Sinn Fein

Sinn Féin MLA Alex Maskey has called on Alasdair McDonnell to reconsider a proposal to ensure the election of the highest number of pro-agreement representatives.
Speaking after a Sinn Féin proposal to maximise the representation of pro-agreement parties was rejected by the SDLP, the West Belfast MLA said;
“This is about ensuring the maximum representation of pro-agreement parties to counter the axis of negative unionism.
Alasdair McDonnell has clearly got his sums wrong on this issue. He claimed that the SDLP did not benefit from Sinn Féin standing aside in the 2010 Westminster election but that is obviously not the case.
He should go back and look at the election results and reconsider.
Between three and four thousand Sinn Féin voters voted tactically in support of the SDLP leader after I withdrew from the election to prevent the seat being taken by a unionist candidate.
Sinn Féin’s proposal is about ensuring the highest number of pro-agreement representatives are returned in order to make progress.
Failure to do so risks handing seats to anti-agreement elements who want to take us backwards.”

By Joe Dwyer

Currently there are talks being held in the north of Ireland to rescue the political institutions. You’d be forgiven for not knowing this. The old media dictum “Ulster doesn’t sell” still reigns supreme. For many people, even those who keep abreast of current affairs, political strife in the north of Ireland was remedied with the Good Friday Agreement 16 years ago. Unfortunately, this is far from the actual experience. The process has often been described as one of “keeping the bicycle upright” more than anything, and this needs forward momentum to avoid collapsing or going backwards. The Assembly only fulfilled its first full term in 2011. Many hailed this achievement as a signifier of the end of the days of walkouts and crisis talks.

The last year has seen a rollback in this advancement. Political Unionism has fallen under the sway of a tiny minority of anti-agreement Unionists. Figures, such as Jim Allister, leader of Traditional Unionist Voice, hark back to the days of the old oppressive and sectarian Stormont regime as a glorious era. Rather than combat such sentiment political unionism has accommodated it and allowed it to gain traction, largely due to the dreaded fear of being branded a sell-out. Whereas Martin McGuinness, at great risk to himself, faced down those within the nationalist and republican community who threatened the stability of the process; no such proactive public position has been seen from Peter Robinson or Mike Nesbitt. Instead Unionist leaders have given heed to those intent on derailing the institutions. Since December last year no less than three initiatives have been launched to remedy outstanding political issues. Two of these initiatives collapsed due to Unionist intransigence. The third is currently ongoing.

In September 2013, US diplomat, Richard Haass and, Harvard Professor, Meghan O’Sullivan chaired Belfast talks to resolve the contentious issues of ‘Flags, Parading and the Past’. The talks were long and arduous. By the end a total of seven draft agreements had been produced. The final of these proposals received broad acceptance from the parties. Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Alliance Party all agreed to give the document their backing. But Unionists balked at agreement. As a consequence the talks broke down on December 31st 2013. Unionist refusal to endorse the ‘Haass’ proposal was disingenuous. Only two days before Mike Nesbitt had told the media that the proposals were “80 to 90% over the line”. While, the Democratic Unionist Party were exposed as having been briefing fringe Unionist hardliners throughout negotiations; this included anti-agreement Unionists: Willie Frazer, Jamie Bryson and Jim Dowson (former chief fund-raiser for the British National Party, who now bank-rolls ‘Britain First’). I would recommend everyone read the ‘Haass’ proposals. They contain nothing sensational or unpalatable. Aside from minor objections to particular wording, Unionist politicians failed to articulate exactly what proved so unacceptable.

In July 2014 a second process was initiated. The leaders of all the main parties agreed to cross-party negotiations once more. On the second day of talks, all of the five Unionist parties walked-out. Their reason? – the Independent Parades Commission (a body established to adjudicate contentious parades) had ruled that a Belfast Orange Order March would not be permitted through an Irish Nationalist area on its return route on the annual ‘Twelfth of July’. Once more rather than deliver for the people of the north, political Unionism chose to cater to the hard-liners.

