Posted by Jim on September 10, 2015
Brian Feeney. Irish News ( Belfast). Wednesday, September 11, 2015
“An executive that doesn’t work, doesn’t deliver, isn’t going to meet: big deal.’’ Jim Allister’s dismissal of Robinson’s self-important announcement delivered in self-consciously portentous tones in Stormont is the best summary of much ado about nothing.
On the face of it, it was an elaborate facade for doing nothing about the faux outrage the more anti-agreement members of his own party had whipped up after the PSNI’s ill-considered public voicing of their opinion on the killers of Kevin McGuigan.
Robinson’s real venom was reserved for Mike Nesbitt, whom he didn’t name but if he had the ability or talent he could have done a King Lear. “I will have such revenges on you…That all the world shall – I will do such things, – what they are, yet I know not: but they shall be the terrors of the earth.’’ Huh.
On closer examination Robinson’s empty performance was more than a cover story. Yes it was bluster designed for the grinning assassins grouped behind him but its content also betrayed an attitude of mind among Unionists. Like Unionists in general, he needs to feel in control of republicans, to be in charge, laying down the law, not bound by any constraints that apply to normal relationships. In short to be superior.
Unionists feel the need to police republicans and nationalists. It’s the same urge that drives Orangemen to march through republican districts, intimidate republican streets. That’s how and why Orangemen in 1813 caused their first riot in Belfast by marching into the only Catholic district in the town firing shots, one of which killed two Protestant bystanders.
This urge will dictate the futile and fatuous attempt to abolish the IRA. Unionists aren’t happy with the PSNI’s assessment that as an organisation the IRA is engaged purely ‘in promoting a peaceful republican political agenda’. You could appoint some monitoring body but that wouldn’t satisfy Unionists either any more than the decommissioning body satisfied David Trimble.
You might remember that during the Troubles unionists were never satisfied with the RUC and UDR. Repeatedly Paisley tried to set up his own militia to police nationalists resulting in the farcical Third Force and the Carson Trail, which actually distracted the police from their work.
The bottom line for this whole attitude of mind is the refusal to contemplate living on equal terms with the rest of the people on this island which was the fount and origin of Unionism itself in the 19th century.
This refusal to accept mere equality prevents them seeing themselves in the same light as nationalists and republicans.
Thus, for example, when Arlene Foster defected from the declining UUP to the rising DUP, did she try to ascertain whether Peter Robinson had sold his Ulster Resistance [UR] red beret on ebay? Did she or Jeffrey Donaldson try to find out what had happened to Ulster Resistance’s share of weaponry smuggled into The North in 1986? Did it ever occur to them? Why would it, since Unionists never viewed UR in the same light as the IRA?
How would they know if the DUP still had links to Ulster Resistance or indeed if some DUP members were still members of it or the UVF or UDA? How could they know? How then could anyone know if someone has left the IRA? Or is a member of the IRA? It’s a criminal offence. To say you’d left would mean admitting you’d been a member and as we all know the only person who doesn’t know he was a member is Gerry Adams and no-one can prove he knew, and it’s not for want of trying. But how would anyone prove they’d left? Get the adjutant-general to swear an affidavit?
“Yesterday upon the stair I met a man who wasn’t there. He wasn’t there again today. I wish, I wish he’d go away.”[“Antigonish” or “The Little Man Who Wasn’t There” by Hughes Mearns].
It’s a wild goose chase, a piece of political idiocy inaugurated by Mike Nesbitt which Robinson didn’t have the leadership strength to rubbish.
Now it’s aided and abetted by our clueless proconsul[ Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers] whom Charlie Flanagan and the Irish ambassador to Britain met on Monday, to try to explain how stupid and dangerous is her pandering to that idiocy.
Posted by Jim on
Stormont collapse likely after DUP ultimatum is rejected
A Stormont committee has refused to adjourn the Six County Assembly
despite a DUP threat that it would otherwise pull down the North’s
political institutions.
