{"id":8824,"date":"2023-04-28T16:07:20","date_gmt":"2023-04-28T15:07:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qpol.qub.ac.uk\/?p=8824"},"modified":"2023-04-28T16:07:20","modified_gmt":"2023-04-28T15:07:20","slug":"sinn-fein-at-the-coronation-how-to-understand-michelle-oneills-decision-to-attend-king-charless-big-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.qub.ac.uk\/qpol\/sinn-fein-at-the-coronation-how-to-understand-michelle-oneills-decision-to-attend-king-charless-big-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinn F\u00e9in at the coronation: how to understand Michelle O’Neill\u2019s decision to attend King Charles\u2019s big day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sinn F\u00e9in vice president Michelle O’Neill\u2019s acceptance of the offer to attend the coronation of King Charles III may come a surprise to some. It is standard protocol for such an invitation to be made to all significant political parties in the UK, including those in the devolved regions, and Sinn F\u00e9in is now the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly<\/a>. However, history is a complicating factor in this case, and even today Sinn F\u00e9in still refuses to take its seats in the Westminster parliament. This is an expression of its refusal to recognise British sovereignty over Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sinn F\u00e9in will argue that attending Charles\u2019s coronation is merely a mark of respectful neighbourly relations rather than any act of fidelity. It is, of course, also a gesture to Ulster unionists. Indeed, on announcing her intention to attend<\/a> the event, O’Neill said as much, declaring that it was \u201ctime to respect our differing and equally legitimate aspirations\u201d in Northern Ireland. While still emphasising her own republicanism, she also recognised that \u201cthere are many people on our island for whom the coronation is a hugely important occasion\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By invoking an all-Ireland context, O\u2019Neill was implicitly restating her refusal to accept the country\u2019s partition. But her words also suggest there is a wider audience for Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s gesture. It is not only a signal to unionists and neighbours across the water but to voters in the Republic of Ireland. Indeed, it was arguably the latter who prompted Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s shift in position regarding the British crown in recent years. This is a change that started in 2011 with Queen Elizabeth\u2019s visit to the Republic of Ireland<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On that occasion, Sinn F\u00e9in quickly realised that it was out of step with southern Irish opinion. Still holding to a traditional republican stance, the party was boycotting the Queen\u2019s visit but then seemed surprised at how she was received by ordinary people, who cheered and applauded her at various engagements<\/a>. Seemingly in response to this, Michael Browne, Sinn F\u00e9in mayor of Cashel, decided to defy the party\u2019s instructions by meeting the Queen and shaking her hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Symbolic meetings<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rather than being reprimanded, Browne\u2019s actions pointed the way forward for his party colleagues. When the Queen visited Northern Ireland the following year, Martin McGuinness was equally eager to meet her and shake her hand. The Queen\u2019s reciprocation provided an enduring image of the Northern Ireland peace process<\/a>, and a move that was rich in symbolism. McGuinness was a former commander in the IRA, the organisation responsible for killing the Queen\u2019s cousin, Lord Mountbatten, in 1979. The Queen was head of the British armed forces, whose soldiers had killed 14 civil rights protesters in McGuinness\u2019s hometown in 1972. Their meeting demonstrated to all that this violence was in the past. Both figures showed tremendous leadership in this moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A further two years on and McGuinness was also raising a glass to toast the Queen\u2019s health during a banquet at Buckingham Palace, the occasion celebrating the first state visit to the UK by an Irish President, Michael D. Higgins. Other such gestures followed from each side, and even before he became King, Charles showed that he was eager to continue his mother\u2019s efforts to advance peace in Northern Ireland. He met and shook hands with Gerry Adams<\/a> in 2015, an act which also had personal resonance given Charles\u2019 closeness to Lord Mountbatten, who had acted as something of a mentor to the young prince in the 1970s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now King, Charles\u2019 invitation to Sinn F\u00e9in to attend his coronation is in keeping with this process of reconciliation and the normalisation of relations between Britain and Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smart politics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sinn F\u00e9in\u2019s acceptance of the invitation is part of the same effort, but also has a more political intent. Since the Queen\u2019s visit in 2011, the party\u2019s support has gradually grown, surging in the last Irish election in 2020, and with all polls suggesting<\/a> it will win the next. Sinn F\u00e9in is thus eager to show voters in the Republic that it is now ready to lead the country, and to reassure those who might feel it lacks the necessary political tact and diplomacy to represent Ireland on the world stage. Good relations with its nearest neighbour, whatever the difficult past, or the more recent tensions over Brexit, are essential to this. By attending King Charles\u2019 coronation, Sinn F\u00e9in is demonstrating that it is up to the task.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dissident republicans will claim that O\u2019Neill is \u201cselling out\u201d in attending King Charles\u2019 coronation, but Sinn F\u00e9in will argue that it is still advancing its core mission. Majority mandates in both parts of Ireland will bolster its demands to hold referendums on Irish reunification in the two jurisdictions \u2013 as is permitted under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement<\/a>, the deal that ended the conflict in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, this intent is encoded in O\u2019Neill\u2019s statement on the issue. Saying that it was \u201ctime to respect our differing and equally legitimate aspirations\u201d meant recognising unionists\u2019 desire to remain part of the UK, but also nationalists\u2019 to unite Ireland. O\u2019Neill continued by saying it was also \u201ca time to firmly focus on the future and the opportunities that the next decade will bring\u201d. Sinn F\u00e9in regularly insists that referendums on Irish reunification should be held within the next decade, so its supporters know what is being inferred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the party will continue to use its growing power in both parts of Ireland to press for greater co-operation and alignment between the two jurisdictions, suggesting that this will smooth the path towards their eventual unification.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The IRA once claimed that it was engaged in a \u201clong war\u201d to force the British state from Northern Ireland and unite with the Republic. Sinn F\u00e9in, by contrast, is playing a long political game, but one geared towards the same end goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Article originally appeared on The Conversation.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The featured image<\/a> has been used courtesy of a Creative Commons license.<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michelle O’Neill confirming that she will attend King Charles’s coronation is not only a signal to unionists and neighbours across the water but to voters in the Republic of Ireland says Dr Peter McLoughlin. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2461,"featured_media":8829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-and-democracy"],"mb":[],"acf":{"authors":{"simple_value_formatted":"