Boston Celtics, Republic of Ireland and the return of trouble in the British Isle, By Osmund Agbo

The most contentious issue in the region is undoubtedly the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Before Brexit, the border, which was usually heavily militarized at the height of the conflict, was virtually invisible, with the smooth movement of people, goods and services. This is possible because the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom are part of the European Union’s single market. With Brexit, this will not happen.

The Boston Celtics are one of the most successful National Basketball Association (NBA) franchises in American history. The facts. When it was formed on June 6, 1946, the owner, Walter Augustine Brown deliberately named the team the Celtics, as a tribute to Boston’s large Irish population. Today, the Boston Celtics hold the record for the most wins ever recorded by an NBA team and it’s hard to tell if this magic can be accomplished with the help of Lucky the Leprechaun, the team’s official mascot, or if it has anything to do with the famous. Ireland’s steadfastness of purpose. Or maybe both. But I digress.

A little history here. The first evidence of human presence in Ireland dates back to around 33,000 years ago and historians teach that the Irish are descended from the Celts, an Iron Age people who came from central Europe and invaded the area that remained between 1000 BC and 500 BC. 4 AD, Christianity has begun to gradually subsume the polytheistic religion of Irish Gaelic, before finally replacing it. Attempts to impose the new Protestant faith on people, however, were met with a great deal of resistance by the population, especially Catholics.

It was the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169 that led to the partial conquest of the island and marked the beginning of more than 800 years of English rule. Henry VII then proclaimed himself King of Ireland in 1541 and turned the place into a potential battleground between Protestant Reformers and Catholic Counter-Reformers.

Between 1801 and 1922, Great Britain controlled all of Ireland. Resistance to the British government by Irish nationalists, the majority of whom are Catholic, has existed for hundreds of years and has taken the form of mostly peaceful but sometimes violent protests. Faced with civil war, the British divided Ireland in 1920 into a predominantly Protestant north and a predominantly Catholic south.

The Irish Free State (later renamed Ireland in 1937) became free in 1922, with 26 counties and Dublin as its capital. Northern Ireland, with six counties and its capital in Belfast, has the right to remain in the UK. In 1949, Ireland declared a Republic and left the British Commonwealth.

The Republic of Ireland, a country of approximately five million people, is a beautiful country famous for its Georgian buildings, as well as Norman and Anglo-Irish castles. In the travelogue published in Daily Trust on December 26, 2004, Farooq Kperoogi said:

“There are many instructive historical parallels between Ireland and the countries that make up Africa. Like most African countries, Ireland was a victim of brutal imperial oppression. It also experienced severe deprivation and underdevelopment after freeing itself from the stranglehold of British colonialism….. England was not the native language of the Irish people. It was imposed on them, like the rest of us in Africa, by the British colonialists. After independence, which was won at the cost of great sacrifice, the Irish people tried very hard to instill loyalty to Irish Gaelic, the native language of Ireland, in among the citizens by insisting that the language be taught to students from an age they can feel. They will grow up and be able to speak the language and be proud of it.” Who knows!

Northern Ireland’s Protestant majority and Catholic minority have been in conflict almost since its inception. While the Republic of Ireland was fully independent, Northern Ireland remained under British rule, and Catholic communities in cities such as Belfast and Londonderry had complained of unfair treatment and discrimination by Protestant-controlled government forces and police. Violence erupts between unions who voted to remain in the UK…

Between 1845 and 1852, Ireland also faced the so-called Great Famine, which led to a mass exodus of its people. That’s how many there are in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. However, since there were no natural resources available to be extracted and sold, people were able to overcome difficulties, receive prosperity and even build the fastest growing economy in all of Europe. It was once referred to as the Celtic Tiger for supporting a period of rapid economic growth in the mid-1990s to the late 2000s.

The reason for Ireland’s economic miracle lies in an educated and skilled workforce that allows the country to attract long-term foreign direct investment. Initially, the country has invested heavily in education, introducing free secondary schools and funds for third-level education. Ireland’s economy has become a hub for European corporate headquarters and the country is one of the world’s leading exporters of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and software-related goods and services.