Now we are witnessing the third attempt to break out of the impasse. This time the talks are under the auspices of the British Secretary of State Theresa Villiers. The DUP have proven slow to come to the table – initially refusing due to the presence of an Irish Government representative – and now insisting on a review of the North Belfast Orange Order parade as a precondition. Outside of the talks Unionists have continued to perform for the anti-agreement gallery. In the Assembly they have refused to elect a new Speaker – breaching a previous agreement which indicated it would be the turn of the other community to fill the position. While, two weeks ago the DUP health minister branded residents of West Belfast (a Republican area): “six-foot tall men with skinhead haircuts, tattoos and earrings” who don’t obey the law. Last week Gregory Campbell MP MLA publicly mocked the Irish language, childishly imitating his Nationalist assembly colleagues by saying “curry my yogurt can coca coalyer” (an imitation of the Irish sentence “Go raibh maith agat, Ceann Comhairle” which translates as “Thank you, Speaker”). Such bigoted displays follow attacks from some within unionism on the Muslim community, and homophobic statements and positions such as blocking equal marriage. This is not what either community wants. The time has come to sought out the outstanding issues and get back to delivering for the people.

Sinn Fein will continue to seek agreement with all the other parties in the Assembly. However, the approach of David Cameron’s government has been to allow Unionism to block progress. Progressives in Britain need to change this. The course of the peace process has proven Unionists need a pro-active British government to push them over the line.

Outstanding elements of previous agreements – such as Acht na Gaeilge (Irish Language Act), a Bill of Rights and an independent inquiry into the murder of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane – need to come to fruition. And an agreement on Flags, Parades and the Past needs to be reached. The British government has the chance to become part of the solution, or it can continue to be part of the problem. As Martin McGuinness recently commented, “We’re not about keeping the bicycle upright, we’re about moving the bicycle forward.”

And ultimately, the left must support the progressive position of a united Ireland. This is, in the end, the only way to take forward the whole of the island, on the basis of equality, mutual respect and socially progressive policies which can offer alternatives to sectarianism, division and austerity. Sinn Fein is the party which is putting forward these proposals, as well as being the most vigorous supporters of the peace process.

For those interested in building this broad and vocal support for the spirit of Good Friday within Britain, Sinn Fein will be hosting a Public Event titled ‘Why we need to build support for the Good Friday Agreement’ on Tuesday 25 November, 7:30pm in the Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, House of Commons, London SW1A OAA. The evening hopes to be a constructive dialogue on the current talks process and how to combat the Anti-Agreement-Axis. Confirmed speakers include Conor Murphy MP, Michelle Gildernew MP, the former Assembly Speaker Lord Alderdice, former British Minister Lord Alf Dubs, former British Minister Baroness Angela Smith & Jennie McShannon of ‘Irish In Britain’. We hope you can make it and join the discussion.

Also, Francie Molloy MP will address a Public Meeting on the same subject in Liverpool, on Tuesday 9th December, 7.30pm, St Michaels Irish Centre. This meeting is hosted by Cairde na hEireann Liverpool.

Declan Kearney, Sinn Fein National Chairperson – An Phoblacht News – 13th November

AS BILATERAL TALKS took place on Wednesday in Belfast between political parties and the Irish and British governments to discuss dealing with the past, parades and other issues, DUP leader Peter Robinson and Ulster Unionist Party Mike Nesbitt spent a second day visiting Brussels.
Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness went to the European Parliament one month ago to encourage cross-party support for the landmark resolution on the Northern political process (passed overwhelmingly today – Thursday) and to meet the leaderships of all political groups and senior officials in the parliament. The two unionist leaders’ trip was a belated political reaction to that Sinn Féin initiative.
No similar resolution about Ireland has been passed in Europe before.
It expresses concern that the implementation of the Peace Process has reached an impasse, welcomes the current talks and urges all parties to participate constructively to resolve all outstanding issues.
It was supported by every political group in the European Parliament.
Meanwhile, the talks in Belfast continue to lack a process and political momentum. Both are required for any possibility of progress to be made. Increased international attention will be needed to bring that about.
This Conservative Party-led British Government has been completely indifferent to what is needed to end the current impasse.
Its relegation of the North to a political backwater, an associated lack of positive politics, commitment and negotiation capacity, and their system’s loss of institutional memory and skills on Ireland all negatively feed into this British approach.
Add to that the Conservatives’ own unionist political bias, the political crisis in the British state, next year’s Westminster elections, and hedging their bets with the DUP.
The Conservatives and the British system are not concentrated on making these talks work.
Sidebar conversations involving them about negative default scenarios regarding the New Year, if not before, are counter-productive.
As a result of the European Parliament resolution, it is now prepared to offer any support which can be of assistance to the Northern political process.
The United States administration is keenly aware that the Good Friday Agreement itself and the viability of the political institutions are directly threatened.
US Senator Gary Hart has already conducted one round of meetings here to offer encouragement.
It is clear that unless the US Government – through Gary Hart – is directly involved in these talks, no substantive political negotiation will occur while the British continue pretending they are facilitators and not participants.
Instead, there is real risk for political drift, culminating in a preordained British position paper being tabled which attempts to dilute the Haass compromise proposals and is bereft of a serious economic reconstruction plan for the North.

