West Belfast Unionism
In post West Belfast Parliamentary by-election interviews Sinn Fein’s newly elected abstentionist MP Paul Maskey, made much of the fact that he was getting votes form the Shankill area. In normal politics this would not be all that unusual, however in the orange and green of Northern Ireland’s politics this is a muddying of the political demographics never known before. Not that a few votes from the Shankill is ever going to change the outcome of this political coronation.

All shades of Unionism and the mainstream Unionist parties need to see this as a political tsunami warning. If people are prepared to vote for Sinn Fein on the Shankill in small numbers now, could they gain even more voters and seats in the future?

Let’s move this Unionist political shambles on to the core issue. The West Belfast Parliamentary seat is one that can never be won by a Unionist. I get the feeling that because of this the Shankill is now a mainstream Unionist backwater and a backwater that is well established. Given the past mainstream Unionist neglect for working class areas and in particular the working class Unionist Heartland of the Shankill. You would think that the chance of winning a seat would force them into change, unfortunately it didn’t.

The recent assembly election was verification of this. The Shankill people were in agreement that they wanted a single agreed Unionist candidate. With an agreed candidate they could have stopped a fifth seat going to Sinn Fein in the last assembly election. What did we get? We got a deaf ear to our demands for a single Unionist candidate. Now the Unionist part of West Belfast the Greater Shankill area has no Unionist voice at Stormont, shocking!!! The real shocking point is that with an agreed single Unionist candidate they would have ousted IRA bomber, and twice ex-IRA prisoner and hunger striker Sinn Fein’s Pat Sheehan. So what do we have, of the six West Belfast assembly seats we have five Sinn Fein and one SDLP assembly member. None, zilch, zero representation for Unionist West Belfast at Stormont. This result was delivered by mainstream Unionist parties playing egotistical politics.

The results are here for all to see - www.niassembly.gov.uk/members/constits/const_wb11.htm

Herein lies the real truth about the mainstream Unionist parties. They have neglected and marginalised working class Unionist areas, especially and specifically the Unionist people of the Greater Shankill. The mainstream Unionist parties have used the people of the Greater Shankill as political cannon fodder for years, while neglecting them at every level of leadership.

Let’s look at one example, let’s look at the way the regeneration and housing was mishandled by mainstream Unionist parties from the late 60’s, around the Greater Shankill. Their approach was at best shambolic, and at worst, it was a cynical ploy to depopulate the Shankill with the neglect of the Shankill people at its core.

Would republicans stand for over 50% of their population being forced to resettle to other parts of the country? I think we all know the answer to that one. However that is exactly what the mainstream Unionist politicos permitted. We had six secondary schools in the Greater Shankill area, Ballygomartin Boys, Glencairn Girls, Somerdale Boys, Everton Girls and both Boys and Girls Model schools. Now all we are left with is the Model schools.

I know who I blame for the cynical neglect of the Shankill; and it can’t be laid at the door of Sinn Fein. This neglect has to be laid squarely at the door of mainstream Unionism. Their lack of interest has not served the people of the Greater Shankill well over the years. I feel the situation is so severe I fear the prognosis for the Shankill is poor if not terminal if things don’t change. That said the people of the Shankill can and do fight their corner. However this fight is almost an impossible task without the correct political backing.

Sinn Fein will never bring large scale employment or any employment to the Shankill. They will concentrate any inward investment in the republican part of West Belfast. Therefore what are we going to be left with? What are our Unionist parties doing to address this? How can they address this if they have no political representation? When was the last time the leaders of Unionism were on the Shankill? I suspect Gerry Adams has been on the Shankill more times than First Minister Peter Robinson, leader of the DUP, Northern Ireland’s largest party. As for the UUP and their leader Tom Elliot, the UUP are so irrelevant, they are like a dial up connection in the ultra fast fiber optic broadband age. If mainstream Unionists read this and they are minded to get their proverbial finger out, we don’t want just anyone parachuted in or foisted onto us. We want and deserve the best candidates and constituency structure (a constituency structure better than Sinn Fein).

We first need to stop the decay and then build a Shankill to be proud off, were people don’t need to go onto the Falls to get help from twice convicted ex-IRA prisoners.

G. Yeates, Belfast