LET IT BE A TURNING POINT FOR ULSTER
Let it be a turning point for Ulster
Paul Routledge
I KNOW Omagh, I spent time there before the elections to the Northern Ireland Forum, which paved the way for the Good Friday peace agreement.
It was a quiet, agreeable market town, with no obvious signs of the conflict that has ravaged the province for three decades.
The people were remarkably friendly and there was no obvious sectarianism. East and north of the town lay IRA "bandit country". But Omagh itself appeared calm, almost above the fray.
So my sense of shock at the outrage that killed so many children, ravaged so many families and destroyed so many hopes is only equalled by a feeling that these murders must mark a turning point in Ulster's bloody history.
It may be unfashionable to say so, but the emergence of the Provisional IRA in the ghettoes of the Bogside 30 years ago was understandable - even if its subsequent campaign of violence was inexcusable.
The Catholic community was virtually under siege from the hated B-Specials and elements of the RUC and had nowhere else to turn other than to the traditional defenders of their people.
But since then most of the civil wrongs have been righted, or are in the process of being put right.
The Provisionals have laid down their guns and Sinn Fein is committed to peaceful political change.
So there can be NO excuse for going back to the killing. That chapter has been closed. The people of Ulster and the Irish republic made that decision in their referendums three months ago.
The so-called Real IRA are not revolutionaries swimming' in the water of community approval. They are outcasts and must be treated as such.
The British and Irish governments should consider reintroducing internment - north AND south of the border.
It would be a more civilised solution than an SAS bullet in the back of the head, from which there is no appeal.
The governments should also bring in some form of release on license for terrorists who are to be freed from jail early under the Good Friday agreement.
One sign of joining an illegal organisation and they should be recalled to prison indefinitely.
And there is a good case for setting up a British-Irish Security Council, dedicated to tracking down the self-appointed republican murderers.
Paul Routledge
I KNOW Omagh, I spent time there before the elections to the Northern Ireland Forum, which paved the way for the Good Friday peace agreement.
It was a quiet, agreeable market town, with no obvious signs of the conflict that has ravaged the province for three decades.
The people were remarkably friendly and there was no obvious sectarianism. East and north of the town lay IRA "bandit country". But Omagh itself appeared calm, almost above the fray.
So my sense of shock at the outrage that killed so many children, ravaged so many families and destroyed so many hopes is only equalled by a feeling that these murders must mark a turning point in Ulster's bloody history.
It may be unfashionable to say so, but the emergence of the Provisional IRA in the ghettoes of the Bogside 30 years ago was understandable - even if its subsequent campaign of violence was inexcusable.
The Catholic community was virtually under siege from the hated B-Specials and elements of the RUC and had nowhere else to turn other than to the traditional defenders of their people.
But since then most of the civil wrongs have been righted, or are in the process of being put right.
The Provisionals have laid down their guns and Sinn Fein is committed to peaceful political change.
So there can be NO excuse for going back to the killing. That chapter has been closed. The people of Ulster and the Irish republic made that decision in their referendums three months ago.
The so-called Real IRA are not revolutionaries swimming' in the water of community approval. They are outcasts and must be treated as such.
The British and Irish governments should consider reintroducing internment - north AND south of the border.
It would be a more civilised solution than an SAS bullet in the back of the head, from which there is no appeal.
The governments should also bring in some form of release on license for terrorists who are to be freed from jail early under the Good Friday agreement.
One sign of joining an illegal organisation and they should be recalled to prison indefinitely.
And there is a good case for setting up a British-Irish Security Council, dedicated to tracking down the self-appointed republican murderers.
Further Information
Publisher: THE MIRROR
Ref: TM/024
Published Date: 18-Aug-98
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