● Senator Gary Hart should now be given a central role in helping to shape and drive the talks agenda.
● The political resources of the EU Parliament should also be brought into play.
● The Irish Government ought to make these representations.

A properly-structured negotiation process with political momentum will depend on intensified international diplomatic attention, and a ‘hands-on’ role for America and Europe.

Sinn Fein

Sinn Féin MP Conor Murphy has said legacy issues of the conflict will be the focus of talks tomorrow.
Speaking ahead of a full round of talks with the British and Irish governments, Mr Murphy said;
“Sinn Féin’s acceptance of the Haass recommendations was an enormous compromise on our position on legacy issues. We remain convinced that an Independent International Truth Commission is the most effective vehicle to deal with all that is involved. We will seek to build in that direction.
Haass, however has been rejected by the DUP and the UUP while the British government’s position on the recommendations was both lukewarm and belated.
In one respect at least the Haass/O’Sullivan exercise met with one important success. That is in bringing about an acceptance of the reality that there is no single narrative of the conflict; that, indeed, there are multiple narratives.
From that must flow an acceptance by all that the voices of the victims and survivors of the conflict must be heard and respected and not simply the loudest voices.
The views of the many thousand victims and survivors who have remained silent must also be heard. This is key to the process of reconciliation so vital to the establishment of a permanent peace.
Sinn Féin’s position on legacy issues has been constant. We believe that everyone – governments and their agencies, combatant organisations, political parties and so on – should pledge themselves to talk about and hear the truth about the past. And that the role of the media in shaping what many believed to be truth should be examined.
We have had many reminders in recent times of what is required. This is flagged up by the withholding of information from inquests, the constraints placed on the Police Ombudsman and the Attorney General and the ongoing withholding of information from Judge Barron’s inquiry into the Dublin and Monaghan bombings. Most recently we have had the shelving of the inquiry into the murder of citizens in Derry on Bloody Sunday.
The European Commissioner for Human Rights, only last week, made clear that the funding issue, given as the reason for this, is the responsibility of the British Government.
Sinn Féin’s basic criteria in respect of this important issue are; victim and survivor centred, comprehensive in scope and effective.
That is the basis on which we will judge any proposed outcome to the current talks.”

Sinn Fein

Sinn Féin MLA Mickey Brady has said a timetable must be put in place to implement the outstanding issues of the Good Friday Agreement.
Speaking at the Edentubber martyrs commemoration in Louth today, the Newry and Armagh MLA said:
“Sinn Féin is fully committed to the political process and the political institutions.
However we are faced with a negative anti-Agreement unionist axis. They are seeking to undermine the Good Friday Agreement and turn the clock back to unionist one-party rule. And they are being encouraged in their intransigence by the partisan pro-unionist approach of the Cameron government, which has had no positive hand, act or part in the development of the peace and political processes.
It’s time for the British government to become part of the solution rather than part of the problem.
Confidence must be engendered in the process that any agreements reached will in fact be implemented.
That requires an implementation timetable for all the outstanding commitments made by the British government in the Good Friday and other agreements.
It remains our view that all the problems and outstanding issues can be overcome if there is the political will to do so and meaningful engagement from the two governments with the support of the US administration”

Lord John Alderdice

Lord Dubs recently called a debate in the House of Lords on the motion:
“To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they intend to take, together with the government of the Republic of Ireland and the Northern Ireland political parties, in reaching and implementing an agreement on dealing with the past in Northern Ireland, building on the draft conclusions of the Haass talks.”

