Sinn Fein reiterate 'No Internal Settlement'
By Peadar Whelan
"ANYONE who thinks an internal settlement is going to
work or some assembly with a few nationalist knobs
stuck on to it is going to work is not living in the
real world".
That was the clear message delivered by Sinn Fein
President Gerry Adams to British Prime Tony Blair at a
meeting in Downing Street last Monday 19 January.
Adams, leading a delegation of senior party officials,
Pat Doherty, Lucilita Breathnach and Martin McGuinness,
met the British prime minister to discuss the proposed
Heads of Agreement document released by the Irish and
British governments last week.
The meeting had been hastily arranged during a phone
call between Adams and Blair after the Sinn Fein leader
learned the contents of the governments' document.
The Heads of Agreement document, which Adams had
previously described as a mistake, was agreed by the
two governments and leaked by the British Daily
Telegraph. Sinn Fein was not consulted by the British
or Irish governments on the content of the document.
Yet the image of David Trimble on television boasting
that he had influenced the document angered
nationalists and lent credence to the view that once
again the British government had folded in the face of
unionist and loyalist political and military pressure.
After the meeting with Blair Adams called on the
British government, "to face up to its historic
responsibilities" and ensure that "the unionists engage
constructively in talks."
"It is Sinn Fein's consistent view that an agenda for
talks, or propositions for Heads of Agreement or a
framework for a settlement, must be inclusive and
comprehensive. It needs to be a bridge to the future,
not a U-turn to the past," Adams said.
Meanwhile, in a submission presented to the talks at
Stormont, Sinn Fein stressed that the "situation can be
rectified if realities are accepted and a level playing
field provided in the negotiations."
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