Downpatrick is example of what can be achieved when looking beyond orange and green issues

Downpatrick is example of what can be achieved when looking beyond orange and green issues

28 February 2024

THE newly appointed leader of the Opposition at Stormont has praised Downpatrick for its inclusive community relations by extending the hand of friendship throughout the years.

In an exclusive interview with the Down Recorder, proud Downpatrick man and SDLP Assembly leader Matthew O’Toole has spoken of growing up in the county town, his time working in London, his entry into politics, becoming the first leader of the Opposition at Stormont, and his optimism for the future of the island of Ireland.

“I have many fond memories growing up in Downpatrick,” O’Toole said. “It’s somewhere that has informed who I am, both personally and politically.

“The people of Downpatrick have a brilliant sense of humour and a sense of the absurd. It’s a town that has a very unique and proud history,” he continued.

“We have always been a town to ensure that the entire community is heard, promoting good relations and enjoying the opportunities a shared space can provide.

“Downpatrick led the way for proper constructive conversations about how we can create a shared space,” he added.

“In the early 1990s, the community came together around St Patrick’s Day, which is a day where being Irish is celebrated around the world about how we can make it more inclusive.

“The effort was to ensure that St Patrick’s Day wasn’t just about flags – not to diminish the importance of flags and culture but to cultivate a sense of our shared Irishness.

“A lot of what we talk about now about making Northern Ireland a society less divided has been going on for quite some time.

“I think one of the unique pieces of symbolism of sharing we have in Downpatrick is the fact that the Irish patron saint is buried in a Protestant cathedral.

“There is so much on the history of divided religions on our island, but I think St Patrick embodies something unifying that everyone in Downpatrick is very proud of.”

As a young man, Mr O’Toole spent many of his informative years working in a variety of pubs throughout Down district, which included his uncle’s The Heights Bar in Loughinisland and Turley’s Bar in Downpatrick, where he worked under his close family friends, Ciaran and Debbie Turley.

Studying International Relations and English at St Andrew’s University in Scotland, O’Toole would come home and continue to work in the pubs to subsidise his studies.

“I always loved coming back – it’s something that hasn’t changed now as I still have family and friends that live in Downpatrick,” Mr O’Toole explained.

“Working in bars taught me a lot about politics such as the ability to listen, how to converse with people and sometimes negotiate with them.”

He says he was always interested in politics – diligently following the news in the 1990s for any potential breakthrough in peace talks.

As a teenager, he attended St Patrick’s Grammar School. The first day he entered the doors of the school in 1994 was the same day of the IRA ceasefire.

“I remember there being a careful level of optimism while I was at school,” he said. “It was a very hopeful time but there was still a lot of uncertainty.

“While I was at St Patrick’s we had the ceasefire, the talks process, sadly the breakdown of the ceasefire, the Good Friday Agreement, and the creation of the new Executive and Assembly – all of which happened in the span of seven years.

“I always had a fascination with politics but also was very passionate about Irish history and British and American history.”

He continued: “Growing up, I never wanted to be a politician if I’m honest – I wanted to be a journalist.

“I was a journalist for a while after I finished university and moved to London, and then became a press officer in Whitehall in various different departments.”

Mr O’Toole worked in Downing Street while the UK prepared itself to vote on the referendum to remain a member state of the EU.

Working with different Conservative Governments, O’Toole said the consequences of Brexit in relation to Northern Ireland were seldom discussed or either dismissed.

“There was a lot of Conservative MPs who – I believe knew better – downplayed the impact Brexit would have on our island,” he explained.

“The idea of Brexit was something I found offensive and I knew it would disturb the progress we’d made since the Good Friday Agreement.

“When the UK and Ireland both became members of the EU, it unlocked a really important and productive relationship and it gave us the opportunity to put centuries of conflict behind us.”

He continued: “We were equal partners and it underpinned how far we had come.

“I found working Downing Street that there was a severe level of ignorance about the situation in the north, which was something I wrote extensively about in the Irish Examiner and The Guardian and about British-Irish relations in its wider context.”

An unexpected turning point came in Mr O’Toole’s life in 2019.

During the December 2019, UK General Election, the SDLP’s South Belfast MLA Clare Hanna, was elected as the MP for the constituency, which required the SDLP to find a replacement. 

“I’d developed good relations with Clare and the SDLP leader, Colm Eastwood, while working for the Civil Service in London,” Mr O’Toole.

“The stars had aligned because my wife and I had decided to sell our apartment in London around the same time and I wasn’t sure what I was going to do next having left the Civil Service.

“Clare reached out to me about taking up the position,” he added.

“We met each other at a coffee shop – it’s funny because I’ve always had sympathies for the politics and policies of the SDLP and have strong family links with the party.

“I never planned on becoming a politician, but when you’re called to participate in public service, you have to have a good reason to say no.”

The 40 year-old was co-opted into the Assembly on January 11, 2020. Just two months after O’Toole he entered 

the chamber, the world faced a global pandemic. 

The following February, the DUP collapsed the Stormont institutions in protest at the Northern Ireland Protocol – the post-Brexit trade arrangements deal under Boris Johnson’s government.

The Assembly remained collapsed for just under two years, but in the midst of that the parties contested two elections – for the Assembly and local government – both of which saw the SDLP’s vote recede.

“This is something we have to address,” O’Toole acknowledged. “When we go door-to-door, people do like our values as a party.

“A lot of the other parties have jumped on the bandwagon of a lot of our ideas – particularly when it comes to Europe.

“We are a member of the Party of European Socialist, and have spoken extensively about the importance of our place in the EU, which is something other parties in the North haven’t always been consistent about.

“For the most part, our messaging has been very positive, but we need to work on the messaging – I think a lot of people think Alliance is the only party to promote true reconciliation, but that is something we have been passionate about for decades.

“I also think nationalists became incensed by the idea that the DUP were blocking the nomination of the first Nationalist First Minister in Michelle O’Neill, which is why Sinn Féin did as well as they did.

“Our messaging and getting better voter engagement is something we are determined to remedy.”

Only eight SDLP seats were returned to Stormont in 2022. Under detent, they were not able to nominate ministers to the Northern Ireland Executive, but instead were able to go into opposition of which Matthew O’Toole is the first leader since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

“Opposition is something that we need,” O’Toole explained.

“It gives the Assembly the opportunity to do some good after losing two years of mandate because of the boycott and holds executive ministers to account while they’re in charge of the different departments.

“Of course having only eight seats means we really have to pick our battles, but it means we as an opposition ask ministers for details about issues rather than just listen to their aspirations.”

Mr O’Toole added: “I believe there is a lot to be optimistic about, but we have a lot of work to do in a short period of time between now and the next election.

“Our young people have a lot to be disillusioned with, but it is up to all of us to make them believe that they have the ability to help shape the future and create the structures in their society to do so.

“When I was growing up in Downpatrick, there was an aurora of positivity – the Cold War had just ended, peace talks about the future of our island were well underway and there was a lot of opportunities being presented to my generation through European integration projects.

“I can understand why some teenagers may find no hope in what they see, but I hope if we can encourage people to get involved in politics, they can make things better.”

He continued: “Downpatrick is a perfect example of a community looking beyond orange and green issues and what can be achieved when we all work hand-in-hand with one another.”