Remarks by The Rt. Hon. Sir Paul Girvan

• Date: 01 January 2020

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Remarks by

THE RT. HON. SIR PAUL GIRVAN*

Mr Justice Twomey and the Hibernian Law Journal, thank you very much for

the invitation to speak this evening on a topic which, I think, is very topical and

obviously very important.

Let me start in a place, which is probably a strange place to start, the Sainte Chapelle

in Paris. I do not know whether many of you have been to the Sainte Chapelle. It is

one of the most beautiful buildings in Paris, with wonderful stained glass windows

and a soaring ceiling and it is one of the most iconic monuments of Paris.

Now, why do I mention the Sainte Chapelle? e Sainte Chapelle was built as a

giant reliquary to hold what was alleged to be the true crown of thorns and some

other relics. For centuries, the crown of thorns was maintained in this building and

then in the Revolution, with the destruction of church property and so forth, it

disappeared but the Sainte Chapelle survived the Revolution and became, in due

course, a museum.

ere is little likelihood that the relic was a true relic and it was one of those things

which is probably later called a pious fraud or, if one wants to be less censorious,

a comforting myth, something which nobody really believed but which kept the

narrative going .

I raise that as a point to start and to ask the question: in Irish history and in Irish

politics, how many pious frauds or comforting myths have been maintained over

the centuries? I pose that question in the context of the situation in which we nd

ourselves in at the moment. e Good Friday Agreement with the mechanisms

it creates for the governance of Northern Ireland – is it, in fact, a pious fraud or

a comforting myth or is it something that is workable or will produce a good

outcome?

e same question arises in relation to the question on the reunication of Ireland

which has been held up for a very long time as the long term aim of the Irish state.

Yet one must ask the question – is it something people really, in their heart of

hearts, believe in or is it just a story, a part of the narrative which we keep going?

Now, let me rst of all deal with the question on the Good Friday Agreement and

the working of the functions of government in the North. I quote paragraph 5 of

the Annex Agreement between the UK government and the Irish government:

* Sir Paul Girvan, recently retired as Lord Justice of Appeal in Northern Ireland and Member of

the Privy Council, is widely acknowledged as one of the province’s most distinguished judges

and has presided over some of the leading recent public law cases in Northern Ireland. Following

his retirement from the bench, he practices as a mediator and is an Associate of the Institute of

Arbitrators.