The Assembly has rejected any suggestion that the IRA's sectarian murder campaign was a war. A good thing, and fairly unsurprising.

I've always liked Danny Kennedy, but his performance since devolution has impressed me, and he is clearly im proving as time goes on. I enjoyed this contribution during the debate:

Mr McCartney: The Member made an intervention and stated that Ireland was only ever united under the British Crown. Is that an acceptance that uniting Ireland is a worthy cause?

Mr Kennedy: Yes — under the British Crown. If the Republic wants to rejoin the British Commonwealth and renegotiate the terms and conditions for the union, I would withhold any objection.

Here here. Unionism should never be afraid to espouse Irish unity, it should probably be Unionism's objective - under the Crown within the devolutionary settlement for the Union. In today's world, Unionists have none of the reasons to fear Irish Home Rule that existed 100 years ago, and we should declare our willingness to enter an all Ireland legislature in Dublin, so long as all of Ireland sends its representatives to the national Parliament in London.

I've stated before on this blog that I don't like the legacy of James Craig. I think that he partly caused the insular, anti-Irish Unionism that is everything Carson stood against. Unionism should roll back the fear of it's Irish identity, and not allow the IRA's attempts to rob us of our British identity, to rob us of our Irish identity.

Well said Danny Kennedy.