Peace Process to dominate Ard Fheis
BY SEAN BRADY
nouncing details of the Sinn Féin Ard Fheis which takes place in
Dublin's RDS this weekend, Sinn Féin General Secretary Lucilita
Breathnach told reporters: ``Sinn Féin's primary focus for debate at
this year's Ard Fheis will be the peace process, the EU elections in
June, and the local government elections here in the 26 Counties.
These elections will provide Sinn Féin with another opportunity to
convince more and more people to vote for us, thereby confirming the
party's growth as a radical and alternative voice for political
change. At this year's Ard Fheis we will be launcing three major
policy documents - on local government, women in Ireland and the
European Union.
``Over the course of the weekend, we expect to have 2,000 members in
attendance. Also in attendance will be international guests including
US Congress members Peter King and Todd Allen, Joe Kliphosizi from
the ANC, a representative from the Palestine Liberation Organisation
and a member of parliament from Herri Batasuna in Euskadi.''
Party Vice President Pat Doherty said there was no doubt that there
is a clear and stark difference both in context and mood between this
year's and last year's Ard Fheiseanna.
``Last year, republicans met at a time of great hope, optimism and
expectation. The Good Friday Agreement had just been negotiated. It
was a challenging time for republicans but we positively set about
the task of making our contribution to shaping the new political
situation promised by the Good Friday Agreement.
He said the past year, however, had been one of broken promises and
missed opportunities. The Executive and all-Ireland Council were no
nearer being set up and the peace process had been reduced to the
single issue of decommissioning. The unionists were being rewarded
for their intransigence and it was not surprising that republicans
were angry and frustrated at the manner in which the two governments
have repeatedly failed to honour the committments they made in the
agreement. Doherty said all was not lost and that the governments
could reverse the downward spiral by setting up the Executive and
all-Ireland Ministerial Council.
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