Yesterday, DUP leader Peter Robinson vowed that his party would resign
from the Stormont Executive no later than tonight if the Assembly’s
business committee did not agree the proposal or if the British
government did not suspend the institutions.
It is thought a suspension could be announced within hours.
The unusually grave political crisis at Stormont deepened on Monday
following the arrests of three top republicans on Wednesday, including
Sinn Fein’s northern chairman Bobby Storey.
They are being questioned about the death last month of Short Strand
man Kevin McGuigan, the chief suspect in the murder of former PIRA
commander Jock Davison last May.
The PSNI police chief George Hamilton said last month that he suspected
individual Provisional IRA members had a role in Mr McGuigan’s murder,
although he admitted that the organisation no longer functions in a
military capacity.
Sinn Fein maintains that the Provisional IRA has ceased to exist.
The current crisis was also sparked by the decision last week of the
DUP’s main rivals, the UUP, to withdraw its minister from the
power-sharing Executive and become an ‘opposition’ party.
“The contrived crisis has been provoked by the crass party politicking
of [UUP leader] Mike Nesbitt who is incapable of providing leadership,”
said Sinn Fein negotiator Conor Murphy.
“And in a further failure of leadership the DUP are foolishly
responding to the stunt politics of the UUP.”
Sinn Fein voted against the adjournment, or recess, of the Assembly in
today’s meeting of the Stormont business committee. They were supported
by a combination of the SDLP and Ulster Unionist parties.
Votes on the business committee do not require cross-community support,
but straight majorities. Last week, the DUP’s request for the
adjournment was similarly rejected because it was supported only the
Alliance Party.
The SDLP failed to change their mind despite a crisis meeting with the
26-County Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Dublin this morning. Party leader
Alasdair McDonnell said earlier today the decision would be in the best
interests of the “whole community”.
Nationalists had expressed concern at Robinson’s use of the ‘bullying’
tactic to force his agenda, and warned it could be used similarly
again.
After today’s meeting, Mr Adams said he hoped both governments “will
respect the integrity” of the decision taken by the Assembly via its
business committee, and make it clear they will not suspend the
institutions.
“We need real talks, not pretend talks” to resolve the outstanding
issues, he added.
Posted by Jim on
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
And we built this Country. We are a Nation of immigrants
Posted by Jim on September 8, 2015
All meetings are on the 4th Monday of the month at 7:30pm
Keep an eye open for a newsletter from our Recording Secretary.
In Our Motto,
Steve Kiernan
AOH Kings County President
Posted by Jim on September 5, 2015
The DUP leader Peter Robinson has offered to take part in a fresh round
of multi-party talks as a deep crisis over allegations that the
Provisional IRA still exists appears set to extend over a period of
weeks or months.
The talks will involve input from the Dublin and London governments and
will also include a new attempt to break the deadlock over last year’s
unimplemented Stormont House Agreement.
While the status of the political institutions in the North remains
under threat from the DUP following the withdrawal of the Ulster
Unionist Party, it now appears unlikely that a suspension or collapse
will take place ahead of the talks.
Last week, the UUP said it could no longer work with Sinn Fein because
trust had been “shattered” over claims that individual members of the
Provisional IRA had been involved in the killing last month of Kevin
McGuigan, suspected of being behind the ‘grudge’ murder of top
Provisional IRA figure Jock Davison last May.
The DUP briefly considered withdrawing from the Executive, but now says
it wants to see Sinn Fein excluded rather than see the Executive
collapse. The party has urged the British government to suspend the
Stormont Assembly while negotiations take place, something which
nationalist parties have refused.
While appearing to rule out a suspension, the call for fresh talks was
met with a positive response from the Dublin and London governments and
the other parties. However, Alliance leader David Ford expressed concern
over the “seemingly endless cycle of crisis after crisis”.
UNIONIST INFIGHTING
The escalating conflict between the two main unionist parties, the UUP
and DUP, was at the centre of this week’s events. In the latest twist,
Lisburn councillors Jenny Palmer and her husband John rejoined the UUP
after twelve years in a move that was seen as a morale boost for Mike
Nesbitt’s party. Mrs Palmer had quit the DUP after claiming she had been
bullied for blowing the whistle on the DUP’s efforts to influence the
outcome of a contract.
