Chai Brady
Primate of All-Ireland
Archbishop Eamon Martin.
Photo: CNS 
EXCLUSIVE
The country’s most senior Churchman has warned that a united Ireland will never be achieved unless nationalists are willing to listen to those who are fearful of the prospect of reunification.
In an exclusive interview with The Irish Catholic ahead of the 2021 anniversary of the partition of the island of Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin said: “Clearly as a nationalist myself, as growing up in a nationalist community, I would have a yearning that that sense of belonging is something that could be shared by all of the people in the island of Ireland.”
However, he warned that understanding where those fearful of a united Ireland are coming from is key. “I think that we will never reach there unless we are open to understanding each other, and I think that 2021 provides an opportunity for greater understanding of where we’ve come from and indeed where we might go together into the future,” he said.
Archbishop Eamon said that the division of the island in 1921 caused “a great amount of sadness: a sense of separation, a sense of loss with the partition of the island,” within the broader Catholic/nationalist community.
At the same time, he said that “for unionists and indeed loyalist communities in Northern Ireland, it represents for them a significant moment in the establishment of the Northern Ireland state”.
At the same time, he said that “for unionists and indeed loyalist communities in Northern Ireland, it represents for them a significant moment in the establishment of the Northern Ireland state”.
The archbishop criticised politicians for refusing to engage with the commemoration of the creation of the northern state.
“I would like to see the 2021 centenary as an opportunity for greater mutual understanding, for opportunities to build further reconciliation and peace…I am somewhat disappointed that many of our nationalist and republican political leaders have dismissed the centenary of 2021 altogether because for me I think it’s really important to seize it as a moment to reflect on where we’ve come from,” the archbishop said.
“If we could accept that people on this island approach their belonging from very different perspectives – that was key to the Good Friday Agreement: that we would recognise legitimate aspirations on the island and that to me is something that we’re better not to run away from, but to face.
“And if there is ever to be greater mutual understanding and living together on the island of Ireland, then we need to be able to face difficult moments and difficult episodes from our history we need to be able to face it openly,” the archbishop insisted.
