Republican News · Thursday 31 January 2002

We have questions too

Let's be clear here.

The two governments said they would not publish their Joint Declaration until they got clarity from the IRA on where it stood in relation to the Good Friday Agreement. So, the IRA gave a statement to the two governments, giving them the clarity they had asked for.

Tony Blair then asked three questions on issues that he claimed were not made sufficiently clear from the statement. The three questions were answered in a statement made by Gerry Adams on Sunday, the difficulty of which for republicans should not be underestimated.

Blair and Ahern said that this statement meant that they were now a 'whisker' away from the clarity they needed, but that one word in Adams' already very advanced position - 'should' - had to be changed to 'will'.

They got what they claimed they wanted yesterday.

In a bold initiative, against a background of republican anger and frustration at the failure of others to play their part in the process, Adams reaffirmed the position of the IRA, made in its original statement to the two governments, and clarified it even further for the benefit of those who are apparently unable to understand plain English.

But Tony Blair has now decided he has five more questions that need answering.

The two governments have all the clarity they need, given with extraordinary speed. The statement yesterday was exactly what they said they wanted.

Every question the governments have asked has been answered.

It's time they shifted their attention and started focusing on the Joint Declaration.

The problem is not with David Trimble, although it would be nice to see him pinned down to answer whether or not he's willing to reenter the institutions.

The problem is with the two governments, who are pandering to unionist demands.

Republicans are sick of answering questions. Now we have some of our own. Where is the Joint Declaration? When is it going to be published? Is the Dublin government going to call for it to be published? Will the elections go ahead?

All these questions need to be answered and the governments need to do the answering.