In the spirit of Christmas, nothing. The weight of history (colonial oppression, wars of religion and independence, partition, the Ulster conflict and the icing on the cake of Brexit) is perhaps too strong for there to be. The Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom come to Christmas Eve at odds, in the midst of a diplomatic crisis, and at one of the lowest points in their relations since the Good Friday Agreements of 1998.
The reason is the Legacy and Reconciliation Act approved by the Westminster Parliament and in force since September, which grants amnesty to British soldiers (and also to paramilitaries on both sides, but they already had it in fact) for possible crimes committed during the Troubles, the virtual civil war that caused 3,600 deaths and left endless hatred and rancor passed down from generation to generation.
Dublin has decided to question the legality of the rule before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg because it considers it a denial of justice for the relatives of the 600 republican victims of the United Kingdom soldiers. Prime Minister Leo Varadkar has explained that politically he has a commitment that he cannot ignore, no matter how much London takes a beating.
The British Government has been bravely angry, and has denounced Irish “Anglophobia” and “hypocrisy”, which in fact – it says – has prosecuted very few suspects of crimes in Ulster, granted de facto immunity to IRA terrorists, ignored the presence in its territory of those crossing the border to plant bombs and then returning to their homes in Dundalk or County Donegal, systematically refused their extradition and imposed a moratorium on the investigation of the crimes of which they are accused. He thinks that Dublin does not preach by example, but applies a double standard.
One of the premises of the Good Friday Agreements was the release of hundreds of prisoners (a condition imposed by the IRA to give up their arms), make crosses and stripes and wait for the wounds to heal little by little . But there was no amnesty for crimes that had not been prosecuted until then. Finding evidence against paramilitaries, both IRA and loyalist, decades later, is extremely difficult. But instead, the army keeps witnesses and documents of everything, which has put in the spotlight dozens of former soldiers – now in their seventies or eighties – accused of murders of Catholics (most do not deny having fired, but having done it in self-defense or to prevent attacks, under the orders of their superiors). The possibility of being tried and punished is something they have been living with for a long time, and they thought they had got rid of it with the Act approved by Westminster. But no, Dublin has chosen to go to Strasbourg.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, the right-wing Conservative Party, and war veterans’ organizations have condemned Dublin’s decision and said they will defend with all their might the validity of the amnesty law, which it imposes as the only condition to the soldiers their collaboration with a new Commission for Truth and Reconciliation. For Eurosceptics, this is one more reason for the United Kingdom to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, “so that our sovereignty is not subject to what Strasbourg says”.
Dublin, in any case, has not acted alone, but with the approval of the American president, who gave his support to Taoiseach Varadkar during the last General Assembly of the United Nations. The Democratic leader, whose code name is Celtic, is very proud of his Irish ancestors, his relatives fled England because of the famine, has refused a trade deal and has taken Brexit almost as an insult personally, for endangering the peace accords.
With elections looming both in the Republic and in Great Britain, wishing each other happy holidays is not the priority for either of them at the moment. A good boo is worth more votes.
