Always ask why
By Laurence McKeown
A friend and parent of many years advised me recently that in the
not too distant future our house will echo to the words `but why?
or `cad thuige? That we will hear these words morning, noon and
night until we become exasperated.
They were of course referring to our daughter Caoilfhionn when
she would reach that age of inquisitiveness and curiosity
combined with an ability to verbalise her developing wonder at
the world. Which is a good thing really. It's the sort of thing
we learned in the books on Training for Transformation whilst
confined in that university outside Lisburn. (That's the one that
is neither a campus of Queen's nor the University of Ulster.)
It was a very simple lesson really yet crucial to our
understanding of the world and how things happen. It taught us
that when we hear of poverty in the world, or oppression, or
discrimination or any of the other injustices including poor
sanitation, bad housing, unemployment, lack of educational
facilities, barren land and so forth we should ask, `but why'? To
say it's simply fate, bad luck or the hand of God simply isn't
good enough any more. There's a reason why these things happen.
Usually a political, economic or military reason. Usually a
combination of all three.
It's difficult for me now to hear of events without the question
arising, `but why'? Why is this happening? Why is it happening
now? What forces are behind it?
You can imagine then that I had much to occupy my mind over the
past few years when looking at events concerning Dublin
governments. Well, more specifically, Dublin governments which
involved Fianna Fáil.
First, Albert Reynolds had a short spell as Taoiseach. This was
Albert who had played a fairly positive role in relation to the
peace process and was the first Taoiseach in my memory who had
publicly stated that if Articles Two and Three were to be up for
discussion then so too should be the Government of Ireland Act.
I'm not trying by any means to minimise the gravity of the
Brendan Smith case which, we were told, was the issue which
brought down the government. I'm just inclined to think that
probably there were worse abuses of power which governments in
the south were guilty of. It led to the installation of a
Taoiseach in the form of John Bruton who just weeks previously
had been voted the least impressive leader of any political party
in the south since the foundation of the state.
Then Ray Burke, Minister for Foreign Affairs and a fairly
outspoken person on the national question (at least in Fianna
Fáil terms) was forced to resign over payments to his electoral
campaign (not, he said, to him personally) and over the issue of
passports for sale which had happened several years previously
and which was already publicly known. Maybe I'm just a bit
cynical but I'm inclined to think that if he had had
responsibility for roads or fisheries the issue would never have
arisen.
Now Mary McAleese is the target. A woman who grew up with
Protestant and unionist neighbours, who was in the upper echelons
of the administration of Queen's University, an administration
not regarded as a hotbed of revolutionary republicans except
possibly by Nigel Dodds or `baby Paisley'. She is condemned for
having associations with one Jim Fitzpatrick of the Irish News, a
paper which has often been criticised by republicans, especially
Gerry Adams for its anti-Sinn Féin bias.
But who else is she accused of consorting with? None other than
that priest whose face was televised world-wide as he prayed over
the dead bodies of two British soldiers on the Andersonstown Road
in 1988. And the crime in this instance? That she was trying to
assist the peace process and encourage the involvement of Sinn
Féin and the community it represents.
I remember reading some time after the collapse of the Soviet
Union and the ending of the Cold War that most of the agents for
British Intelligence were redirected to Ireland. Not surprising
you may think. What did come as a bit of a shock though was that
the majority of their operatives in Ireland were not based in the
occupied Six Counties but in the south, mostly in Dublin.
Now why's that? And where are they? And what do they get up to?
Whose interests do they serve? Whose agenda do they work to?
Regardless of what majority Tony Blair may have in the House of
Commons or whatever his long term intentions in relation to
Ireland there is a very powerful element within the British
establishment who still see themselves as being very much at war
in Ireland. Maybe some in the media, to quote biblical text,
should `become like little children'.
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