Reports obtained from:
(1) Irish American Unity in Action Committee, (2) Irish Republican News
Wednesday, 9 February, 2005
Tuesday, 22 February, 2005
Open Letter of the Irish American Unity in Action Committee
Irish American Unity in Action Committee c/o Frank Durkin 52 Duane Street, 5th Floor New York, New York 10007Dear Prime Minister Blair and Taoiseach Ahern:
We the undersigned, national Irish American organizations write to express our deep concern over recent events which undermine the peace process in northern Ireland .
The present breakdown in the peace process is based upon official and unofficial speculation and bears all of the marks of managed impasse and political manipulation that have plagued past negotiations.
For the third time in as many years, those opposed to sharing power with the Catholic/nationalist population have made unsubstantiated charges against Sinn Fein aimed at causing a reversal in the peace process and preventing the seating of the Northern Ireland Assembly.
When this is spearheaded by elements in the government, police and military intelligence, heightened by innuendo and reckless speculation in the press and by rival political parties, it is a grievous offense against the principle of political equality and democratic rights.
All political parties that possess an electoral mandate to represent their constituents in the northern Ireland and elsewhere in the world, have the right to participate in the democratic process free from governmental and police slander and unsubstantiated charges.
The internationally acknowledged principle of the separation of functions within the judicial process -- unbiased police investigation, balanced by an independent judiciary with proper roles for prosecution and defense, free from political influence -- is being grossly violated.
No Chief-of-Police in a democratic state would publicly declare the outcome of an investigation BEFORE it was concluded or even fairly begun. Certainly this denial of basic rights should never have been allowed to happen in the unstable and volatile climate of the present Irish peace process.
It must be remembered, that three times in the past three years, when unionist political parties unilaterally obstructed or walked away from seemingly agreed upon political solutions, it was "official" police and/or military intelligence operations based on neither legal nor evidential substance, that manipulated blame where it didn't belong.
It threw the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement into chaos. When past police allegations and prosecutions in concert with media and political attacks against Sinn Fein proved baseless, the peace process was nonetheless derailed.
There were no apologies afterwards, neither was the assembly restored. We further note Sinn Fein's progressive role and fairness in negotiations over the past ten years. We have complete confidence in the commitment of the their leadership, to the goal of removing the gun permanently from Irish politics.
The Sinn Fein leadership have made monumental strides to make the Good Friday Agreement work, including helping to influence the Irish Republican Army to make historic commitments, only to have everything rejected because of unsubstantiated accusations time and again.
We would respectfully urge those who are disseminating these charges against Sinn Fein to ask themselves if we are any nearer to that goal as a result of their actions.
We all believe in peace, democracy and permanent disarmament and demilitarization. Isolation of large groups of voters; financial sanctions based on dubious, secret briefings; and government sanctioned police innuendo and speculation will deliver none of these things.
We urge the Irish and British governments to follow international principles of jurisprudence regarding investigations, set their minds to moving the peace process forward free of partisan politics, and implement the Good Friday Agreement.
The South African experience shows that two things are vital to conflict resolution: adversarial groups in conflict must meet face-to-face around the same table and there can be no winners and no losers.
Sincerely,
Paul Doris, Chairman, Irish Northern Aid Ned McGinley, President, Ancient Order of Hibernians Judge Andy Somers, President, Irish American Unity Conference Joseph Jamison, President, Irish American Labor Coalition Frank Durkan, Esq Chairman, Americans for a New Irish Agenda Sean Crowley, Esq, President, Brehon Law Society Sean Cahill and Stephen M McCabe Irish Parades Emergency Committee Ed Lynch, Lawyers' Alliance for Justice in IrelandSinn Féin rejects McDowell's IRA claim
By Irish Republican News
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern insisted today that he does not know who's on the IRA Army Council. "I don't have intelligence reports on it. I do not have hard evidence," he said.
His statement came in response to comments from Irish Justice Minister Michael McDowell on Sunday when he claimed Sinn Féin's Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and North Kerry TD Martin Ferris are members of the IRA's Army Council.
Sinn Féin rejected Mr McDowell's claims and said they were politically-motivated to hit party support in the upcoming Meath by-election.
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness , and Martin Ferris issued a joint statement in Dublin this today saying: "Sinn Féin is totally committed to the peace process and to engaging with the Irish government in these difficult times to find a way forward.
Despite our anger at attempts to criminalise our party and its supporters we have been measured in our comments. We have asked others to do likewise as we are conscious that a protracted war of words among Irish nationalists is deeply damaging to the overall process.
However given the seriousness of Michael McDowell's outburst on the national airwaves on Sunday we have taken the unusual step of issuing a joint statement in response.
We want to state categorically that we are not members of the IRA or its Army Council. Our involvement in the peace process is as leaders of Sinn Féin and as elected representatives for West Belfast, Mid Ulster and Kerry North respectively. As part of this, in the past we have met with the Army Council to put propositions regarding the peace process.
Sinn Féin's contribution to this process has been substantial and we will continue to play our part.
For some time now Michael McDowell has been unable to distinguish between his role as Justice Minister and President of the Progressive Democrats. He has made countless unsubstantiated allegations against our party and its leadership.
Recently the Irish government accused Martin McGuinness and Gerry Adams of withholding information and of conspiring to rob the Northern Bank in December. We challenged the government to stand this accusation up and they failed to do so.
And then at the weekend Michael McDowell made his unfounded and serious allegation that we -Martin McGuinness, Martin Ferris and Gerry Adams - are members of the IRA Army Council.
For Minister McDowell to do this is an abuse of his office.
"If his view is shared by the Gardaí then the only way this issue can be confronted is for us to be charged with IRA membership"