IRA MUST NOW SAY THE WAR IS OVER
IRA must now say the war is over
By John Bruton
THE peace process initiated by Gerry Adams has, up to now, had an internal consistency and logic.
Those outside the republican family the constitutional nationalists who agreed to work with this republican peace process, took risks.
Constitutional nationalists compromised the ideological logic of their own position by, for example, talking to "terrorists", and releasing particular prisoners early, in the hope that, if the republican ideological position could be worked through to its logical conclusion, there would be comprehensive peace, and the republican leadership would not only abstain from violence, but would become part of a new democratic arrangement that would suppress dissident violence.
The core concept in this approach to the peace process was that of Irish national self-determination. Republicans claimed that self-determination had been denied, whereas other nationalists argued differently.
The ideological logic of the peace process was that republicans had to have a new exercise in 32-county self-determination which would replace and transcend the 1918 election.
Republicans had claimed that the original Sinn Fein 1918 mandate was unfulfilled, and justified violence to fulfill it.
This unfulfilled 1918 mandate provided the ideological and internal logic of the IRA campaigns of the past 40 years.
The new exercise in national self-determination to transcend the 1918 election was provided by the all-Ireland referendum on the Good Friday agreement.
The new mandate of that 1998 referendum is a valid exercise in self-determination by the whole Irish people, which fully accords with all the requirements of historic republican ideology.
Therefore violence by republicans for political ends, after that referendum result, is entirely different to violence committed beforehand, in republican ideology.
The Good Friday referendum result deprives all such violence of any semblance of a moral or political mandate.
That is why Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness could bring themselves to condemn the Omagh bombing in a way they did not condemn any
previous atrocity, including atrocities committed by dissident republicans before the Belfast agreement.
There remains, however, a fundamental incompleteness and inherent contradiction in the current application of the logic of the peace process by Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.
If the violence of Omagh is condemned, why then is the IRA not saying its own war is over?
If the Good Friday referendum was a valid exercise in self-determination, why does the IRA still refuse to decommission its arms?
The position of the Sinn Fein leadership in refusing to say that the IRA should say that its war is over, and in refusing to actively promote IRA decommissioning, is a contradiction of the logic of heir own peace process.
By their failure to work their thinking to its logical conclusion, and to accept the consequences of the all- Ireland referendum on the Belfast agreement, the leadership is creating a dangerous vacuum in republican thinking, in which the "Real IRA" can justify the Omagh atrocity to themselves.
I welcome the fact that Martin McGuinness has described the Omagh bombing as "indefensible" and that Gerry Adams has "condemned" it.
But if the IRA's own war is not over, and if IRA arms are not yet to be decommissioned, then Mr McGuinness and Mr Adams are still saying that, notwithstanding the all-Ireland referendum, there are still some unstated circumstances in which violence might be "defensible".
That ambiguity provides a moral cover for the "Real IRA"and for its activities at Omagh.
That ambiguity must now be removed by a clear statement from the IRA and Sinn Fein that
1. they accept the referendum on the Good Friday agreement was a valid exercise in Irish national self-determination, that transcends the 1918 election;
2. in consequence of that referendum result, the IRA war is over, and;
3. in consequence of the IRA war being over, the IRA is prepared to decommission arms provided the terms of the agreement are being honoured.
Such a statement would, in effect, expel the "Real IRA", the Continuity Army Council and the INLA from the "republican family" (a term used by Mr McGuinness himself).
That would remove all barriers to full co-operation by republicans with the security forces, on both sides of the border, in bringing those who continue violence before the courts. Such a statement is now dictated by the unavoidable logic of Sinn Fein's own peace strategy.
John Bruton TD is leader of Fine Gael
By John Bruton
THE peace process initiated by Gerry Adams has, up to now, had an internal consistency and logic.
Those outside the republican family the constitutional nationalists who agreed to work with this republican peace process, took risks.
Constitutional nationalists compromised the ideological logic of their own position by, for example, talking to "terrorists", and releasing particular prisoners early, in the hope that, if the republican ideological position could be worked through to its logical conclusion, there would be comprehensive peace, and the republican leadership would not only abstain from violence, but would become part of a new democratic arrangement that would suppress dissident violence.
The core concept in this approach to the peace process was that of Irish national self-determination. Republicans claimed that self-determination had been denied, whereas other nationalists argued differently.
The ideological logic of the peace process was that republicans had to have a new exercise in 32-county self-determination which would replace and transcend the 1918 election.
Republicans had claimed that the original Sinn Fein 1918 mandate was unfulfilled, and justified violence to fulfill it.
This unfulfilled 1918 mandate provided the ideological and internal logic of the IRA campaigns of the past 40 years.
The new exercise in national self-determination to transcend the 1918 election was provided by the all-Ireland referendum on the Good Friday agreement.
The new mandate of that 1998 referendum is a valid exercise in self-determination by the whole Irish people, which fully accords with all the requirements of historic republican ideology.
Therefore violence by republicans for political ends, after that referendum result, is entirely different to violence committed beforehand, in republican ideology.
The Good Friday referendum result deprives all such violence of any semblance of a moral or political mandate.
That is why Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness could bring themselves to condemn the Omagh bombing in a way they did not condemn any
previous atrocity, including atrocities committed by dissident republicans before the Belfast agreement.
There remains, however, a fundamental incompleteness and inherent contradiction in the current application of the logic of the peace process by Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness.
If the violence of Omagh is condemned, why then is the IRA not saying its own war is over?
If the Good Friday referendum was a valid exercise in self-determination, why does the IRA still refuse to decommission its arms?
The position of the Sinn Fein leadership in refusing to say that the IRA should say that its war is over, and in refusing to actively promote IRA decommissioning, is a contradiction of the logic of heir own peace process.
By their failure to work their thinking to its logical conclusion, and to accept the consequences of the all- Ireland referendum on the Belfast agreement, the leadership is creating a dangerous vacuum in republican thinking, in which the "Real IRA" can justify the Omagh atrocity to themselves.
I welcome the fact that Martin McGuinness has described the Omagh bombing as "indefensible" and that Gerry Adams has "condemned" it.
But if the IRA's own war is not over, and if IRA arms are not yet to be decommissioned, then Mr McGuinness and Mr Adams are still saying that, notwithstanding the all-Ireland referendum, there are still some unstated circumstances in which violence might be "defensible".
That ambiguity provides a moral cover for the "Real IRA"and for its activities at Omagh.
That ambiguity must now be removed by a clear statement from the IRA and Sinn Fein that
1. they accept the referendum on the Good Friday agreement was a valid exercise in Irish national self-determination, that transcends the 1918 election;
2. in consequence of that referendum result, the IRA war is over, and;
3. in consequence of the IRA war being over, the IRA is prepared to decommission arms provided the terms of the agreement are being honoured.
Such a statement would, in effect, expel the "Real IRA", the Continuity Army Council and the INLA from the "republican family" (a term used by Mr McGuinness himself).
That would remove all barriers to full co-operation by republicans with the security forces, on both sides of the border, in bringing those who continue violence before the courts. Such a statement is now dictated by the unavoidable logic of Sinn Fein's own peace strategy.
John Bruton TD is leader of Fine Gael
Further Information
Publisher: THE IRISH NEWS
Ref: IN/0685
Published Date: 18-Aug-98
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