For the first time in 23 years, I was back in Cavan/Monaghan on general election count duty last weekend. In 1997, Sinn Féin made a breakthrough here. The hall in Cootehill was jammed with jubilant supporters of poll-topping candidate Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin. Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness were there to witness O’Caolain become the first modern-era Sinn Féin candidate elected to Dáil Éireann. He was the lone Sinn Féin TD in that 28th Dail.

It was a first fragile step into the world of post-abstentionist politics as part of the delicate peace process jigsaw, which was being carefully pieced together and would lead, some months later, to the Belfast Good Friday Agreement. Maybe we would have peace in our time? There was so much choreography going on. London and Dublin worked closely together to normalise relations on the sectarian divide in Northern Ireland.

The Good Friday Agreement was put to work with the aim of erasing the deep divide between both communities. The border checkpoints were dismantled in a further effort to create an air of peace and progress.

President Mary McAleese welcomed Queen Elizabeth to Dublin. Queen Elizabeth welcomed President Michael D Higgins to London.

It took decades of bloodshed and conflict to go from nadir to zenith in Irish-British and unionist-nationalist relations north-south, east-west. It wasn’t perfect, but it was progress. Not without hiccups, but without killing and bloodshed. Skip on a few stops to 2020. Within a couple weeks, English nationalism has resulted in Brexit and an Irish electorate has catapulted Sinn Féin to the doorstep of governmental power across the island of Ireland.

The juxtaposition of forging closer links had paradoxically resulted in a brave new era of democracy for different reasons in otherwise quasi-shows of nationalistic pride. On Friday 31 January 2020, bellows of Rule Britannia could be heard on the streets of London. A little over a week later, Come out ye Black and Tans was sung at a count centre in Dublin.

It’s like one of those detective thrillers where the cops pin photos, dates and mugshots to the wall and connect the dots, then stand back and scratch their heads.

The journey from 1997 to 2020 on both sides of the Irish Sea has been intoxicating. Nobody could have predicted the UK would be out of Europe and Sinn Fein on the brink of power north and south. But events have passed us out, beyond just the peace process. Still, Colombo wouldn’t know where to begin in assessing how we ended up here.

Not yet anyway, because there are plenty more dots to be joined. It’s part of a broader global political thriller to be continued. I snatched the first radio interview with Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin for his inaugural victory in that 1997 general election. Wouldn’t you just know it, the first person I met inside the door at 9am last Sunday morning inside the count centre in Drumalee was the now ex-Cavan-Monaghan TD. CL

Remembering Keelin

I wasn’t surprised to see and hear the outpouring of tributes to the late Keelin Shanley. Although I knew she had not been well, my heart sunk and I shed tears of grief when the news broke last Saturday of her death at the too-young age of 51. She was a colleague and a wonderfully friendly lady. She was always calm and smiling and had time for a word or if not a polite wave from a distance. What a courageous and talented lady. May she rest in peace.