N. Ireland issue at crossroads

There has been no time when the opportunity for peace in Northern Ireland has been greater, nor has there been a time of greater risk of renewed violence. All the efforts to establish peace and a new government may be lost if an agreement is not reached by today’s deadline.

The same problem that has prevented peace for so long may also prevent success at today’s final meeting in Belfast between Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, along with the leaders of political parties.

The conflict has always been a turf battle between those who would like Northern Ireland to be out of British control and those who want to keep British ties. It is not a religious war. It is a political conflict over who’s in charge.

Violence and bloodshed may result if compromise between the parties cannot be reached. One of the parties claims to be willing to make things happen, while the other continues to offer resistance.

It was 15 months ago when the Good Friday agreement was hashed out after equally challenging negotiations. The vast majority of people in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland voted to support the agreement.

Since that time a concerted effort has been made to undermine the peace process, according to officials who represent the nationalist or republican movement. They claim the unionists and loyalists have no desire to form a new government, despite the will of the people they represent.

The unionists and loyalists want to remain a part of the British government, and the nationalists and republicans want the British out of Northern Ireland. The conflict comes from the poor treatment the Irish have received from the British, according to Irish officials.

Sinn Fein, the political party so often tied to the Irish Republican Army in press accounts, has held out an olive leaf for many years waiting for their rivals the Ulster Unionists to accept their gesture. Instead, the Unionists have continued to demonize Sinn Fein and place obstacles in the path to peace and reconciliation, according to Rita O’Hare, Sinn Fein spokesman.

Sinn Fein is the third largest political party in Northern Ireland, and has been growing in recent elections in the Republic of Ireland as well.

O’Hare was fully optimistic that an eleventh-hour agreement can be reached despite the critics and opposition. She said the real problem in the way of an agreement is not the issue of disarming the IRA, the real problem is who will be in charge when the new government is formed.

“The Unionists real problem is this executive (the new government). It’s not even Sinn Fein being on it. Their problem with it is the all Ireland dimension to it, because once that executive is set up, what it means is that the north is no longer a separate entity. It’s not being run for and by unionists. The links between north and south are actually through an established political institution. I think that is what this is really all about,” explained O’Hare in a phone interview with WorldNetDaily.

She said Sinn Fein is trying to show the Ulster Unionists and other loyalists that they have nothing to fear. This is not a power grab or an effort to take over.

“Sinn Fein is not interested in a situation where the tables are turned. We don’t want the unionists to occupy the ground we have come off, and be excluded, or feel that they are second class citizens. We’re not interested in that.

“We want a future where Ireland is for everybody, and everybody feels secure, valued, and given their rights,” O’Hare described.

Sinn Fein has been fighting for civil and human rights for many, many years. The Irish were subjected to poor treatment in Northern Ireland, which continues to this day.

“Bigotry in the north isn’t just practiced by unionists, or loyalists, or Protestants on the fringes of society. The whole state is run through institutionalized discrimination, exclusion, and bigotry. So that every institution of the state has to change,” explained O’Hare.

Sinn Fein has been opposed in every step of the peace process. The current issue holding up the talks is that of disarming the IRA. Sinn Fein spokesmen point out that they do not control the IRA, or the numerous other paramilitary groups that have been engaged in violence. They believe they have been demonized by the Unionists.

“That exposes what it’s really about, doesn’t it? If the problem was guns and violence, David Trimble wouldn’t be concentrating on the IRA because the IRAs guns are silent,” said O’Hare.

Trimble is the head of the Ulster Unionist party. The IRA has been in a cease fire that began in 1994, ended for a brief period, and resumed again without interruption. There have been no IRA acts of violence since the Good Friday agreement was signed leading to the current negotiations. There are fears that if the Unionists prevent the formation of the new government that the IRA may end their ceasefire.

Even though the IRA has maintained a ceasefire, the loyalist forces have not.

“Since the agreement was signed, never mind what went on before that, there have been over 170 attacks on vulnerable nationalist Catholic families by the loyalists. They’ve killed ten people. It isn’t an issue about guns. It isn’t even the IRA or the loyalists,” said O’Hare.

Northern Ireland has very strict gun control laws in place. Those who have a need for protection can obtain a license to carry a concealed firearm, upon approval from authorities. There are presently about 150,000 legal guns licensed primarily to loyalists. Most nationalists who apply for a license are turned down.

“A Sinn Fein counselor (politician), who was under attack nightly, for the first time ever was allowed a license to protect himself. Unionist politicians, loyalist politicians all are allowed to carry guns. It just shows you how absolutely bogus this whole argument on decommissioning (disarmament) is. What it’s all about is to hold back the political process and deny democracy,” explained O’Hare.

Trimble has made a major issue over disarmament of the IRA, without mentioning the other groups that have engaged in violence, including those of his own party. He has insisted that Sinn Fein should be held responsible to insure that the IRA immediately begins turning in their arms. Trimble has not made similar demands of other groups.

O’Hare says Trimble is just using the issue to defeat the entire effort. She says he does not want the new government and is afraid of a loss of political power. She says Sinn Fein only wants to establish a democratic form of government that truly represents the people. She took time to compliment Trimble, however.

“He’s been reluctant. He’s had to be dragged every inch of the way. But give him his due. He has come as far as he has. He negotiated and signed that agreement. He can’t now ignore or rewrite the bits he doesn’t like,” she said.

The Good Friday agreement, which established the basis for the current negotiations and was approved by the people of both countries, does not include the issue of disarmament. O’Hare claims the issue has only been introduced by Trimble in an effort to prevent success. She said each time an obstacle is overcome, Trimble presents a new one.

It has been a rocky road for Sinn Fein in the quest for peace and a new government in Northern Ireland. O’Hare told of secret meetings between Sinn Fein, the British government headed by John Major, and the Irish government between 1990 and 1994.

Sinn Fein was not invited to the peace table and the talks had to take place in secret. Major took advantage and offered to invite Sinn Fein to the table if the IRA brought an end to violence. In 1994 the IRA declared a cease fire and Sinn Fein no longer had to meet with Major’s government in secret. During that period there was never a discussion about disarmament. All that was asked was for a cease fire.

In January 1995, John Major was looking for every possible way to hold on to a majority and maintain his position as Prime Minister. To do so he needed the support of the Ulster Unionists. He was therefore looking for ways to bring the progress with Sinn Fein to a halt. That is when demands were made upon Sinn Fein to decommission the IRA, because they knew it couldn’t be done, explained O’Hare. The cease fire collapsed as a result, and the current one is in the same jeopardy.

“This peace process was never about getting an IRA surrender, forcing an IRA disarmament, or humiliating the Republican side. Remember that this peace process was very much the involvement of the British government because they claim responsibility over the north, and indeed run the place. And they allowed the place to run on the basis of discrimination, exclusion, and bigotry for over 70 years,” said O’Hare.

She said it was historic in 1994 when the British government agreed that it was a perfectly legitimate goal to pursue a united Ireland.

“In other words that for the first time, a British government was acknowledging that this whole question was an all Ireland question, and the resolution of it was going to be in the context of all Ireland. It took another four years to actually get an agreement, because the Unionists used decommissioning to exclude Sinn Fein from talks,” she explained.

Sinn Fein worked behind the scenes to get the IRA cease fire restored. That cease fire has held right to the present time, even with the many attempts to intimidate the IRA by violent acts committed by the loyalist forces.

Asked if Sinn Fein plans any last-minute concessions to win the day, O’Hare said, “Civil and human rights, and equality, are not concessions — they’re rights. Our aim in this is to assert that politics, peaceful politics, are primary.”