Today, Ireland’s economy is diversified, and even in this era of COVID, when many countries are struggling and businesses have closed their doors, it remains resilient and continues to grow.

The story is very different in Northern Ireland, which is not a country but a province of the United Kingdom. But there is still a dramatic difference, between the economic metrics of the two Irish jurisdictions that voted for the Republic of Ireland. Of course, there was a change here because, before the partition of Ireland in 1921, the six counties that would make up Northern Ireland were the economic powerhouses of Ireland.

Northern Ireland’s Protestant majority and Catholic minority have been in conflict almost since its inception. While the Republic of Ireland was fully independent, Northern Ireland remained under British rule, and Catholic communities in cities such as Belfast and Londonderry had complained of unfair treatment and discrimination by Protestant-controlled government forces and police. Violence erupted between unionists who preferred to remain in the UK and nationalists who preferred unification with the Republic of Ireland.

The growing violence, with terrorist attacks in Ireland and Great Britain, led to the direct government of Northern Ireland by the British parliament. Over the course of more than three decades, more than 3,500 people died as a result of the hostilities, known as “The Troubles”.

The peace initiative by the United States, also involving the Republic of Ireland, the four main political parties in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom, resulted in an agreed framework for lasting peace in the troubled region. Called the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, it reached a compromise by creating a power-sharing government, the abolition of border checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and the facilitation of disarmament. Relative peace seemed to return to the region until the June 2016 Brexit vote.

The problem is that the trade unions, including the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) who voted to support Brexit as a way to get closer to the UK, have a serious problem with the Protocol. He was worried that any differences between his area and the rest of England would drive a wedge between them. The British government also wants to renegotiate the terms of the protocol, requiring an independent body to resolve disputes…

The most contentious issue in the region is undoubtedly the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Before Brexit, the border, which was usually heavily militarized at the height of the conflict, was virtually invisible, with the smooth movement of people, goods and services. This is possible because the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom are part of the European Union’s single market. With Brexit, this will not happen. Part of the negotiations on how to deal with this volatile issue during Brexit is what led to what is now known as the Northern Ireland Protocol.

In order to maintain peace, it was agreed that instead of checking goods at the Irish border, any inspections and necessary document checks would be carried out between Northern Ireland and Great Britain, with inspections taking place at Northern Irish ports. It was also agreed that Northern Ireland would comply with EU rules on product standards.

The problem is that the trade unions, including the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) who voted to support Brexit as a way to get closer to the UK, have a serious problem with the Protocol. He was worried that any differences between his area and the rest of England would drive a wedge between them. The UK government also wants to renegotiate the terms of the protocol, requiring an independent body to settle disputes, rather than the European Court of Justice, which it currently does.

For almost a year, the DUP has blocked the formation of a regional government and demanded that the Northern Ireland protocol be revised as a prerequisite for this. Now, the deadline has passed and the UK government is now scheduled to call a new election in 12 weeks. The problem is that since the 2016 Brexit vote, Northern Ireland’s nationalist and republican leaders have called for a referendum. This could lead to Northern Irish people voting to leave the UK and join a united Ireland, which was allowed by the Good Friday Agreement. However, this would require London’s approval, as well as a separate vote in the Republic of Ireland.

All of the above issues have led to new tensions in Northern Ireland and Belfast is set to witness one of the worst street violence in decades in April 2021. The Brexit vote has come and gone, but the big challenge remains.

Back to the Boston Celtics. Ime Udoka, a Nigerian-American professional basketball coach, is currently the head coach of the team. Readers may be interested to know that in 2011, there were 17,624 Nigerians living in Ireland. Today, our people constitute the largest African group in the country, although the majority of Nigerian migrants to Ireland are prompted by economic needs, more than any other consideration. But maybe there is something about Ireland and the Irish that Nigerians can’t relate to. We may have found a kindred spirit in them, so it is not surprising that the Embassy of the Republic of Ireland in Abuja is domiciled on a street called Negro Crescent.

And when basketball season rolls out, I have no other team in mind to root for than the Green Smash Machine. To come out here, it’s Celts or nothing. Enough said.

Osmund Agbo writes from Houston, Texas. Email: eagleosmund@yahoo.com.