Trimble cannot rewrite Agreement
Republican constituency can go no further
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The Agreement is not a peace settlement. Nor indeed does it
purport to be one. It has not resolved the causes of conflict but
it has mapped out a political and institutional framework within
which many of the causes of conflict can be addressed.
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David Trimble's speech to his party conference was a
disappointment to all of us who want to see the institutions
agreed on Good Friday put in place and further progress made
towards a lasting peace. David Trimble appears to be saying that
he is not now prepared to honour the commitments given on Good
Friday. Instead he has declared his intention to block the
institutions which would begin the process of turning the promise
of the agreement into the reality of a new approach based on
inclusivity and equality and involving crucially for
nationalists, all-Ireland structures.
It appears that the political leadership of Unionism, in all
forms, remain wedded to a failed and unworkable status quo. The
unionist parties are opposed to change and seek to prevent
change, either by outright opposition to the Agreement or by
hollowing out its potential to deliver change. Inertia in the
process serves the strategic interests of unionism.
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The fact that the guns are not now in use is of immense
significance. It underlines the IRA commitment to the search for
a lasting peace
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In contrast nationalism, in all its forms, remains
whole-heartedly committed to this process of change. For over ten
years now, Sinn Féin's primary focus as a political party has
been our peace strategy and the development with others of a
process to resolve the causes of conflict and deliver a lasting
peace settlement. Since the first joint statement by Gerry Adams
and John Hume in April 1993, which publicly kick started the
peace process, we have collectively made significant progress
towards that objective. Who could have imagined then that we
would have had the IRA cessations and inclusive negotiations,
much less an agreement and its endorsement by the vast majority
of the Irish people.
But at all times the process has had its detractors, those who
remain outrightly opposed to the process and its agenda for
change. Unfortunately therefore the progress made to date and
potential for further progress cannot be taken for granted.
The Agreement is not a peace settlement. Nor indeed does it
purport to be one. It has not resolved the causes of conflict but
it has mapped out a political and institutional framework within
which many of the causes of conflict can be addressed. Other
vitally important issues were addressed but not resolved
including human rights, policing, justice, equality in all its
dimensions, decommissioning and the demilitarisation of society.
But to listen to David Trimble one would think that
decommissioning was the only issue yet to be resolved. Unionists
have deliberately developed a crisis in the process. They have
sought to obscure other issues of central importance to a just
and lasting peace.
No one should be in any doubt about how strongly nationalists
feel about unionist militias - the RUC and the RIR - who still
patrol our streets. Or a justice system which has perpetuated the
repression of nationalists for generations. Or the system of
pervasive inequalities which have rendered nationalists second
class citizens. Or the denial of human rights across the whole
spectrum of issues. Nor should they doubt how central the
resolution of these issues is to a lasting peace settlement. But
for any party to make any of these important issues a
pre-condition to the implementation of the institutional
provisions of the Agreement is an act of bad faith which breaches
and therefore threatens the entire Agreement.
The refusal to establish the Executive and the all-Ireland
Ministerial Council and the associated implementation bodies
cannot be viewed as an isolated blip in the implementation of the
Agreement. This is not a difference of interpretation or
emphasis. It is in fundamental conflict with the provisions of
the Agreement. It is undemocratic and a denial of the rights and
wishes of the vast majority of the people of Ireland who voted
for the Agreement on May 22nd this year.
But a conflict resolution process cannot stand still - it is
either moving forward or it is moving back. And this process is
certainly not moving forward at present. This must be a matter of
deep concern for everyone.
Sinn Féin is committed to the wholehearted implementation of the
Good Friday Agreement in all its aspects including the provisions
on decommissioning. Central to Sinn Féin's peace strategy is the
development of a credible and effective way of achieving
political change through peaceful and democratic methods.
Collectively we have constructed a peace process, which has
already delivered cease-fires by all the main protagonists with
the obvious exception of the British State forces. Sinn Féin
played a key role in delivering the total and unequivocal
cessation by the IRA last July but fundamentally it was the firm
and binding political commitments given that inclusive
negotiations would begin that allowed us to convince the IRA that
they should restore their cessation of military operations.
The value of that initiative by the IRA should not be
underestimated. The fact that the guns are not now in use is of
immense significance. It underlines the IRA commitment to the
search for a lasting peace settlement. It created the conditions
for further progress towards that objective.
The key to ensuring that progress is made lies in the creation of
the required political conditions. That is a collective
responsibility. Rather than exploring this sensible option,
however, the opposite is now happening. The refusal to establish
the political institutions and the resurrection of the demand for
decommissioning as a precondition to excuse this, strengthens and
encourages the rejectionists and makes our task more difficult.
The two governments have a particular responsibility in their
overseeing role, to ensure that the Agreement is implemented in
full
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It should be remembered that when the IRA announced their first
cessation in 1994, the response of the then British government
was to demand decommissioning to prevent the commencement of
inclusive negotiations in the full knowledge that the IRA would
not surrender.
It should also be remembered that if Unionists had had their way,
their demands for decommissioning would have prevented the second
IRA cessation, would have prevented inclusive negotiations and
would have blocked the Good Friday Agreement. Most of the
numerous political initiatives over the recent past have been
taken by Sinn Féin unilaterally or as part of the wider political
leadership of nationalist Ireland.
