The Ancient Order of Hibernians is continuing its critical broadsides against the British government’s legacy bill.
In a statement, AOH National President Daniel O’Connell said that Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris had stated that the U.K. Government plans to continue its “ill advised pursuit” of the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill, restoring to the bill provisions that would provide an amnesty for murder and torture, halt current and future investigations, and deny victims access to the courts.
Said O’Connell: “This action contravenes Britain’s pledged commitments under the Good Friday Agreement and the norms of justice of civilized societies, including the basic principles of the Magna Carta, which holds that no one is above the law.
The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill has achieved the rare distinction of unifying the major political parties of Northern Ireland in opposition, parties that currently can not agree to form a government.
“The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.N. Special Rapporteurs, national human rights institutions, parliamentary committees, members of the U.S. House and Senate, and civil society organizations, including victims’ groups, have all denounced this bill. A recent poll reported that nine in 10 U.K. adults said perpetrators should still be prosecuted for serious crimes even if they were committed decades ago.
:Only one group favors this legislation: those who wish to hide their misdeeds in the shadows of injustice and airbrush from history the true nature of the British Government’s activities in Northern Ireland.
“It is no coincidence that this legislation was announced in the Queen’s Speech on the very day a British Coroner’s court found that the ten civilians killed by members of the British Parachute Regiment were ‘completely innocent.’
“Nine days later, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologized ‘unreservedly on behalf of the U.K. government for the events that took place in Ballymurphy and the huge anguish that the lengthy pursuit of truth has caused the families of those killed.’ Prime Minister Johnson concluded that ‘No apology can lessen [the victims’] lasting pain.’
“Yet that is, at most, what the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill would offer the victims of Ballymurphy and the families of hundreds of victims of violence perpetrated by Crown forces: an apology.
“Even the possibility of families getting that modicum of relief is questionable as the bill is based on the wildly optimistic belief that those who have reached old age, having lived lives of stolen valor with medals on their chests and various honors after their names, will now have pangs of conscience and confess. Professor Pangloss and Pollyanna would be skeptical of the success of such a process.
“The U.K. often seeks to leverage what it perceives to be a ‘Special Relationship”‘ between the United Kingdom and the United States, a relationship built on ‘common language, ideals, and democratic practices.’ Granting an amnesty for murder and denying victims access to the judicial system are not American ideals.
“The Ancient Order of Hibernians calls upon all elected U.S. leaders to denounce the U.K.’s legacy bill; to remain silent is not the act of a friend but the actions of an accessory after the fact. If the Sunak government persists in this bill, the United States must reevaluate and reconsider ‘the special relationship.'”
In a 300-page report, the Constitution Unit of University College London has reviewed how the GFA has worked out over the past quarter century. It used party manifestoes and focus group and elite group interviews to deliver a sober account which is necessarily an outsider’s product. No bad thing if it succeeds in creating greater attention in London in particular.
We are acutely aware that few politicians in Great Britain today have invested much time in understanding Northern Ireland’s politics deeply. The same can also be said to a large degree in Dublin. Within Northern Ireland, meanwhile, as is true in any polarised context, there is some tendency for all sides to ‘other’ those with different perspectives, rather than to seek to understand why others think as they do…
The consensus that the Agreement is ‘the only game in town’ for Northern Ireland’s future still holds, but it has been shaken, and there are widespread, if often undefined, calls for reform.
Many interviewees expressed worries that, while the Agreement has brought tremendous improvements in terms of greater peace and enhanced prosperity, some parts of society have largely missed out on those gains. Concerns about parts of the loyalist community were particularly widespread. Some interviewees, despite seeing a need for reform, worried that any attempt to amend one part of the Agreement could cause others to unravel as well.
In all eight of our focus groups – which spanned across Northern Ireland’s nationalist, republican, unionist, loyalist, and non-aligned communities – participants expressed deep anger that, during the suspension of the institutions, Northern Ireland’s politicians continued to be paid while, as participants saw it, not doing their jobs. This fed a deep sense that politicians were a class apart who served their own interests. Most people focused primarily on day-to-day issues – the cost of living and quality of public services – not constitutional issues, and they wanted politicians to get on with delivering on matters such as healthcare and education.
Most supported the GFA in principle, but harder-line unionists, who were overwhelmingly hostile to the Agreement. They returned again and again throughout the discussion to the idea that the Agreement was about the release of paramilitary prisoners – which they strongly resented. The other group comprised loyalists. They had supported the Agreement initially, but had become increasingly disillusioned. They expressed a deep sense of betrayal by the British government, which they thought had no understanding of their lives.
Constitutional issues and Brexit
Beyond the basic question of whether they wanted Northern Ireland to remain in the UK or become part of a united Ireland, most interviewees did not have developed thoughts. Most agreed that a ‘border poll’ was not an immediate prospect, though Brexit had disrupted many assumptions about the likelihood of a united Ireland… We also asked interviewees for their thoughts on the current constitutional set-up within the UK and whether it should be changed. Views on this were even less defined than they were on Irish unity.
