Republican News · Thursday 8 May 2003

Govts charade to shield David Trimble

Speaking in the Dáil debate on the peace process on Wednesday, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said both the British and Irish governments have been engaged in a charade, pretending that the IRA's initiative was not sufficient for them, but in reality shielding David Trimble from the consequences of his actions.

Ó Caoláin accused the government of "a dereliction of its duty and of helping to pave the way for the disgraceful decision by Tony Blair to ban an Irish election".

"We cannot go forward on the basis that the Irish government is an honest broker," he said. "We have heard a lot about clarification but the Taoiseach has yet to clarify that assertion from the Minister for Justice. The Irish government is a co-equal partner in the Agreement with the British government. The British government acts in British interests as it sees them. The Irish government must act in the Irish national interest. For decades while it was carrying on a brutal war in Ireland - a war highlighted most recently by the Stevens Report - the British government pretended to be the referee keeping the so-called 'two warring sides' apart. Are we now to have that tragedy repeated as farce with both governments pretending to be neutral arbiters while the unionist veto is allowed to succeed again?"