Ulster says No!
The debate draws to a close on Rule 21. With the special
conference due to debate the rule in Dublin's Burlington Hotel on
Saturday 30 May, the weekend's and week's papers were full of the
pros and cons of the move.
In the Sunday sports paper The Title, Martin Breheny called for a
Yes vote at the special conference. His was one of two articles
suporting the dropping of the rule, the other from long-time
supporter of the rule Tom Woulfe from Dublin. Breheny called for
the GAA to be ``brave, bold, and positive on the issue... Debate
Rule 21 simply on its merits and it has no chance of surviving.
Allow it to be discussed on emotive terms and the issue becomes
clouded.''
It is however an emotional issue for GAA members in the Six
Counties. The record of the crown forces' treatment of the GAA
and its members is there for all to see, as is the collusion with
the death sqauds used to murder them.
But it is also a political issue. Dropping the rule before the
Crown Forces have entered into the kind of changes contained in
the Good Friday Agreement would send all the wrong signals. It
would reward them for something they may not do. GAA members know
only too well that there is massive resistance to change within
the Crown Forces.
The Yes lobby uses the arguments that it should be debated
against the background of the Good Friday Agreement. The
Agreement has to prove its worth, and until then the rule most
definitely should stay.
The most prominent coverage to the lobby during the week was in
the Irish Independent's Sports Supplement on Monday. Interviews
were afforded to members of Ardoyne Kickhams, a club at the coal
face of crown forces' harassment, and were they have lost ``more
than a whole football team'' to loyalist death squads over the
past 30 years.
Members have strong views on any changes in the rule: ``The ironic
thing is that Rule 21 has grown on the back of the Good Friday
Agreement which is all about establishing democracy and parity of
esteem. But you've the exact opposite happening now in the GAA.
They're trying to stop this thing even being debated. They're
putting gags on members, on clubs. I think it's incredible,'' said
one club member. Another stated: ``People up here have been
murdered and butchered just for playing Gaelic games. Now they're
trying to buy and sell us.''
GAA President Joe McDonagh's handling of the issue has also come
in for criticism. McDonagh promised to meet the family of Aidan
McAnespie, a GAA member murdered by British soldiers in 1988,
according to Aidan's sister Eilish McCabe. The family later
received a letter from the GAA admitting McDonagh agreed to meet
the family, but the GAA Management Committee agreed not to meet
any groups in advance of the special conference.
A compromise to the deletion could also be on the table from the
Six-County lobby, under which the rule could be `suspended'.
A lack of democracy and consultation seems to be the main area of
grieviance with the GAA's higher echelons in Croke Park. Southern
delegates should listen carefully to representatives from clubs
such as Ardoyne Kickhams and people like Eilish McCabe. Until
political change, most importantly in the areas of policing and
demilitarisation, is proved to result from the present situation,
Rule 21 has to stay.
Michelle Smith: Guilty?
d what about Michelle Smith de Bruin? Doubts are starting to
develop everywhere about her transformation from also-ran to
champion swimmer in such a short space of time. UTV's Insight
gave us an excellent programme on the issue last week, posing
some interesting and hard questions on her recent performances,
interviewing former swimming coaches and colleagues. Maybe all is
not what it seems to be with Smith. I remember being berated at
the time she `won' the three gold medals in Atlanta, for saying
exactly what she is being accused of now.
BY CIARAN HEAPHEY
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