What are Articles of faith for some mean nothing to others in Donegal

In the Donegal seaside town of Bundoran, close to the Fermanagh border, Mr Noel Madden, owner of the Ould Bridge Bar, says business…

In the Donegal seaside town of Bundoran, close to the Fermanagh border, Mr Noel Madden, owner of the Ould Bridge Bar, says business people in the town would love to see the Belfast Agreement approved by the people.

"We're losing business as a result of the Troubles and we're just not getting the foreign visitors. Since things have calmed down in the North, we see more Germans and French in the pubs and I think people would be more inclined to vote Yes," he said.

A few hundred yards up the main street of Bundoran, another pub tells a very different story. With pictures of hunger-strikers who died in the early 1980s in the window, posters of Vote Nil, Nil on the walls, and copies of Saoirse for sale on the counter, O'Neill's Ocean Bar is a Nil stronghold.

Its owner, Mr Joe O'Neill, a member of Republican Sinn Fein and an urban councillor in the town since 1974, said there had been many energetic debates in his pub on the subject of the agreement and on changing Articles 2 and 3.

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"It's going to be very hard for people to vote No because, to start with, the airwaves are not giving a proper hearing to the No side," he said.

"If you are against the agreement, people think you are against peace, but we are for peace. All we want is for all Irish people to decide their own destiny without Britain in a united Ireland situation. I think there will be a bigger percentage of No votes in Donegal than people think. I believe a lot of people will be saying that to change Articles 2 and 3 is an erosion of their rights," said Mr O'Neill.

On the opposite side of the street, work on two new hotels is under way as if in anticipation of a busy summer season. Mr Brian McEniff, owner of the Holyrood Hotel in Bundoran and former Donegal manager when the county won the All-Ireland football title, said he would be voting Yes, "and I would encourage other people to vote Yes".

"Nobody has got everything they want, nobody is completely satisfied with the agreement, but we can't afford to go back. I think a Yes vote will make a big difference in the long term," said Mr McEniff.

Four miles away in Ballyshannon, a Fine Gael county councillor, Mr Frank O'Kelly, who has a veterinary practice in the town, said he believed 99 per cent of people in Donegal were in favour of the agreement.

"I'm 100 per cent behind the agreement. I think the older people, especially those from a Fianna Fail background, have a special gra for Articles 2 and 3, and may have some difficulty casting their votes for change. I think in the end they will vote Yes," said Mr O'Kelly.

Inside a pub on the edge of Ballyshannon people had gathered for a few drinks after work. One elderly man said he would be voting No in both referendums on May 22nd, before returning to his pint.

Four miles from Donegal town, in Rossnowlagh, which is host to the only Orange Order parade in the Republic each summer, the master of the district lodge, Mr Willie Anderson, said he would not be bothered by Articles 2 and 3. "They mean nothing to me," he said.

Mr Anderson, who now lives in Co Fermanagh, said he would be voting No to the agreement. "If I thought a Yes vote would mean the end of trouble, I would vote Yes, but I don't believe that. I won't be influencing people here on how to vote."

He said whatever happened in the referendum it would be unlikely to change the good relations between Catholics and Protestants living in Rossnowlagh and if there was any controversy over the annual Orange parade there, he would be in favour of calling it off.

The Independent Fianna Fail TD for Donegal North East, Mr Harry Blaney, said he was leaving it up to the people themselves to decide. "I'm giving no direction," he said. He told The Irish Times that with all the main parties "going for a Yes vote, it couldn't go any other way but Yes".

He added: "I'm leaving it up to the people to decide for themselves. If all the parties would do the same, we'd get a clearer picture. People are voting more on a party allegiance than on the issue - that's why I'm reluctant to give any direction," said Mr Blaney. Asked what his vote would be on May 22nd, Mr Blaney said that would be a matter for him to decide.

Mr Lowry Wasson, who owns a pottery shop in Moville on the Inishowen Peninsula, said anything that managed to bring peace was worth voting for. "It's a fait accompli, there's nothing else," he said. Mr Wasson, a Protestant and originally from the Waterside of Derry, said that in people's day-to-day lives Articles 2 and 3 "didn't matter one iota" and the arguments in favour of holding on to them sounded like "Paisley rhetoric".

"Moville and Inishowen have suffered a lot because of the Troubles. Now we're seeing Northerners starting to explore the peninsula, which a few years ago they would never have visited," Mr Wasson said. His parents' business in Derry was bombed.

Mr Andrew Doherty, a 24-yearold salesman from Greencastle, Inishowen, said he would be voting Yes. "Changing Articles 2 and 3 won't make any difference to me. It's not as if change will affect my nationalist rights. I don't believe I'll see a united Ireland in my lifetime anyway," he said.

"I think people in Donegal are very aware of what is happening in the North, partly because we come from the most northerly part of Ireland and yet don't live in the North," said Mr Doherty.