PEACE WARNINGS AS MAY PLAYS THE ORANGE CARD

Posted by Jim on June 18, 2017

An attempt by British Prime Minister Theresa May to placate the North of
Ireland parties over her plans to form a pact with hardline unionists
saw Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams tell her that her government is “in
clear breach of the Good Friday Agreement”.

The Sinn Fein leader said his party would oppose any deal which
undermines the power-sharing arrangement for the Six Counties.

He spoke out after holding face-to-face talks with Theresa May in
Downing Street aimed at tackling the deepening crisis in the peace
process.

The British PM met with representatives of all five main political
parties from the North of Ireland amid continuing speculation over the
DUP’s demands in return for propping up her government. She issued the
invitations as an attempt to resume talks at the Stormont Assembly in
Belfast was overshadowed by her negotiations in London.

The Tories lost their parliamentary majority last week after May’s
disastrous decision to hold a snap general election, forcing them to
play the ‘Orange Card’. The use of unionists to secure a Westminster
majority has a long history of bringing turbulence to Ireland. Its
reappearance, in tandem with the Brexit crisis, has raised fears that
the political process in the north of Ireland could collapse.

While Sinn Fein appeared reluctant to raise the alarm, senior British
political figures such as former PM John Major and former Downing Street
Press Secretary Alastair Campbell issued stark warnings over the fate of
the 1998 peace deal. In particular, they acknowledged that under the
terms of the Good Friday Agreement, the British government must remain
neutral in its dealings between nationalism and unionism.

Flanked by Michelle O’Neill, leader of Sinn Fein in the North, Mr Adams
said of the talks with May: “We told her very directly that she was in
breach of the Good Friday Agreement and we itemised those matters in
which she was in default in relation to that agreement.

“This is the first time I have been here without (former Deputy First
Minister) Martin McGuinness and we also gave her Martin McGuinness’
resignation letter because that points out the difficulties (where) the
institutions failed but also pinpoint the way that the institutions can
be put back in place on a basis which shows respect for everyone,
tolerance and integrity.”

He added: “We will oppose any deal which undermined the Good Friday
Agreement.

“A little side bargain to keep Theresa May in power, a temporary little
arrangement, won’t have any integrity and isn’t as important as the
integrity and the needs of the people who live in Ireland.”

Mr Adams also ruled out any prospect of Sinn Fein’s seven MPs taking
their seats in the Commons in an attempt to block the Conservatives.

He said: “We’re Irish republicans, we have just been elected on a
certain mandate. That mandate is that we won’t interfere in British
affairs, we won’t take an oath of allegiance to the English Queen – no
harm to her.

“We’re united Irelanders, we want to govern ourselves. You folk here
made enough mess of your own elections, make enough mess of your own
governments, make enough mess of your own affairs. We want you out of
our affairs and we’ll try to sort out these matters as Irish men and
women on the island of Ireland.”

And speaking on Irish radio on Friday, Mr Adams warned the British PM
was “detached” from what is going on in Ireland.

“She didn’t respond in any intelligible way. There is a detachment from
what is happening here,” he said. “She is a woman who is struggling to
stay in power and is prepared to do a deal with the DUP to say in
power.”

May will attempt to form a government next week, but her declining
political stature suffered another blow with a lacklustre response to a
disastrous fire in London this week. Over 100 people are thought to have
died on Wednesday at Grenfell Tower in an inferno blamed on the use of
cheap construction materials in a public housing refurbishment project.
Tory austerity measures have been blamed, and there have been a number
of large protests over official attempts to play down the scale and
significance of the tragedy.

Despite a mounting sense of crisis over her leadership, May is set to go
ahead with a ‘Queen’s Speech’, a text setting out her plans to form a
government on Wednesday. It is reportedly set to go ahead whether a deal
has been concluded with the DUP or not. The leader of British Labour,
Jeremy Corbyn, has also said he is continuing his own efforts to form a
government.

FOSTER ‘READY TO TANGO’

Amid the talks in London, DUP leader Arlene Foster told Sinn Fein
leaders that if they are concerned about her party’s increased influence
at Westminster they should agree to restore local power-sharing in
Belfast.

Sinn Fein collapsed the Assembly in January as allegations of DUP
sectarianism and corruption finally became impossible to ignore.

“If others decide that they are not coming back into the devolved
administration here in Northern Ireland then those issues will have to
be dealt with at Westminster,” Foster said. “It is really for Sinn Fein
to decide where they want those powers to lie.”

Foster also met with new 26 County Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in Dublin on
Friday. Asked if she expected to be First Minister in the Northern
Executive again soon, she said: “It takes two to tango. We’re ready to
dance.”

But Gerry Adams accused the DUP of failing to turn up for three days of
talks to restore Stormont this past week. He said, at a meeting on
Monday, the parties agreed they would meet from Wednesday onwards, but
the DUP failed to show.

Mr Adams said: “We met with DUP and agreed with them that we would clear
our desks – Wednesday, Thursday, Friday – and meet with the other
parties also. The DUP didn’t turn up. We need them in the room.”