Along with other leaders of nationalist Ireland we played a key
role over a period of years in creating the conditions which
allowed us to persuade the IRA to call a unilateral cessation of
military operations in 1994 and to re-instate this in 1997. The
disciplined maintenance of the IRA cessation was a significant
contributory factor to the negotiation of the Good Friday
Agreement.
- In September 1994 in conjunction with John Hume and Albert
Reynolds we pledged our total commitment to democratic and
peaceful methods of resolving political problems.
- We engaged positively with the International Body on
Decommissioning in 1995 and 1996 in an attempt to resolve the
impasse created by John Major's demands for an IRA surrender.
- Despite the self-evident bad faith of the Major government
we used our influence to sustain the first IRA cessation for a
full 17 months until the rejection by John Major of the report of
the International Body on Decommissioning.
- Republicans worked tirelessly throughout the summer of 1996
and 1997 to calm the situation and to positively influence the
response of the nationalist community to events surrounding
Drumcree.
- We continuously took political initiatives in this period,
often with John Hume, to put the peace process back on track and
succeeded in this in 1997.
- In September 1997 we affirmed our commitment to the Mitchell
Principles
- Throughout the talks process we participated constructively
in the work of the liaison sub-committee on decommissioning.
- From December 1997 to February 1998 we worked tirelessly to
keep the process on track in the face of the concerted loyalist
murder campaign which saw eleven nationalists killed and almost
one hundred wounded in shooting attacks.
- Since the Good Friday Agreement we have continued to use our
influence positively to effect its full implementation. Despite
the risk of a destabilising effect on our own constituency we
sought and secured our party's support for the Agreement in both
referendums. This involved amending our constitution and removing
a 75 year ban on members taking seats in any Northern Assembly.
- In the run up to President Clinton's recent visit we took a
series of initiatives to help move the situation out of the
political vacuum caused by the failure to implement this stage of
the Agreement. On September 1st Gerry Adams repeated Sinn Féin's
commitment to make conflict a thing of the past, emphasised that
inclusive and honest dialogue is the only way forward for this
country and unequivocally set out our belief that the violence we
have seen must be for all of us now a thing of the past, over,
done with and gone. That statement along with my subsequent
appointment as Sinn Féin's representative to work with the IICD
were welcomed and acknowledged as important political initiatives
and confidence building measures by the US President Bill
Clinton, An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern and the British Prime
Minister, Tony Blair.
Unfortunately these initiatives did not have the intended effect
of ending the current political impasse. Rather than
acknowledging and responding to these initiatives and employing
them to energise the support he has within his own party, within
the unionist population and within the north in general for the
Agreement, David Trimble disappointed everyone by his begrudging
and ungenerous response.
Human rights, policing, justice, equality, decommissioning and
demilitarisation are all issues which can and will be dealt with
and the Agreement makes provision for addressing all of these
matters
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Sinn Féin appreciates that David Trimble has problems within his
own constituency. Indeed we have been careful not to exacerbate
these difficulties. But we all have problems. The difference is
that Sinn Féin and Irish republicans have faced up to these
problems. We placed great importance on internal communication
and dialogue, in effect internal negotiation within our own
political constituency. We have stretched the Irish republican
constituency to the limit in the process and not without taking
damage. The republican constituency can go no further.
It is becoming clear that David Trimble sees the impasse,
generated by his refusal to implement the next stage of the
Agreement, as an opportunity for unionism to rewrite the Good
Friday Agreement, by skilfully utilising the divisions in
unionism in an attempt to re-negotiate the Agreement. It is
increasingly my opinion that he does not want to implement it and
that he has changed his position on the Agreement since Good
Friday.
I am concerned that the UUP strategy for rewriting the Agreement
is having a negative effect on some of the parties to the
Agreement and the threat this poses to the Agreement itself.
There is a collective duty on all of us who negotiated and
endorsed it to defend and ensure its implementation. The two
governments have a particular responsibility in their overseeing
role, to ensure that the Agreement is implemented in full.
The people of Ireland are democratically entitled to see the
structures agreed on Good Friday and endorsed in subsequent
referendums, established without further delay. Sinn Féin is
democratically entitled under the terms of the agreement to
Executive office and to places on the all-Ireland Ministerial
Council. So, too, are all other political parties with a
sufficient mandate from the electorate. These are mandatory
provisions of the Agreement. They are not subject to the
discretion of Mr. Trimble. David Trimble holds the position of
First Minister only as part of automatic power-sharing
arrangements. If there is no Executive, selected on the basis of
proportionality, then there can be no First Minister. If there is
no Executive or all-Ireland Ministerial Council then there can be
no Assembly. David Trimble cannot pick the elements of the
agreement with which unionism is comfortable and ignore the
others. He cannot overrule the votes of the majority of the
people of Ireland. He cannot unilaterally rewrite the agreement
or assert a veto over its implementation. The two governments are
primarily responsible for ensuring that the provisions of the
Agreement are implemented, in the terms and within the
time-scales agreed on Good Friday.
The test for the two governments and for the Agreement itself is
whether these democratic rights will be defended and acted upon.
Human rights, policing, justice, equality, decommissioning and
demilitarisation are all issues which can and will be dealt with
and the Agreement makes provision for addressing all of these
matters. What concerns people now is that the peace process
continues, that the guns are not in use, that the agreement is
built upon and that we continue on the road to a lasting peace
settlement. The establishment of the political institutions
agreed on Good Friday is the specified and essential next step
for taking that agenda forward; the next staging post which can
change the political context in which all of the unresolved
issues can be dealt with.
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