Fighting every single step of the way
Monday: by Brian Campbell
It wasn't until three o'clock on Monday afternoon that
the penny finally dropped with the posse of journalists
in Dublin Castle. It was then that Martin McGuinness
made it clear that Sinn Féin would fight the attempt to
have them expelled ``every single step of the way''.
Suspicions were raised earlier when an Irish government
spin doctor refused to say whether Mo Mowlam's
accusations against Sinn Féin was a ``formal
indictment''. He was surrounded by puzzled journalists
demanding an answer to this apparently simple question.
Then his mobile phone rang. ``Thank God,'' he said,
``rescued!''
That morning the world's press had collectively decided
that Sinn Féin would be gone in an hour or two. It was
a foregone conclusion, bolstered by NIO briefings. As
time ticked by and no information emerged from the
talks, certainty turned to puzzlement. Mowlam's
accusation was in the form of a `speaking note' which
contained no new information. It simply said that it
was RUC Chief Ronnie Flanagan's `firm view' that the
IRA was responsible for two recent killings.
Sinn Féin gave a number of briefings. Is it now up to
Ronnie Flanagan to say who is part of negotiations? How
can we defend these vague and non-specific accusations?
There is absolutely no proof that Sinn Féin has
dishonoured any commitments.
It became clear that when Mowlam made her `statement'
she was asked whether she had sought information from
the RUC on who had killed Liam Conway and John
McColgan, two nationalists shot dead in Belfast in the
days after the UFF said they were reinstating their
`ceasefire'. Mowlam said she hadn't. Sinn Féin pointed
out that this was one among many double standards.
``This [attempted expulsion] is a fundamental issue of
equality,'' Martin McGuinness said. ``This is an issue of
whether or not the political representatives of around
130,000 people are going to be thrown onto the streets,
effectively by the British government and the UUP. The
big question people have to ask themselves is whether
or not the expulsion of Sinn Féin assists the search
for peace on this island.''
After a further few hours of bottomless cups of coffee
interrupted by regular consultations with spin doctors,
the journalists prepared to go home. Then it was
announced that Gerry Adams was to give a press
conference. It was an explosive event.
Adams outlined their position. After fielding a few
questions he was asked by ITN reporter Johnny Irvine to
explain the `influence' Sinn Féin had with the IRA.
``You covered the last election, what did it say in our
manifesto? It said `Sinn Féin is not the IRA'. Ask any
of the people here how the cessation came about,'' Adams
said. Irivine then repeatedly interrupted him: ``I
didn't ask you that. In the run-up to the last
ceasefire did you or did you not say... I will seek a
time when I can go to the IRA... Tell us what influence
you have with the IRA.''
Adams replied: ``The children in the streets know how we
brought about the cessation. John Hume and I and Albert
Reynolds and people in Irish America moved beyond
marginalisation and started to deal with the north as a
political problem instead of the collusion that it was
a problem created by republicans. And we were able then
to put up an alternative... And that's how we were able
to bring about a cessation. And you know that, so don't
smart-arse me. I have given you a reasonable answer to
which you knew the answer. The Sinn Féin leadership
have placed our lives, our integrity, our reputations
on the line to create along with others this
opportunity for peace and to maintain this opportunity
for peace.''
Johnny Irvine didn't interrupt him again.
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