Below is Lord Alderdice’s contribution to this debate. Lord Alderdice will be on the panel ‘Why we need to build a pro-agreement axis’ on Tuesday 25 November, 7:30pm, Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, House of Commons, London SW1A OAA. Westminster Tube, public entrance to Portcullis House, Victoria Embankment.

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, for securing this debate. Given the number of speakers who wish to take the floor, we all have a very short period of time. In a sense that is the important message. All of us in this House who know about Northern Ireland, particularly those of us who live there, wanted to speak tonight because we are worried about the situation. The noble
Lord described it as fragile, even perhaps critical. He is absolutely right about that. The situation is deteriorating politically—not so much in security terms at this point, but politically it is extremely serious.
The problem with the Haass process is that people seem to feel that what we needed was a political agreement or a political fix. But that is not the case. It is not a question of bringing forward yet more proposals. The noble and right reverend Lord, Lord Eames, and his colleague Mr Bradley have produced excellent proposals. The problem is not that. It is getting people emotionally as a community to the point where they are prepared to accept them. Although people have signed up for parity of esteem, the truth is that there are many people in the republican and nationalist community who still act as though they were victims rather than as though there were parity of esteem—and there are those in the loyalist and unionist community who act as though they were still dominant, when in fact there is parity of esteem written into the legislation.
The British Government also have a responsibility in this. Devolution did not mean everything and all responsibilities being handed over to people in Northern Ireland. This was a three-stranded process. The British and Irish Governments were the driver for the peace process—making sure that things continued and in the end came to a good conclusion. They retain a responsibility for making sure that it does not all fall to pieces—and, by the way, it is in their interests. If the devolution component of the three strands disappears, we do not end up with direct rule back to Westminster, but with de facto joint authority, with the north-south institutions that are in place remaining in place, but with a responsibility on the part of British Ministers to engage with Irish Ministers. The north-south thing remains with the British-Irish component: so there is a relationship. Indeed, when it comes to security, if those republicans who have engaged in the political process find that it does not work, it will be the most profound encouragement to those republicans who never believed in the political process and will want to return to the pike—perhaps no longer in the thatch, as the noble Lord has referred to.
This is serious. I deeply hope that my noble friend can not just tell me that there is a process under way with the Secretary of State and her opposite number, but show an appreciation of the gravity of the political situation at present. It is serious. If this House does not find a way of encouraging the Government to take it seriously, we will find ourselves back having to deal with some of the really contentious issues that we had desperately hoped were no longer on our plate.

Lord Alf Dubs

Lord Dubs recently called a debate in the House of Lords on the motion:
“To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they intend to take, together with the government of the Republic of Ireland and the Northern Ireland political parties, in reaching and implementing an agreement on dealing with the past in Northern Ireland, building on the draft conclusions of the Haass talks.”

Below is his contribution to this debate. Lord Dubs will be on the panel ‘Why we need to build a pro-agreement axis’ on Tuesday 25 November, 7:30pm, Boothroyd Room, Portcullis House, House of Commons, London SW1A OAA. Westminster Tube, public entrance to Portcullis House, Victoria Embankment.

My Lords, earlier this week, I attended a plenary of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly, and we spent last Monday visiting the World War I battlefields in Flanders, especially the graves of so many soldiers who died, including thousands of Irishmen who had volunteered to serve in the British Army. It was a very moving day, especially the ceremony at the Menin Gate at 8 pm that evening.
One of the places that we visited was the Island of Ireland Peace Park and Tower. At that place is a peace pledge from which I wish to quote briefly. It states:

