Interesting article here:
http://www.historyireland.com/magazi...res/feat4.html
Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, on 10 August 1997. Mr Reynolds told a Belfast audience that he had told the British Prime Minister, John Major, after the August 1994 ceasefire: ‘How can I go to the Republican leadership and ask them to give up guns when Fianna Fáil never handed over any guns?’
how about:Originally Posted by Albert Reynolds
because the failure of the Irregulars to accept that they had lost the civil war and hand in their weapons left a grievous scar in the soul of the nation, divided politics for a century, and kept the romanticism of the physical force tradtion alive, leading to the enormous 30 year tragedy of the Troubles, with all the horrendous savegry that involved, from cutting off Jean McConville's fingers to blowing up 3 year old Jonathan Ball. We must ensure that never happens again by killing off the physical force tradition once and for all. The best way to do that is to convince the IRA that their killing of 1,800 people worsened the situation, rather than improving it, and convince them that the best thing they could do for the people of Ireland would be to hand in their weapons to be publically destroyed.
?
badinage, do you think the above "balanced" analysis would help matters.how about:
because the failure of the Irregulars to accept that they had lost the civil war and hand in their weapons left a grievous scar in the soul of the nation, divided politics for a century, and kept the romanticism of the physical force tradtion alive, leading to the enormous 30 year tragedy of the Troubles, with all the horrendous savegry that involved, from cutting off Jean McConville's fingers to blowing up 3 year old Jonathan Ball. We must ensure that never happens again by killing off the physical force tradition once and for all. The best way to do that is to convince the IRA that their killing of 1,800 people worsened the situation, rather than improving it, and convince them that the best thing they could do for the people of Ireland would be to hand in their weapons to be publically destroyed.
?
Destroying or handing over weapons at the behest of the enemy is a treasonous act. Never in Irish history before the Provos has this been done. These traitors are guilty of treachery punishable by death.
"I hereby declare that the Continuity Executive and the Continuity Army Council are the lawful Executive and Army Council respectively of the Irish Republican Army, and that the governmental authority, delegated in the Proclamation of 1938, now resides in the Continuity Army Council, and its lawful successors."
Comdt. General Thomas Maguire
If it was delivered to the IRA as a statement, I'm sure it would be totally ignored, even if it had been passed by a majority of TDs in Dail Eireann.
If, hypothetically, the IRA came to agree with it, then that would be fantastic, and would be a massive boost to the Peace Process and to the cause of minimising political violence on this island.
That was my point. It should have been done at the end of the Irish Civil War. Almost all nations that are born through violence (i.e. have Wars of Independence, which glorify the use of violence to achieve liberty) go on to have a civil war. In most countries, at the end of the civil war, the losers admit that they lost, there's a few decades of bitterness, then the country heals and moves on. In Ireland's case, the anti-Treaty side clearly lost the civil war, but they refused to accept that, and instead left a wound in the political nation which has taken nearly a century to heal, and the existence of the CIRA shows it still hasn't entirely healed.
Partition is the wounding agent.
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I'm guessing reaching a fair and democratic political agreement to the sectarian system that was (and still is to a large degree) in place in the six counties is well down your list of solutions badinage?? The RA have to go away and then all will be well, will it?how about:
because the failure of the Irregulars to accept that they had lost the civil war and hand in their weapons left a grievous scar in the soul of the nation, divided politics for a century, and kept the romanticism of the physical force tradtion alive, leading to the enormous 30 year tragedy of the Troubles, with all the horrendous savegry that involved, from cutting off Jean McConville's fingers to blowing up 3 year old Jonathan Ball. We must ensure that never happens again by killing off the physical force tradition once and for all. The best way to do that is to convince the IRA that their killing of 1,800 people worsened the situation, rather than improving it, and convince them that the best thing they could do for the people of Ireland would be to hand in their weapons to be publically destroyed.
?
Beat me with the truth, don't torture me with lies
Badinage,
I'm sure any decision to disband or 'enter a new phase' will not be influenced by a bit of condescending ************************e posted by you on an internet politics forum. You talk as if the IRA couldn't figure out any of that for themselves. Btw, since the initial subject matter was related to FF, I'm moving it to that board.
"John Bull has got his hand down your pants and his fist around your bollox and you can't see it."
Ending the killing is higher up on my list than eliminating sectarianism and discrimination. Those things must be tackled, however murder is the greatest civil rights abuse of all, and it ranks higher.
Obviously eliminating sectarianism is the key to eliminating murder. However, if the IRA came to the conclusion that their armed struggle was immoral and should not have been prosected (and I realise that's fantasy land), and decided to disband, it would be a huge step forward, allowing further steps to be taken to minimise sectarianism, and therefore tackling the murder issue.
No. The disbandment of the IRA would have to be followed by the disbandment of all other paramilitary groups, and a whole host of other things would have to happen, including the partial gaelicisation of the Northern Irish establishment (e.g. making Irish the second official language of Northern Ireland), etc, etc, etc.The RA have to go away and then all will be well, will it?
"All" will never "be well" so there's no point in aiming for that.
Gee, and there was me thinking the IRA was going to read my post and change their minds on the whole right-to-violate-people's-right-to-life thing. What a pointless comment DOD.
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