Love Ulster?

Donal McIntyre's programme on the Love Ulster riots in Dublin a few years ago brought the whole fiasco fresh into my head.....and even after all this time, the whole scenario baffles me.

I suppose we have to start this questioning process with the motivations of the Gardaí and the government for inviting the marchers down here in the first place. Surely someone would have seen the potential for the events that unfolded? People still remember the treatment shown to Catholics in Northern Ireland over the last few decades, and while I am not for a minute saying that Protestants did not suffer also, that is a moot point in this case.

It's essentially the equivalent of a person from the Republic going up North, walking into a largely Protestant area and waving about a tricolour proudly. That thought itself beggars belief, and only the most suicidal or most idiotic would try that. The same logic can be applied to a Protestant group parading through Dublin, but in this case for some unbelievable reason, it simply wasn't. Surely the marchers also should have anticipated the hostile reception they were to get?

The size of the Garda presence on the day actually proves that someone somewhere did anticipate violence, yet the numbers weren't enough to quell it. If violence was anticipated, then why was the parade allowed to go ahead?

The behaviour exhibited by people that took part in the riot was indeed deplorable, but from my perspective unsuprising. I am not in any way condoning the violence, but if my young teenage mind (at the time) could see the inevitablility of it, why couldn't our government, or our police force?

Because of our history, this Love Ulster parade was never, and probably will never be (at least for the forseeable future) possible. It's a slightly painful fact but it's true, and I hope people have learned their lesson from last time so the events of last time never are seen again in the streets of Dublin, or anywhere in Ireland.