THE TERROR OPTION
The terror option
YESTERDAY in Newry, Seamus Mallon asked what will happen if the Northern parties fail next week to set up the political institutions provided for in the Good Friday Agreement.
He gave two answers. The good will and patience of the North's friends abroad will have been exhausted. And the overwhelming majority who voted for the agreement will have had heir votes invalidated.
But there is a third, chilling answer. The provenance of the bombs found in Donegal is uncertain. They may have been assembled by the "Continuity IRA"; more likely by the "Real IRA", the perpetrators of last year's Omagh atrocity. But certainly they were the work of people who hope for breakdown and mean to respond in their own hideous way.
If Wednesday's deadline is not met, we will see sporadic outbreaks of violence. These will escalate into something much worse unless the loyalist leaders, and the leaders of the "republican movement", can maintain the loyalist and Provisional IRA ceasefires.
From Gerry Adams, however, more is needed. The Sinn Fein leader says there will be no handover of IRA arms before the formation of the Northern executive. But there will be no executive unless he can deliver a credible commitment on disarmament.
General John de Chastelain, who heads the international body on decommissioning, wants answers by next Monday to questions to parties associated with paramilitaries. The key party is Sinn Fein, and the key question, "is the paramilitary group willing to give the commission a firm basis for expecting that decommissioning to take place within the timescale set forth in the Good Friday Agreement (i.e. by May 22)?"
The minimum required of Mr Adams is a satisfactory answer. It just might suffice to break the deadlock. Admittedly it might not suffice to save David Trimble's leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party. But Mr Trimble, too, must consider the consequences of failure.
If the agreement goes down, he will have lost. He will have preserved his leadership only at the price of surrender to intransigence. As the last crucial round of talks begins, he should remember that compromise is a sign of strength, not weakness.
IF THE long history of the attempts to revive the Irish language has taught us anything, it has taught us that compulsion does not work.
Bit by bit, the authorities have come to accept this. The abolition of compulsory Irish in the schools was a forward step. But there still remains the anomaly that all teachers in second level schools must have a qualification in the language in order to obtain permanent appointments.
Now the Education Minister, Micheal Martin, has announced the abolition of this requirement. While teachers of Irish and teachers in Gaeltacht schools and other schools where Irish is the medium of instruction will still have to be proficient in the language, for the rest he considers the rule "unduly negative and counterproductive".
His decision will permit greater mobility of teachers between the Republic and Northern Ireland. It will relieve part-time teachers who at present do not have incremental salaries or pensionable jobs.
And it will not damage the revival efforts. Since compulsion has not worked, other approaches must be tried. The Minister is right when he says his liberal move will benefit, not harm, the standing of Irish in schools and among teachers.
YESTERDAY in Newry, Seamus Mallon asked what will happen if the Northern parties fail next week to set up the political institutions provided for in the Good Friday Agreement.
He gave two answers. The good will and patience of the North's friends abroad will have been exhausted. And the overwhelming majority who voted for the agreement will have had heir votes invalidated.
But there is a third, chilling answer. The provenance of the bombs found in Donegal is uncertain. They may have been assembled by the "Continuity IRA"; more likely by the "Real IRA", the perpetrators of last year's Omagh atrocity. But certainly they were the work of people who hope for breakdown and mean to respond in their own hideous way.
If Wednesday's deadline is not met, we will see sporadic outbreaks of violence. These will escalate into something much worse unless the loyalist leaders, and the leaders of the "republican movement", can maintain the loyalist and Provisional IRA ceasefires.
From Gerry Adams, however, more is needed. The Sinn Fein leader says there will be no handover of IRA arms before the formation of the Northern executive. But there will be no executive unless he can deliver a credible commitment on disarmament.
General John de Chastelain, who heads the international body on decommissioning, wants answers by next Monday to questions to parties associated with paramilitaries. The key party is Sinn Fein, and the key question, "is the paramilitary group willing to give the commission a firm basis for expecting that decommissioning to take place within the timescale set forth in the Good Friday Agreement (i.e. by May 22)?"
The minimum required of Mr Adams is a satisfactory answer. It just might suffice to break the deadlock. Admittedly it might not suffice to save David Trimble's leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party. But Mr Trimble, too, must consider the consequences of failure.
If the agreement goes down, he will have lost. He will have preserved his leadership only at the price of surrender to intransigence. As the last crucial round of talks begins, he should remember that compromise is a sign of strength, not weakness.
IF THE long history of the attempts to revive the Irish language has taught us anything, it has taught us that compulsion does not work.
Bit by bit, the authorities have come to accept this. The abolition of compulsory Irish in the schools was a forward step. But there still remains the anomaly that all teachers in second level schools must have a qualification in the language in order to obtain permanent appointments.
Now the Education Minister, Micheal Martin, has announced the abolition of this requirement. While teachers of Irish and teachers in Gaeltacht schools and other schools where Irish is the medium of instruction will still have to be proficient in the language, for the rest he considers the rule "unduly negative and counterproductive".
His decision will permit greater mobility of teachers between the Republic and Northern Ireland. It will relieve part-time teachers who at present do not have incremental salaries or pensionable jobs.
And it will not damage the revival efforts. Since compulsion has not worked, other approaches must be tried. The Minister is right when he says his liberal move will benefit, not harm, the standing of Irish in schools and among teachers.
Further Information
Publisher: IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ref: II/237
Published Date: 25-Jun-99
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