Support campaign to defend Articles 2 and 3
Articles 2 and 3 of the Irish Constitution are
statements of fact about the definition of what the
Irish nation is and about the geographic extent of the
territory of Ireland. Every nation must have a
definition of its territory.
The Articles are not, nor should the Dublin government
be under illusions about this, bartering chips to be
given away as a quid pro quo for some sham agreement
arrived at with the British government.
y deal, based on such a premise, will not deliver a
long term solution to the conflict. Indeed such a
bartered agreement can only in the long term ensure
more conflict as it will not, by its very nature, have
ended partition or removed the unionist veto over
political movement.
The only effect will be that northern nationalists will
have become stateless in their own country.
The Irish National Congress was correct when it said
this week: ``The notion, current in Government circles,
that changes in the British claim of sovereignty are an
equal quid pro quo for changes in the Irish
constitution, is dangerously misleading. The British
constitutional claim is no more than an assertion of
territorial rights of conquest whereas the Irish
constitutional definition of Ireland is legitimate
because it represents the democratic wishes of the
Irish nation. British amendments to their Government of
Ireland Act 1920 will leave intact the Act of Union
1800 and the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973.''
Thus it is encumbent on the Dublin government and
Bertie Ahern, who has made much of his Fianna
Fail/Republican Party credentials, to allay the fears
of nationalists by declaring his support for Articles 2
and 3 and standing by the Irish nation of which the
unionists are a part.
Surrendering Articles 2 and 3 would be the final
abandonment of northern Nationalists and would be a
disaster. As campaigns to defend Articles 2 and 3 get
underway, they should be supported in every possible
way.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)