert.

Now that the referendum is "in the bag" for the government, can we glance back a century to 1910? Then Ireland had over 100 MPs out of 670, and we were seriously over-represented in what was called the "Imperial Parliament". As an island we elected 1/7th of the MPs in what was then the richest entity in the world.

That had to change, and the long-standing home rule movement reunited after 1900 and looked set to govern the island - or most of it - in the teeth of opposition from Carson. In the Third Home Rule Bill that crunched through parliament in 1912-14, our number of MPs in London would be reduced to 42, but at least we could run our internal affairs like an upscale county council. Below 10%, but a voice all the same.

Some of you may have thought that a lot of interesting things happened since then. The Easter Rising, the First Dáil, the Treaty, Partition, the Troubles, and so on. In the big scheme of things, apparently not.

Jump forward to 2009 and post-Lisbon 2 we are to have about 2% of the votes in the new richest entity in the world, with a government that is effectively an upscale county council, but with a much more generous expenses system for those involved.

And the forerunner for the new job of President of the European Union? The Right Hon. Anthony Blair - Friend of Dubya, Saviour of Iraq, Occupier of Afghanistan, Controller of the Unions, Pacifier of Ulster, Convert to the One True Faith, Sincere Friend to the Poor and Oppressed.

As the Times of London puts it, 'President' Blair waits on voters of Ireland. See -