Bruton reverts to type
BY MICHEAL MacDONNCHA
His anti-republican rhetoric may have been somewhat curtailed
during his term of Taoiseach but now in opposition John Bruton
has fully reverted to type and this week launched a tirade
against Sinn Féin, which was directed as much against the Fianna
Fáil-led government.
Bruton spoke of the risk of the Dublin government being ``dragged
along forever in a cat and mouse game by the skilled
propagandists who run the republican movement and who
alterantively use victimhood and violence as tools of their
political trade''. This statement in the Irish Independent on
Monday was followed by an even more over-the-top comment two days
later when Bruton attacked Social Welfare Minister Dermot Ahern
for the administrative arrangement whereby correspondence from
his department to Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghin O Caoláin will be
signed by the minister himself. In response to this bureaucratic
nicety Bruton asked if the government ``has any appreciation at
all of the security interests of this state, and those who live
in it''.
Caoimhghin O Caoláin rejected Bruton's attempts to undermine the
right of Sinn Féin voters to representation:
``John Bruton talks as if patience, diligence and determination in
securing a credible peace process are faults. Mr Bruton as
Taoiseach inherited an historic opportunity for peace which had
been painstakingly created by others. Sinn Féin was a key element
in securing that opportunity. When it was squandered and the
peace process and the hopes it carried were dashed, we in Sinn
Féin set about trying to rebuild it. We have not been deflected
in spite of the huge difficulties created by British government
bad faith, unionist intransigence and Mr Bruton's mishandling of
it. It is not only legitimate but vital to ask for clarity at
this time.
``We will not walk away from the search for peace. Our voters have
the same right to representation as those who vote for other
parties and I reject Mr Bruton's attempt to dismiss that right
and undermine those who are trying to rebuild the peace process.''
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