Issue 023, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (March, 1989)

              issn 0791 - 0002 bulk rate us postage paid hummel dist corp return address saoirse box 1053 south orange n.j 07079 la cuimhneaghain naisiunta irish freedom uimh 23 marta-march 1989 25d usa 1.50 per issue 18 per year v th easter lily i u>e national emblem the easter lily represent ibe north and south united id aa ezpreaaloo of appreciation of lh principles for which ihe meo of easier w«tl taw up lh«ir h«a the easter lily ¦• an emblem of hop tod confidence la the ultimate realisation of everr lruhman dream ireland free from the cenlre lo ihe sea we appeal w ihe nation and la particular lo the 7»ubt lo wear ml easter lily ireland 1989 a tottering colonialism blocks the march of the irish people during the coming weeks the dublin and london administrations will be presenting the results of their review of the workings of the intergovernmental conference set up as part of the hillsborough security pact signed on november 15 1985 this review procedure since novem ber last has failed miserably to generate the hoped-for impression that it allows for any real change in british colonial rule in ireland it is not even a review of the hillsborough deal as a whole but simply an opportunity for some further media hype and the phoney and plastic politics of brian lenihan and charlie haughey who have become mrs thatcher's main agents in ireland along with tom king any serious discussion of the hills borough deal must begin with article 1 a which affirms that any change in the status of northern ireland would only come about with the consent of a major ity of the people of northern ireland stark recognition in stark terms dublin thereby form ally agreed to recognise and accept the british military and political presence in ireland they accepted the illegal par tition of our territory and people against the will of the majority in all of ireland something which is a total negation of democracy they also recognised the the unionist claim to veto created by virtue of their artificial majority within six northeastern counties of ireland the hillsborough deal thus amounts to a modernised internal settlement within the context of british rule and cannot bring peace to ireland anymore than the treaty of surrender in 1921 the bound ary agreement of 1925 or the sunning dale pact of 1973 it has brought quite the opposite during the last three years britain has increased her repression of irish citizens in the six counties safe in the knowledge that dublin now shared responsibility for her actions and insulated her from internat ional criticism the hidden agenda to hillsborough in cluded the promise by garret fitzgerald that wholesale extradition of irish polit ical prisoners would be granted for this prize of unprecedented national betrayal which mr haughey s administration in turn has not been slow to carry out mrs thatcher could and did ignore the opposi tion of the unionists stormont or dublin for the british are quite prepared to rule in ireland through the agency of dublin rather than stormont as long as they are ruling as long as they are pulling the strings the unionists can and will be dropped if the securing and stabilisation of british imperial interests in ireland demand it those irish people who have applauded the hillsborough deal because it has angered the unionists would do well to heed this point the willingness of mr haughey to act as britain's agent is illustrated by his shifting of ground at the recent fianna fail ard-fheis in dublin his original climbdown from verbal republicanism of the fianna fail variety can be traced to the joint communique with mrs thatcher of may 21 1980 when he agreed to no change in the constitutional status of the six counties without the consent of the majority there mr haughey is now saying that devolu tion to a new stormont is acceptable as is the hillsborough deal until some thing better comes along it was note worthy that he has ceased referring to the six counties as a failed political entity he also extended the carrot to free state sinn fe*in of a place in a broad national consensus if armed resistance to british rule was to cease o'brien's praise this earned praise from conor cruise o'brien writing in the indo who said that he mr haughey is no more a republican than i am how true free state minister for justice gerry collins who this time last year described british attorney general patrick mayhew as unfit to hold office after his refusal to prosecute those against whom there was evidence in the shoot-to-kill cases of british rule a sham review 1982 in armagh can on march 1 ) hurry over to london to confer with him about extradition what has changed in the meantime nightmare continues meanwhile the nationalist nightmare goes on in the six counties with the security cost alone to the 26 counties of an estimated 20 billion in the last twenty years this amount is similar to the total indebtedness of the same 26 counties at present the udr and brit ish army patrol unhindered and ruc primacy has been reversed in border areas torture and harassment continues on the streets and roads and even at fun erals while shoot-to-kill remains an integ ral part of britain's war in ireland to those who are currently saying that with the single european market of 1992 the border will be removed we reply that the british garrison in the north will remain — it is theii removal from ireland and the recognition of the right of self-determination of the irish people acting as a unit that will bring peace the present sham review of brit ish rule does nothing to hasten that certain day