In my weekly column for the Andersonstown News I wrote last week about the current political crisis. Today the talks begin.
This
week 21 years ago the IRA announced its “complete
cessation of military operations”. It was a momentous decision that came
after many years of intense and difficult hard work. It provided, as Seamus
Heaney insightfully put it at the time, a “space
in which hope can grow.”
But
the process that followed proved torturously slow. At times it collapsed. Hope
was often in short supply. The British conservative government under John Major
were reluctant participants who erected one hurdle after another in an attempt
to stymie progress.
Ian
Paisley claimed the IRA cessation was the worst crisis in the history of the
northern state and Jim Molyneaux, the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party –
then the biggest of the unionist parties – described it as one of the most destabilising events for unionism
and the Orange state since Partition. These attitudes have largely shaped the
character and approach of political unionism since then.
Republicans
and nationalists have focussed on achieving the maximum change, the greatest
progress and to secure the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement. Unionist
leaders have sought to minimise progress and dilute change. Successive British
governments, generally backed by compliant and insipid Irish governments, have
consistently backed political unionism.
The
internal electoral battle within unionism – primarily between the UUP and DUP, but
now also involving Jim Allister’s Traditional Unionist Voice - has also played
a significant role as each unionist party seeks to win voters.
The
current political crisis is the latest manifestation of this. The UUP decision
to walk out of the Executive was no surprise. Mike Nesbitt claims that the decision
is about taking a ‘principled stand’.
Few believe him.
Four
years ago the Ulster Unionist Party was in decline. It was desperately trying
to carve out an electoral niche for itself, separate from the DUP. As part of
this the then leader Tom Elliot argued for the creation of an opposition in the
Assembly. A Belfast Telegraph opinion poll claimed that 80% of delegates to the
party’s annual conference in 2011 supported this.
The
following year the UUPs new leader Mike Nesbitt called for the ‘introduction of an official opposition.’
Last year Reg Empey another former leader, tabled an amendment in the British
Parliament to the ‘Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill’ which
would enable the introduction of an opposition in the Assembly. And he was supported
in this by John Taylor, who at the beginning of this year publicly called for
the UUP to go into opposition.
As
explained by Taylor the rationale for such a move was because the Ulster
Unionists were ‘losing ground politically.’
Mike
Nesbitt’s ‘principled stand’ is
therefore the fulfillment of a long standing objective of the UUP - to go into
opposition in the Assembly.
At
its most cynical it’s about electoralism – it’s about winning votes and taking
seats. The once all powerful UUP – which ruled the north for 50 years - has
been pushed to the margins. However, in May the UUP won two Westminster seats
in the British general election – ironically in Fermanagh South Tyrone with the
help of the DUP – and Nesbitt now sees a further opportunity to resurrect the electoral
fortunes of his party.
His
decision to exploit the brutal murder of Kevin McGuigan is about positioning the
UUP as the party of leadership within unionism.
The
same electoral motivation is at work south of the border. The government parties
– Fine Gael and Labour - and Fianna Fáil are setting aside the imperative of peace
in order to ally themselves with the northern unionist parties to attack Sinn
Féin. This is short term narrow party political self-interest taking precedence
over the peace process. This is a contemptible approach.
Sinn
Féin’s condemnation of the murders of Jock Davison and Kevin McGuigan has been
forthright and unequivocal. So too is our support for the PSNI in their
investigation and efforts to bring those responsible before the courts.
Sinn
Féin rejects any attempt to undermine the rights and entitlements of our
electorate because of the actions of criminals.
In
their desire to try and bolster the fortunes of their parties through attacking
Sinn Féin the government parties and Fianna Fáil need to be mindful that the
DUP and UUP have never been enthusiastic partners in the power sharing
institutions. They were each brought grudgingly and reluctantly to participate
in the Good Friday Agreement institutions.
Both
parties remain wedded to the notion of majority rule. Peter Robinson in an
interview only five months ago with the Economist said: “My view is that we should
be moving to a voluntary coalition rather than a mandatory coalition, so that
people who are like-minded form the government rather than being forced with
people who are ideologically not only different, but opposites to each other
being in the executive.”
If unionism succeeds in overturning the Good Friday
Agreement, collapsing the power sharing structures, and turning the clock back
to the bad days of majority rule, the political consequences for the island of
Ireland will be very serious.
Now is the time for real leadership. To put the
needs of the peace process front and centre. Since that historic IRA cessation on August 31st
1994 Sinn Féin and republicans have taken significant risks for peace and in
support of the political process. If a resolution of the current crisis is to
be achieved then sectional electoral interests and narrow party politicking
needs to be pushed aside.
Any negotiations must focus on the real
issues; the outstanding elements of the Good Friday Agreement and the
implementation of the Stormont House Agreement. Anything less is not
acceptable.
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