DURING the long, dark years of unionist misrule in Northern Ireland, it must have felt to ordinary Catholics like the world had abandoned them.
So cut off were they that British Members of Parliament could not even ask questions about the place in the House of Commons.
What went on there was a ‘reserved matter’ for the government of Northern Ireland.
It was only with the advent of the civil rights movement of the late 1960s that a light was shone into the dark crevices and the world learned about the grisly state of affairs in the North.
So, one of the important but often overlooked developments of the past few decades has been the international involvement in the peace process.
The Americans - through various presidencies and with the stalwart support of the Irish American caucus in Congress - have been vital for decades.
Facilitators of the Good Friday Agreement and watchful protectors and encouragers of its progress ever since.
The EU, too, has played a blinder, not least with the billions of pounds of investment that have flowed in. (Well, at least until Brexit).
But there have been other international players too.
The former Canadian general, John De Chastalain, who successfully led the decommissioning process, along with Cyril Ramaphosa, the current South African president and the former Finnish president, Martti Ahtisaari, for starters.
Now it is the turn of the Australian Labor Party (ALP).
A resolution passed at their annual conference recently called for the British and Irish governments to “honour the terms of the Good Friday Agreement” by starting to prepare for a referendum on Northern Ireland’s constitutional status.
It further noted that the partition of Ireland had led to a ‘century of division’ and that the agreement provides the basis for a ‘democratic resolution.’
It is worth pointing out that Labor is the current party of government in Australia, not some fringe voice, giving this intervention weight and significance.
The resolution was interesting for two reasons.
First, as mentioned, the more international interest there is towards Ireland, the less space there is for the faint-hearted in Dublin and London to hide in coming years, as the debate about a border poll grows in volume and intensity.
Second, the wording of the resolution was interesting. It recognised that the promise of a vote on unity is not some minor frippery – it is fundamental to the agreement.
If you support the Good Friday Agreement, then you need to accept there is going to be a border poll at some stage – and that moment creeps ever nearer.
Sometimes in politics, it is easier to see things with clarity from afar - and this was just such an occasion.
