Republicans in a fix
SINN FEIN is finding difficulty in formulating a response to the declaration signed on 15 December by the British Prime Minister, John
Major, and the Irish Taoiseach (Premier), Albert Reynolds. Its initial response was that it would "study" the document. Later it added that it wanted some "clarifications" by the Republic of Ireland's government. By
International Viewpoint #252 January 1994 munity) nor of course the occupying forces of the British army..
This view is disseminated by the Irish media with the encourage of the Dublin government.
The Dublin establishment appears more than ready to discard its former contrast, the independent West Belfast paper, Andersontown News, ran the following headline about the latest "peace" message from the British and Irish states: "Peace hopes dashed by flawed Downing Street declaration." The Taoiseach enjoyed an ecstatic reception on his return to the Dublin Dâil (Parliament) but the Andersontown News called
Reynolds "a forelock tugging spailpin, beating his breast in front of his master while promising to do better in the future." John Meehan, writing in a personal capacity, examines the stakes.
JOHN MEEHAN - Dublin, 24 December 1993
INN FEIN is finding difficul-
S ty in formulating a response to the declaration signed on
15 December by the British
Prime Minister, John Major, and the Irish Taoiseach (Premier), Albert
Reynolds. Its initial response was that it would "study" the document. Later it added that it wanted some "clarifications"
by the Republic of Ireland's government.
By contrast, the independent West
Belfast paper, Andersontown News, ran the following headline about the latest
"peace" message from the British and Irish states: "Peace hopes dashed by flawed
Downing Street declaration." The Taoiseach enjoyed an ecstatic reception on his return to the Dublin Dâil (Parliament) but the Andersontown News called Reynolds
"a forelock tugging spailpín, beating his breast in front of his master while promising to do better in the future."
Since April 1993, Sinn Féin leader
Gerry Adams has been involved in talks with John Hume, leader of the Social
Democratic and Labour Party. Sinn Féin believed that peace and political progress were in sight as a result the "Hume-Adams initiative". But Hume has warmly welcomed the Reynolds-Major declaration, and
The declaration states that "The Taoiseach acknowledges the presence in the
Constitution of the Republic of elements which are deeply resented by Northern
Unionists ...in the event of an overall settlement, the Irish government will, as part of a balanced constitutional accommodation, put forward and support proposals for
8 change in the Irish Constitution which would fully reflect the principle of consent in Northern Ireland."
Throughout 1993 a number of "peace talks" have taken place, in both Northern Ireland and the Republic. Everybody wants "peace" — or so it is claimed. According to the Dublin establishment this is true of firstly:
• The British and the Republic of Ireland governments (a statelet which Irish Fourth Internationalists have traditionally called the "twenty-six counties" in order to indicate that it covers only part of Ireland).
• and secondly the leaders of the main parties in Northern Ireland (called the "six counties") — the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP, a bourgeois nationalist party in the six counties), the two main Unionist parties (the Ulster Unionist Party -UUP and the Democratic Unionist Party - DUP), and the Alliance Party (a Unionist party which claims a degree of support from both sides of the sectarian divide). These parties are frequently referred to by the British and Irish States as the "constitutional parties" , although Sinn Féin is itself a legal party.
This leaves the "men of violence" These are usually equated with the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and its political wing, Sinn Féin. While sometimes, Unionist paramilitaries are also included there is no reference to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC — Northern Ireland's sectarian police force) and the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR — formerly the Ulster Defence Regiment, a regiment of the British Army recruited mainly from the Loyalist comnationalist ideology in relation to the parti-
The Dublin government's professed solution to the partition of Ireland is to achieve Unity by winning the consent of a majority within the six counties. However, there is presently an inbuilt Unionist majority in Northern Ireland. Although a significant achievement of the revolutionary upsurge by the oppressed Catholic minority, which began in 1968 as a struggle for civil rights was, in 1972, to destroy direct government by the Unionists, the Dublin establishment, in close co-operation with the British government, has ever since attempted to resurrect some form of local
These schemes have always involved an attempt to persuade the SDLP to "power-share" with the Unionists. The first attempt, following "the Sunningdale Agreement", was brought down in 1974 by a reactionary by Unionist workers. "Power-sharing" had lasted a mere five months, and the Unionists who participated in this experiment lost all political
The UUP, led by James Molyneux, and the DUP, led by Ian Paisley, supported the 1974 strike. They have not in any genuine sense changed their position and anyone who doubts the sectarian capacity of the Unionists need only look to their
John Hume and the SDLP may speak of "uniting people", two traditions or a period of post-nationalism, but they cannot countenance local government run by the likes of Molyneaux and Paisley.
Throughout 1992 Hume participated in talks with the Unionist parties, which were convened by the British Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Patrick Mayhew, but would not sign an agreement.
This generated a growing volume of protest from the Dublin establishment. The Irish media increasingly portrayed all four "constitutional parties" as unreasonable, and John Hume in particular was subjected
1. Spailpin or Spalpeen: an Irish expression which describes someone who is trouble or mean.
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IRELAND
International Viewpoint #252 January 1994
Welcome to the club! to especially negative coverage. Eventually, Hume's proposal for the government of Northern Ireland were "leaked".
