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E-mailIntelligencer - Aug 8-14 2007
Surprise Appointment To Senate
THE appointment of journalist Eoghan Harris to the Irish Senate by Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern certainly raised eyebrows.
Harris, who writes for the Sunday Independent, was a bitter opponent of Sinn Fein for most of the period of the Troubles and was seen as a key figure in the neo-Unionist movement that sprung up in Dublin in the 1980s and '90s.
Under his tutelage the Sunday Independent became a virulent critic of John Hume among others, and played what can hardly be described as a constructive role during the beginning period of the peace process.
But Harris was nothing if not attuned to public sentiment, and as the peace train gathered momentum he reinvented himself several times.
He grew close to David Trimble, then the embattled leader of Ulster Unionism, and decided to throw in his lot with the relatively small group of Unionists who were supporting the process.
He wrote much of David Trimble's Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, but as the Trimble star dimmed Harris began to shift in favor of other politicians.
He had also grown very close to John Bruton, the leader of Fine Gael who became taoiseach for a brief period in the 1990s and whose mishandling of the decommissioning issue in particular almost brought the peace process to a halt.
In recent years Harris has shifted again and has become a convinced supporter of Ahern, a man whose politics on Northern Ireland were once anathema to him.
During the recent election Harris was a key supporter of Ahern during a tough period for the taoiseach, who was under fire in much of the media for alleged financial indiscretions.
Harris's support has certainly paid off and completes one of the strangest journeys in Irish politics from the far left to far right, and now back somewhere in between.
His elevation to the upper house is certainly a surprise, as it was predicted that Ahern would name a Northern Unionist figure. Instead he has done the next best thing and promoted the head of the neo-Unionist tribe in Dublin to the Senate.
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