I shall not list all those deaths—there were many—but I happened to meet some time ago the families from Ballymurphy, scene of one of the painful episodes of the Troubles. As far as I know, there is no further process at the moment to look into what happened there. When I met the families, I said, “We can’t have another 10-year inquiry. It’s got to be much quicker than that, otherwise nobody will accept it”. I think that they agreed with that. Those families whom I met, and they may not be typical of everyone, said that all they wanted was for the truth to come out—no more or less than that. That seems very simple. It may be that other people want more than that; they may want action against people whom they see as the perpetrators. That becomes a more difficult process, because it undermines the way in which evidence can be collected. I was also assured that a lot of the evidence was in existence. Ballymurphy is only one of many incidents which need to be looked at.
In general, conflict situations are difficult to resolve, as we know. If no progress is made, it almost means that the process starts going backwards. It is clear that leadership is needed from all the parties on the Executive. The British Government together with the Irish Government can nudge the process on. We cannot solve it, because so many of the issues are devolved, although not all of them. For our part, if the House reports come to a positive conclusion, there will have to be some UK legislation as well coming through this House and the Commons. As I understand the position, we would need some legislation to deal with some of the issues raised by Haass. So I hope that that will also be possible.
There also needs to be the most widespread possible consultation in Northern Ireland. Just imposing a solution on them would simply not be acceptable. We have to bring the people of Northern Ireland with us in this process or the Northern Ireland Executive and politicians have to bring their people with them, and give the victims a chance to express their views and to comment specifically on any proposals.
I was in Northern Ireland as a junior Minister for two years, leading up to the Good Friday agreement and beyond. I always said to people, “I haven’t been personally affected by the Troubles. Nobody that I know has been affected by the troubles so it is easier for me and the other Ministers to say hello to everybody and deal with everybody”. None of the backlog of problems affected us so it was easier. I fully understand, however, that for people in Northern Ireland it is a much more difficult situation. Nevertheless, we want that to be the norm in the peace process so that people can express their views and are able to deal with the people who have transgressed.
I believe that the events in Northern Ireland are at a critical stage—very critical. It is essential that the British and Irish Governments use all their influence to persuade the Northern Ireland political parties to move forward—and, I have to say, to do so quickly.

Hansard source Citation: HL Deb, 22 October 2014, c699

Sinn Fein

Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey party colleague Gerry Kelly MLA have called on NI Water to make it clear that no preparations are being made to charge anyone for water.
Speaking after letters were sent to homes in the Beechmount area asking for ‘customer details’ such as bank information and preferred payment options, Mr Maskey said;
“Residents in several areas of west Belfast have received alarming letters from NI Water informing them that they will receive a bill for water and requesting billing information.
This is totally unacceptable and while I accept that NI Water has now come out and apologised and said it has no plans to issue bills for water it still has serious questions to answer.
NI Water needs to explain how these bills were sent out in the first place. It also needs to state clearly why this information was being requested in the first place.
If any householders have replied with the information requested then NI Water needs to explain what it now intends to do with this information.
I am calling on NI Water to write to all residents who received this letter to admit their mistake, apologise and categorically state that they have no plans to introduce water charges.
Gerry Kelly said that he has requested a meeting with Regional Development minister Danny Kennedy to ensure that this won’t happen again.
NI Water also needs to move to reassure staff working on maintenance of the water network, who were on the receiving end of threats from armed gangs over this issue, that their safety has not been compromised by this blunder.
Sinn Féin fought hard and successfully to prevent water charges being introduced in the North and will continue to do so. We are totally opposed to water charges north and south.
I will be requesting an urgent meeting with Regional Development minister Danny Kennedy to find out exactly how this happened and to ensure this won’t happen again.”

Sinn Fein

Sinn Féin MP Pat Doherty has condemned those behind threats which have culminated in four Strabane community workers resigning and called for the threats to be lifted immediately.
The West Tyrone MP said:
“Any threat to community workers is an attack on the whole community.
The people of Strabane are rightly outraged at these threats.
The contrast between the activities of these criminal gangs masquerading as republicans and the contribution of community workers in delivering essential services to residents has not been lost on anyone.
Those responsible for issuing this threat must state publicly that it is lifted immediately.
These armed gangs need to leave the stage and allow people to build a better future for themselves and their families free from threat.
People need to be able to get on with their lives without the shadow of these gangs hanging over them, who are besmirching the honourable title of republican.”