Ireland needs to go for a Fixit rather than a Brexit
Fianna Fáil border TD Declan Breathnach describes how a nasty encounter at Belfast Airport underlines the fragility of the peace process
On the day after the UK and Northern Ireland election results came in, I was standing at a kiosk in Belfast airport buying a bottle of water and a few newspapers for my flight. “Scumbag”, the man standing next to me muttered under his breath. And once more for effect, “scumbag”, he said again, a bit louder this time and directed at me, before turning on his heel and marching off.
Completely shocked at the rudeness and the intrusion, I wondered for a second was it something I had done. Had I inadvertently pushed against him? And then the penny dropped. I was buying theIrish News and theIrish Independent, and that said something to him about my heritage, something he clearly didn’t like.