… we note the recurring concern that both London and Dublin have disengaged from Northern Ireland affairs and that, without re-engagement, progress on many matters will be difficult. Politicians, former officials, and academics were all keen to emphasise this point.
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The report concludes by highlighting four key points…, An elite consensus – which we share – holds that the Agreement is ‘the only game in town’ for Northern Ireland’s future. Second, however, while most members of the wider public in Northern Ireland accept that consensus view, some do not…
Third, while the Agreement provides the framework, there is general agreement that change is needed: that the status quo is not sustainable…
Finally, however, there is also fear of change: fear that things will get worse rather than better, that the ‘other side’ will gain while one’s own side loses. Change is needed, but change needs trust. In order to make progress in the coming years, political leadership from London, Dublin, and the major political parties will have a vital role in rebuilding trust. That will require them, above all, to listen, and to work by the Agreement’s ethos of respecting difference, sharing power, and seeking consensual ways forward.
The Report doesn’t attempt to get under the skin. It focuses on how the Agremeent is treated without describing how sections of it are politically weaponised by one party or another. It avoids value judgements. The word “sectarian” is unused. There is little about blood and guns here or a search for ulterior motives. Although they would be more revealing than anything else, the inside stories of manoeuvring in the Assembly and Executive which produced the failed attempts of Fresh Start and New Decade, New Approach will have to wait for another day.
For all that politics is obsessed by the constitutional questions the authors were struck by the lack of substance in the cases for both Unity and even more so, the Union. Here is a paradox. The Assembly and the GFA retaining the constitutional link must be the basis of the case for the Union even though nationalists are supporting the Assembly and the DUP are boycotting it. Because nationalists are assumed to be comfortable with the three stranded Agreement, the report paid little attention to them. Loyalist rejection of the GFA only makes perverse sense is if it is part of a wrecking strategy to put people off unity. But it will never be strong enough as to constitute a veto. Majority opinion could just as easily go the other way.
Analysis by itself will never be been enough. If you’re still analysing, you’re not deciding. The time to work on prescriptions has come. The NI civil service should confront the parties with a list of crucial decisions that only ministers can take. “Reform” is mooted but not developed. Almost certainly a super majority would be a favour of easing the straightjacket of the mutual veto. Here the argument is circular as it is for trust. Without trust you cannot reform; but reform is needed to produce trust. The British government should cease their infernal teasing and join with Dublin to champion the cause of both. The obstacles to intergovernmental cooperation are gradually being removed. The Windsor Framework may yet soften the disastrous impact of Brexit. Joint authority is a unionist bogey. Pressure for reform can easily be accommodated within the GFA framework. The UK government have in fact been more interventionist than they’re given credit (or blamed) for. Consider the ill- fated backstop, the framework, the order to implement abortion, support for Irish culture. But Westminster should be more consisitent in excercising devolved powers, within a framework of time and pressure to restore the Assembly.
Grounds might be prepared for a new Stormont conference for the stakeholders; but this is difficult to imagine before the next UK and Irish elections unless the DUP were to return quickly to the Assembly. Sinn Fein in government north and south would prove a challenge to all parties including themselves. Either way, internal reform at Stormont should not be long delayed. For the moment let the wider future take care of itself. If the nearer future is not better cared for, the outlook will be bleak.
A Letter from America a Chairde, Ciarán is away from the office for a few days searching for a little sunshine, hopefully digging through crates of vinyl records, and figuring out how to make the GAAGO app work. My name is Greg O’Loughlin, and starting on August 1st, I’ll be the new, full-time Executive Director of Friends of Sinn Féin USA. I have been working part time for Friends of Sinn Féin for the last two years, helping with newsletters, social media, and delegation support, and I am looking forward to being able to bring more capacity to the work. Twenty five years ago, I worked closely with Rita O’Hare in our Washington, DC office. For nearly seven years, I did similar work for her and the party, and I feel grateful for the opportunity to return to the effort. For the last 15 years or so, I’ve been in the classroom as an English teacher and a primary school teacher. About seven years ago, I founded a nonprofit that supports teacher collaboration and middle leadership development. In the coming months, I am looking forward to getting to know more of you, increasing our points of contact in Washington, D.C., and state-level governments, and organizing and facilitating more events across the country. We are all sharing an extraordinary moment in the history of Ireland. Irish America has an opportunity to continue to play an essential role in the future of a new and united Ireland. There is a great deal of work to do. I am eager to keep building on the work that’s been done and growing our network of support and connection to ensure Sinn Féin can create an Ireland that works for all. Ciarán will be back next week and we’ll return to our regularly scheduled programming. You can reach me at greg@friendsofsinnfein.com if you have questions, want more information, or want to say hello. Have a great weekend, Greg O’LoughlinExecutive Director, Friends of Sinn Féin