The DUP’s Arlene Foster defended the party from the UUP’s new hard line
on working with Sinn Fein. She said the UUP’s attitude to the present
crisis had echoes of the party’s actions in the years following the Good
Friday Agreement, and condemned the UUP’s refusal to back a suspension
of the Assembly.
“In the years after 1998 that vision was hallmarked by the UUP
steadfastly refusing to take action against Sinn Fein despite continued
IRA activity,” she said. “In 2015 Mike Nesbitt’s party again chose to
join forces with Sinn Fein to ensure it’s business as usual at Stormont
next week.”
Mr Robinson, who has been on holiday, branded the UUP decision to quit
the Executive as irrational, illogical and based on “political
expediency” rather than principle. Walking away should be a last resort,
he said.
“This is not the time to flee the battlefield, it is the time to
confront violent republicanism, to stand and fight for democratic
principles and to do what is right for the law abiding citizens of
Northern Ireland,” said Mr Robinson.
He said he accepted a police “assessment” that PIRA members were
involved in the murder of Mr McGuigan and that some PIRA structures
remain in place. Such activity is inconsistent with membership of the
Executive, he said.
“The UUP position is just incorrigible.
“How any party could say that they want to take a principled stand and
stand up to Sinn Fein and then allow Sinn Fein in the business committee
to ensure that business would carry on…
“It is just an unbelievable position and one they are going to have to
spend a lot of time explaining to the electorate.”
Writing in the Belfast Telegraph, Robinson added: “We must not allow
republicans who precipitated the crisis, to end up benefiting from it.
It should be republicans and not unionists who pay the price for the
misbehaviour of the IRA.”
‘HYPOCRISY’
Meanwhile, Sinn Fein accused its political opponents of cynically
exploiting the recent killings. It also accused the UUP of hypocrisy
over its united front on parading with the political spokesmen of the
two most active loyalist paramilitary groups.
Conor Murphy, Sinn Fein representative for Newry and Armagh, said: “We
and the 178,000 people who voted for us in the last Assembly elections
will not be excluded or discriminated against. Those days are over.”
Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness said his party had a strong record of
condemning violence and said those who engage in violence are “no friend
of Sinn Fein”.
He described the killers of both Kevin McGuigan and Jock Davison as
“criminals” and “violent dissidents”. Speaking from Stormont Castle, the
Deputy First Minister said any republicans engaging in violence
“immediately become the enemy and they become dissidents”.
He said the UUP action was “all about the election” and said if the DUP
left the Executive it would show a “massive failure of leadership” which
would create a “very real prospect of an increase in violence on our
streets”.
“The only way we can defeat those people is by working together and be
seen to work together,” he said.
Meanwhile, the US administration has urged Stormont politicians to seize
the “opportunity” presented by the new round of talks. Retired Senator
Gary Hart, who represents Secretary of State John Kerry, said the US
remained “actively engaged” and would continue to support the process.
PRISONERS TARGETED
But the DUP has insisted that Stormont must not operate on a ‘business
as usual’ basis and Peter Robinson has threatened that ‘unilateral
action’ could be taken. In a foretaste of what might be planned, DUP
councillors on Belfast City Council moved to temporarily overturn a
decision to fund former prisoners’ groups.
Sinn Fein councillor Jim McVeigh said that community groups should not
be punished in the political fall-out over Mr McGuigan’s murder. He said
the funding had not only been ear-marked for ex-prisoners groups but
also victims groups, and had “become a victim of the electoral battle”
between the DUP and the Ulster Unionists.
“Republicans weren’t involved in the killing of Kevin McGuigan but we
don’t believe that community groups should be penalised,” Mr McVeigh
said.
“They have no connection to the murder of Kevin McGuigan – whether
they’re ex-prisoners’ or whether they’re victims’ groups.”
