Gerry Says: PLANNING FOR A NEW IRELAND - A NEW FUTURE

national | miscellaneous | news report Wednesday November 27, 2002 21:06 by AUTHOR NAME

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PLANNING FOR A NEW IRELAND - A NEW FUTURE
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Ba mhaith liom a ra ar son Shinn Fein go bhfuil athas orainn
bheith anseo inniu.

I dtosach, ba mhaith liom mo bhuiochas a ghabhail ar an
Bhreitheamh Caitriona Bean Mhic Aonghusa, agus ar an Uasal Muiris
Mac Aoidh agus ar ndoigh, ar gach duine anseo, as an sar-obair
ata deanta acu ar son an Fhoraim Um Shiochain agus
Athmhuintearas.

At times in this process we all get carried along with the twists
and turns, the ups and downs, and the highs and lows.

However, sometimes it is worth stopping and taking stock of where
we are, where we have come from, and where we collectively want
to go.

We should cast our minds back to when we first came together in
this Forum.

It was in the aftermath of the historic IRA cessation of August
1994 - over eight years ago.

It was a time when the then British government was still refusing
to hold inclusive peace talks. When it was more interested in
playing word games and talking about 'decontamination periods'
than in real peace.

And while this Forum was no substitute for multi-party talks, it
did strengthen the embryonic Peace Process.

It provided a Forum for discussion on key issues on an essential
all-Ireland basis.

It asserted that the Irish government and the parties in this
state supported the Peace Process and had a stake in it.

And those of us, who met here, and wider nationalist and indeed
unionist Ireland, knew that we were beginning a journey that
could eventually allow us to emerge from decades, centuries of
bitter and divisive conflict.

Think about the events since then.

At that time many thought that we could not have successful
negotiations. But we did, and we reached an Agreement, and we saw
that Agreement ratified overwhelmingly by the people of this
island?

Could anyone here have envisaged that we would also see the
establishment of the first all-Ireland political institutions
since partition?

Or that Irish republicans would be sharing power alongside
unionists and others in a unique system of government in the
North, with all-Ireland interlocking structures and political
institutions?

But we did achieve this.

At that time in the early 1990s, other countries were also
embarking upon similar journeys to resolve long standing
political conflicts. We only have to look now at the situation in
the Middle East to remind us of the devastation that has resulted
from a failed conflict resolution process.

A PROCESS IN CRISIS

Our own conflict resolution process has not been without its
difficulties.

Yes, we have achieved much but the work of building peace, of
reconciling differences, of fashioning a new political
dispensation for this island, has not been an easy one.

So despite achieving much we still also face many problems and
challenges.

Since the Good Friday Agreement was signed four and a half years
ago we have been through a succession of protracted crises and
detailed negotiations.

Following each of these republicans took initiatives, some quite
unprecedented in their scope, to save the process.

For its part the British government repeatedly promised to do
what it promised to do initially in April 1998 - to implement the
Good Friday Agreement. Regrettably, over the last four and a half
years these commitments on policing, demilitarisation, equality,
human rights and the Irish language have not been honoured.

The result is that the process has been destabilised and
republican and nationalist confidence in its ability to bring
about the promised change has been undermined. And this is not
the belief of nationalists alone.

During Tony Blair's recent highly publicised Belfast speech the
British Prime Minister admitted:

* That the British government has not implemented the Good
Friday Agreement;

* He said that talk of progress sounds hollow to people living
in interface areas in North Belfast or others such as the Short
Strand, who are living under siege from unionist paramilitaries;

* He admitted that nationalists 'were treated as second-class
citizens;

While Mr. Blair's recognition of the reality of discrimination is
welcome, his government's failure to act on these matters and its
decision to move outside of the Agreement and suspend the
political institutions, in the midst of an ongoing unionist
paramilitary murder campaign, is disastrous.

MULTI-PARTY TALKS - WHAT NEXT?

The question now is where do we go from here.

This is a very serious crisis - clearly the most serious since
the Agreement was reached - but one important thing on which all
of us here today must agree and that is that the Good Friday
Agreement is the only show in town.

There is no alternative.

If anyone here today, in government or opposition has a different
view then let them spell it out.

If not then let our attention be focused on implementing the
Agreement, the whole Agreement and nothing but the Agreement.

Last week saw the commencement of all-party discussions. I
welcome the commitment of the two governments to bring forward a
comprehensive agenda for the talks dealing with all of the
outstanding issues.

If this is our starting point then I believe that we must begin
by persuading the British government to reinstate the political
institutions, to bring an end to the suspension legislation that
has now been used by it on four separate occasions so far.

But resolving this crisis requires more - it requires the full
implementation of the Good Friday Agreement on policing, on
demilitarisation, on the issue of arms, on equality and human
rights.

These are not Sinn Fein positions. They are universal rights.

These are not concessions. They are entitlements. As Irish people
living in our own country these fundamental and modest statements
to equality should be our birthright.

Every party here in government or opposition therefore has a duty
to unequivocally promote and defend these entitlements.

Tony Blair, I believe, should see Britain's strategic interest
being best served by the democratic resolution of the
long-standing quarrel between the people of these two islands and
by a process of reconciliation.

That requires the British government to break with its partisan
past and build a future of equality as required by the Agreement.

It is up to us collectively to bring London to that point.

LOOKING TO AN IRELAND OF EQUALS

I am not attempting to minimise the very serious problems we all
face, but I believe we are best served by looking forward to the
opportunities which are in front of us.

We should explore the potential that exists to bring about
fundamental social, political and ultimately constitutional
change on this island and in our relationship with our closest
neighbour, Britain.

Our collective goals should be to promote and plan for the
establishment in the short term of:

* The full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement.

* A National Campaign against Sectarianism and for Equality

* Irish national rights

In the longer term this Forum could play a leading role in
working and planning for:

* A National Representative Democracy on this island. That is
an end to the union, and the achievement of national
reconciliation and unity.

These are all entirely legitimate and appropriate political
objectives. Progress toward them can be made by not only calling
upon the British to honour their obligations, but for example,
the Irish government moving to fulfil its commitment to provide
for northern representation in the houses of the Oireachtas as it
has promised to do.

For our part the Sinn Fein group in Leinster House will bring
forward a Green paper on Irish unity during the course of the
present Dail.

There is no point decrying the absence of unionists here today.

All of us need to engage on all these issues with them.

We need to be tenacious in our determination to continue a
genuine process with unionism to resolve conflict and to shape
our shared future on the island.

This Forum also has a responsibility to defend the rights and
entitlements of all Irish citizens.

Ta se de dhualgas ar an Fhoram seo fosta, cearta gach saoranach
sa tir seo a chosaint go dluth.

That includes the people of North Belfast, of the Short Strand or
Larne. This means addressing the issue of ongoing unionist
paramilitary violence, of discrimination, of inequality, of human
rights abuse and demilitarisation.

This means taking up and supporting the right of Irish Citizens
to be represented in all aspects of the public life of the
nation. We know that there is no easy road to peace and freedom.

We know that there is much work ahead of us.

And each day will bring new difficulties and new challenges.

We will have to be very resilient, tenacious, determined and
magnanimous.

But if you want to do something worthwhile with your life, if you
want to make a difference ? then there is nothing more important
-- more patriotic than to build peace and justice in your own
place.

And that's what we have to be about.

So let us elevate our vision beyond the suspicions and fears of
the past.

Let us work to prepare for that future.

Let everybody here today use this opportunity recommit ourselves
to the Good Friday Agreement.