Analysis: 50 years on from its formation, the Alliance Party has make a significant electoral breakthrough in Northern Ireland
The intricacies of Northern Irish politics have long been a source of confusion for southern Irish audiences. Partially a consequence of partition itself, large swathes of the citizenry (and perhaps much of the political leadership) in the Republic have often failed to grasp the nuances of societal and political life north of the Border.
The growth of exclusively or largely Northern-orientated nationalist parties in the 1970s, such as the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), Official Sinn Féin/Republican Clubs (OSF), Provisional Sinn Féin (PSF) and the Irish Republican and Socialist Party (IRSP), brought additional uncertainty. Granted, the SDLP's democratic credentials and aversion to violence were clear, and John Hume and Austin Currie became familiar faces that southerners relied upon for guidance on Northern affairs. In contrast, the links of OSF, PSF and the IRSP to paramilitary organisations – all with the same ostensible objective of a united socialist Ireland – left many befuddled by what the difference between these groups truly was.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today With Claire Byrne, UCD history professor Diarmaid Ferriter on the Assembly election outcome
Befuddlement would turn to bewilderment once the average southerner sought to grapple with the vast array of unionist parties that mushroomed from the 1970s onwards. The arguable progenitor of them all, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), spawned a multitude of splinters, and splinters of splinters.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, the Vanguard Unionist Party, the United Kingdom Unionist Party, the United Ulster Unionist Party, and the Traditional Unionist Voice are but a few of the parties to emerge. Add to these some others linked directly to Loyalist paramilitary groupings, and one could forgive the average voter in the Republic for expressing difficulty in telling one form of unionist from another.
There was, at least, one comforting constant. In the zero-sum game of Northern Ireland’s seemingly binary society, everyone was either a 'unionist’ or a ‘nationalist’. This was a core concept that every Southerner could understand.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, does the election success of Alliance represent a new era for Northern Ireland?
All has now changed. This month's election for the Stormont Assembly saw a significant breakthrough for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, led by the popular Naomi Long. The only party to actually increase its number of seats in the election, Alliance is now the third largest group in the devolved parliament.
As Alliance considers itself neither ‘nationalist’ nor ‘unionist’, we may now see greater Irish media emphasis on those identifying as ‘Other’ in Northern Ireland. This may serve to perplex southern audiences once more, with many asking who exactly are the Alliance Party?
Neither nationalist nor unionist
Founded in April 1970, Alliance emerged from the New Ulster Movement (NUM) that developed in the late 1960s. Much like its NUM parent, Alliance saw itself as a cross-community endeavour to promote equal rights and reconcile the two ethno-religious traditions in the North. Initial membership consisted largely of moderate unionists supportive of the more progressive stance of UUP prime minister Terence O’Neill. Indeed, O'Neill's cousin, Phelim O’Neill, became Alliance’s first parliamentary leader in early 1972.
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From RTÉ Archives, RTÉ News reports on the formation of the Alliance Party in Belfast in 1970
However, there was also a strong Ulster Liberal Party (sister to the Liberal Democrats in Britain today) element amongst Alliance’s activist coterie, with its second-longest serving leader, Oliver Napier, emanating from that tradition. Alliance also made early attempts to recruit future Nobel laureate John Hume to its ranks, but Derry’s most famous son instead became a founding member of the SDLP.
There was no hint of the sectarianism often associated with other parties, and Alliance has had Catholic leaders for approximately 20 of its 52 years. Indeed, it is the only party to have Catholic, Church of Ireland and Presbyterian Church in Ireland leaders. Nevertheless, questions would remain as to whether it was truly ‘neutral’ on the constitutional question, and accusations of partisanship are sometimes levelled at its members – by detractors on both sides of the communal divide.
Alliance was often declared unionist with a small ‘u’ by nationalist opponents. This was understandable, given its origins, and initial declared preference for remaining within the United Kingdom. Early Provisional Sinn Féin commentators regarded it as a ‘Unionist body in receipt of vast financial aid from British business interests’. That party’s former leader, Gerry Adams, later described Alliance less pithily as ‘one of the smaller unionist parties’.
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From RTÉ Archives, Jim Dougal reports for RTÉ News from the 1990 Alliance Party conference
Ultras on the unionist side were even less sympathetic, particularly when Alliance emphasised its willingness to accept a united Ireland with majority consent. There were periodic denunciations by the DUP, with Ian Paisley declaring Alliance harboured ‘the same spirit as the Roman Inquisition, and would silence and put to death’ those opposed to ‘the Roman Catholic system.’
'The conscience of Northern Ireland'
Contrary to Napier’s early hopes for ‘a majority of seats at Stormont’, the party failed to make major breakthroughs, typically garnering around 10% of the overall vote in Northern Ireland. Nevertheless, it often exerted disproportionate influence within the political system. Together with the UUP and the SDLP, Alliance took part in negotiations for the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973, and Napier became Minister for Law Reform in the short-lived powersharing government of 1974.
In 1988, when many feared that paramilitary violence had become endemic to the North, Alliance published ‘Governing with Consent’. Included were proposals for a new devolved assembly elected by proportional representation, weighted majority (cross-community) voting for legislation, and input from the Irish Government in specific agreed areas. This prefigured much of what emerged as the Belfast Agreement a decade later.
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From RTÉ Nine News in May 2019, Alliance Party makes gains in Northern Ireland local election
Alliance played a key role during the early peace process, with the party viewed by all (except, perhaps, Paisley’s DUP) as an ‘honest broker’. Alliance encouraged various adversaries to engage constructively, but also publicly chastised PSF or the Loyalist delegates whenever paramilitaries were perceived to have breached their respective ceasefires. As the late Alliance activist Dr. Brian Eggins observed, its penchant for holding both unionist and nationalist actors to account earned Alliance the moniker ‘the conscience of Northern Ireland’.
Although stalwart supporters of the peace process, Alliance has decried the emphasis on conflict management as opposed to conflict resolution. It has argued that current Assembly mechanisms serve to sustain political polarisation between the two communities, by incentivising parties to designate as either ‘Unionist’ or ‘Nationalist’. Nevertheless, Alliance has rescued the Executive on occasions: once by 'redesignating' some of its own members as Unionist to elect a First Minister in 2001, and later by accepting the sensitive Justice Ministry in 2010.
What next for Alliance?
The Party is responsible in large part for the existence of the third designation (‘Other’) in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Without this, space for the development of political parties outside of the traditional tribal networks would be difficult to achieve.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland, Alliance Party leader Naomi Long discusses her party's manifesto for the Assembly elections
During the first decade after the Belfast Agreement, it appeared as though this space would remain constricted, with 90% of first-preference votes going to unionist and nationalist parties in Stormont elections. However, we have seen slow but steady rises in support for parties in the ‘Other’ constituency since 2011. Alliance, alone, garnered more than 13% of this vote in the recent contest, returning with 17 seats and potentially increased influence.
This success prompted one of Alliance’s successful candidates, Patricia O'Lynn, to declare that the ‘Age of Entitlement was over’ for the traditional parties. Objective observers would surely wish Alliance well in its efforts to overcome the torpor of tribalist politics. But with the DUP currently refusing to facilitate the appointment of a Speaker, thus leaving the Assembly deadlocked, Northern Ireland may be without an Executive for some time. The Age of Entitlement may well be drawing to a close, but it has not ended just yet.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