Hume had proposed that Northern Ireland be governed by six commissioners. Three would be elected from the Northern Ireland under a system of proportional representation — the likely result being one from the SDLP (Hume), one from the UUP (Molyneaux), and one from the DUP (Paisley). The other three commissioners would be appointed by the Irish and British government's and the European Commission.
Hume knew that his proposal was completely unrealistic. It was made as a way as a way to spin out talks and avoid having to sign local power to the Unionists. Unlike the Dublin government, the SDLP has to contend with the fact that Sinn Fein has the support of around thirtyfive percent of the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland, and to have done so would have meant a huge loss in support.
The "men of violence"
Hume's talks with the other "constitutional parties" came to an end in April 1993 when he began openly negotiating with Sinn Féin. These talks with the "men of violence" caused apoplexy in some sections of the Dublin establishment, most notably the Independent group of newspapers owned by multi-millionaire and Heinz supremo Tony O' Reilly.
In 1972 spokespersons for the IRA were banned from the broadcast media in the Republic. This was subsequently extended to include Sinn Féin. Hume's negotiations with Sinn Féin President, Gerry Adams, made the censorship practised by the Republic difficult to defend
More far-sighted supporters of the Dublin establishment publicly defended the SDLP leader, including former Taoiseach, Garret Fitzgerald, and the all-Ireland head of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Cahal Daly. Even more significantly the
PLANTE British government did not join the Unionist chorus of protest and it later transpired that the British government had initiated secret negotiations with Sinn Féin and the IRA in February 1993, two months before Hume announced that talks has been
In this context mention should also be made of the visit to West Belfast, also in 1993, by the Republic's President, Mary Robinson, when she had a very public handshake with Gerry Adams. Apparently, Robinson's gesture, which was out of character with her generally pro-Unionist policies, was opposed by Dick Spring, Tánaiste (Deputy Premier), Minister for Foreign Affairs, and also leader of the Labour Party.
There was further evidence of uneasiness about Hume's manoeuvres on the part of the Dublin establishment when he presented the proposals which he had worked out with Gerry Adams to the Dublin government, for later presentation to the British government. Rather than allow Sinn Féin and the Republican movement any credit, the Dublin government set out to "remove Gerry Adams' fingerprints" from any documented negotiations which it might have with the British government.
Even so, Reynolds was publicly lectured by Major for being too accommodating to Sinn Féin - although all this time the British were having secret negotiations of their own with Sinn Féin. As Major stated that it would "turn his stomach" to talk to the IRA and 22 November Mayhew stated: "Nobody has been authorised to talk or negotiate on behalf of the British government with Sinn Fein or any other terrorist organisation", similar denials from the Dublin government can be viewed sceptically.
On the surface the tactical differences among Sinn Féin's opponents gave Adams plenty of scope for advancing his political agenda. However, Sinn Féin has been suffering from deep political and military confusion. While publicly talk has been of peace, a Unionist assassination campaign has ravaged Nationalist communities in Northern Ireland.
The pressure generated in the Republican movement led to the notorious Shankill atrocity on 23 October, when an IRA attack on Ulster Defence Association headquarters, early on a Saturday afternoon, led to the destruction of a fish shop, the death of eight civilians and Thomas Bigley, the IRA volunteer carrying the
In the following week thirteen Catholic civilians were murdered, culminating in the gruesome massacre at the village of Greysteel in County Derry, when Unionist assassins entered a pub and opened fire on the customers as they drank, causing seven people to die. Gerry Adams wants Britain to "join the ranks of the presuaders" and convince the Unionists that their best interests lie in a united Ireland, but this same British government as revealed during the 1992 trial of Brian Nelson, has helped to re-arm the Unionist paramilitaries.
Sinn Féin spokespeople in the city of Derry have stated that a British withdrawal could take place over a thirty-year period, tending towards the Hume position of winning the "consent" of the Unionists.
Irish history has shown that "unity by consent" is impossible. Both Northern Ireland and the Republic were designed as sectarian states. Any prospect of winning a majority in Northern Ireland would provoke a sectarian reaction, just as the attempt to free the whole of Ireland from British rule was broken by the 1921 partition.
None of this means that the solution lies in an intensified military campaign — on the contrary. Some sacred cows have deservedly gone to slaughter during this process, for example, never "talking to terrorists". The public attacks on John Hume generated a lot of public revulsion in the Republic, which has re-opened up debate around partition.
But the Sinn Féin leadership has made some serious political mistakes, especially in relation to the argument of securing unity by "consent". There can be some sympathy with a leadership which realises that twenty-five years of armed struggle has led to little progress. But progress will not be made by way of political concessions to imperialism.
The Republican leadership did not foresee the mess it would get into with the publication on 15 December of the MajorReynolds "Peace Declaration". *