the parties is secular in outlook and has made an honest contribution to the political debate. Their political positions will inevitably limit their appeal to a tiny share of the electorate. Ireland's Fine Gael - previously led by Dr Garret Fitzgerald - already campaigns under the title of Christian Democrats. Within the European Parliament they sit with the Official Unionist, Jim Nicholson. Two of their MEPs, John Cushnahan and Pat Cooney arranged a series of high level meetings in Strasbourg in September 1989 between the Movement for Christian Democracy and leading European Christian Democrats. Cushnahan's has been one of the clearest and most consistent voices arguing for reconciliation in Northern Ireland, while Cooney's integrity and coherent approach to politics has made him a widely respected figure in Irish and European politics. His approach to 'respect for life' issues, for instance, has led him strongly and staunchly to oppose the IRA paramilitaries. He addressed the Movement's Rally held in London in November 1990. In 1964, on the eve of his entry into politics, Dr Garret Fitzgerald expressed his vision of Ireland in Europe:
The sense of nationality enjoyed by Irish people in such a society would be simply pride in their country and their roots in it, and in the society of which they form a part. It would be neither narrow nor exclusive, containing no hatred of any other country, nor passion for revenge or self-assertion. This local loyalty would be accompanied by a sense of belonging to Europe, and by a sense of interdependence with the rest of the world.12
Mary Robinson said much the same thing after her 1990 election victory. By 1972 in Towards a New Ireland Fitzgerald was able more clearly to define that vision by arguing that commitment to faith would shape Ireland's politics: 'The strength of the religious tradition in Ireland, however distorted it may have been by bigotry and intolerance, adds a dimension to Irish society that is lacking in Britain.' He adds that Irish society 'is much more intensely personal in its orientation than society in Britain' and that Ireland will never be a miniature reflection of Britain because politics will 'be tempered by their deeply-rooted system of Christian values'. Looking towards Europe, Fitzgerald says that there is
among believing Christians a growing sense of Christian solidarity against neopaganism. The sectarian differences of the past have come to seem increasingly irrelevant to Christians in many European countries as these Christians have