The speech Peter Robinson will never make

I was asked to write the speech Peter Robinson won’t make tomorrow at his part conference for today’s Belfast Telegraph. Here it is.

 In three short years we will celebrate the centenary of the Ulster Covenant; the greatest expression of unionism in history. Now is our time to reflect; to learn from history and seek inspiration to make the next hundred years prosperous and peaceful.  

 Dr Paisley’s great hero and our great inspiration, Edward Carson, would be proud of where we are today. Ulster is at peace. Its people well fed and cared for and the two traditions are at last finding the space to work together in mutual interest. He would have been happy to see an ash tree plated beside him at Parliament Buildings. A symbol of the Gael in him and so many of us, nationalist and unionist; a reminder that whilst proudly British we are also deeply Irish.

 It is time to express our unionism in modern ways. To look into our children’s eyes and pledge they will live a life of opportunity, free from persecution or discrimination. Aware of history but not prisoners of it; able to love their faith without having to hate another’s.

 The moment has come to accept the cancer growing inside us all. To acknowledge that peace does not mean reconciliation and that we all have many prejudices which we must bury before this region can truly thrive. We must be careful not destroy what we most want to defend; yet the longer we ignore sectarianism the weaker Northern Ireland becomes.

 It was Carson who said “believe me, whatever way you settle the Irish question, there are only two ways to deal with Ulster. It is for statesmen to say which is the best and right one. She is not a part of the community which can be bought. She will not allow herself to be sold. You must therefore coerce her if you go on, or you must in the long run, by showing that good government can come under the home rule bill, try and win her over to the case of the rest of Ireland”

 We are Irish too and the time has come to celebrate this. To look south and ask that we be persuaded a new Ireland can work. We will never give up our rights nor our identity. It is for our fellow countrymen, as Carson would have described our nationalist brothers and sisters, to convince us that the peoples of this island are worth uniting. It is for us to come to that discussion with open minds and a willingness to explore new relationships and opportunities for everyone on this isle we all call home.

 There is also a job of work to be done here. We must build a Northern Ireland bigger then its two communities. We must make our region place of hope; a beacon to others who suffer in the din of war; a triumph of politics over prejudice; a place our children will want to lay roots and make their fortunes.