Unity

From Unity, 1 October 2005

Republicans have delivered

In July 2005 the IRA announced that “the leadership of Óglaigh na hÉireann has formally ordered an end to the armed campaign. All IRA units have been ordered to dump arms. All Volunteers have been instructed to assist the development of purely political and democratic programmes through exclusively peaceful means. Volunteers must not engage in any other activities whatsoever.”
     This unambiguous wording, taken with the final act of decommissioning of IRA arms completed last week, would indicate that the Republicans have delivered their side of the Good Friday Agreement.
     On Monday [26 September] the International Independent Decommissioning Commission, led by General John de Chastelain, confirmed that the IRA had “put all of its arms beyond use in a manner called for by legislation.” The British and Irish governments had both provided the IICD with estimates which tallied with what they believed was in the IRA’s armoury. The general stated: “Our new inventory is consistent with these estimates, and we are satisfied that the arms decommissioned represent the totality of the IRA’s arsenal.”
     This is the first time in history that an Irish republican movement has voluntarily decommissioned its weapons, and its significance cannot be overstated.
     Witnessing the decommissioning process, which was carried out by the IRA with the IIDC, were two independent highly esteemed clerics: the Rev. Harold Good MBE, a former president of the Methodist Church, who has a long history in community work, peace-building, and reconciliation, and Father Alec Reid, a Redemptorist priest who is widely recognised for his role in delivering the current peace process as well as for his work for peace throughout the armed conflict, which included initiating contacts between loyalist and republican paramilitaries.
     There is widespread acceptance of the veracity of the reports of the IICD and the independent witnesses. The US, British and Irish governments have welcomed the initiative. So have all the main political parties in the North, with one exception: the DUP.
     Ian Paisley, the “Doubting Thomas,” cannot accept the reports. Instead he has accused the governments and the IICD of colluding with the IRA in a “cover-up.” However, he provides no logical argument as to what would be their motivation in allowing the Republican Movement to maintain an armed wing. Paisley complained: “There were no photographs, no detailed inventory, and no detail of the destruction of these arms.”
     Paisley even had the audacity to claim that the Rev. Harold Good was not independent, implying that he was not to be trusted, as Paisley had not appointed him. This ridiculous allegation drew criticism from the deputy leader of the UUP Assembly group, Danny Kennedy, following his meeting with the IICD. “It is a sad situation that other parties today have cast aspersions on the character and integrity of the two witnesses to IRA decommissioning. I have known the Reverend Harold Good for a number of years. He is a well-respected church figure within Methodism and within the broader church family,” stated Kennedy. “It is wrong to question the honesty and integrity of the church witnesses to IRA decommissioning. It is deeply regrettable that others have decided to do so.”
     It was the comments of Paisley in December 2004, when he demanded that the Republicans needed to be humiliated and “wear sackcloth and ashes,” that ensured that the IRA would never concede to photographing the act of decommissioning. They knew Paisley would use any such photos in elections as trophies of a defeated enemy.
     With regard to Paisley’s cries that there was no detailed inventory of what arms have been put beyond use by the IRA in total over this and the previous three decommissioning acts, this information will only be released after the IICD’s “mandate is complete,” i.e. all paramilitary groups have decommissioned. The DUP should therefore be pressuring Loyalist paramilitaries to decommission now if he wants greater transparency of what the IRA have done.
     The reason that Paisley cannot accept that the Republicans have embraced exclusively peaceful means is that he and his like need the threat of the armed republican “bogeyman” to perpetuate the status quo and keep people voting for his perverted brand of sectarian politics. The recent rioting in a number of Protestant working-class areas following the rerouting of the Orange march on the Springfield Road bore the odious scent of DUP provocation, as usual from a safe distance.
     What do the DUP care about the deprivation and alienation of the Protestant working class? These phrases were until recently only ever heard at election time, and even then heard rarely from DUP candidates. When have the DUP ever delivered solutions to these problems?
     By refusing to restore the Assembly they are allowing the New Labour regime to impose further increases in our cost of living and attacks on our public services. The high-technology, high-value-added jobs in Short’s, which was recently surpassed by Tesco as the largest private-sector employer in Northern Ireland, are being deliberately undermined by its owner, Bombardier, despite the massive injection of public funds. When has Paisley raised this as an issue?

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