Issue 096, Saoirse: Irish Freedom (April, 1995)

              the voice of irish republicanism uimh 96 aibrean ~ april 1995 sop usa 75c wear an lily honour ireland's dead easter lilies now available 17.50 per 1,000 from peig king 29 all saint's park raheny dublin 5 british demand destruction of arms peace the price demanded from the provisionals for their visit to the white house in washington and the lifting of the fund-raising ban on gerry adams during march is clear enough for those who wish to see it the usa point to the bogus nature of the so called peace process in ireland • last february cathal devlin 23 from ardboe co tyrone was arrested by british crown forces at his home he has since been charged with taking part in an attack on coalisland ruc station in february 1992 which resulted in the deaths of four young nationalists caught in a subsequent sas ambush the four attackers — kevin barry o'donnell 22 sean o'farrell 23 peter clancy 22 and patrick vincent 21 — were shot dead by the sas in the grounds of clonoe church near coalisland at a bail hearing in belfast on march 27 the british court was told that devlin moved to dublin after the 1992 attack he was arrested when he returned to his home after his father's death last month president clinton reminded the provisionals of this on april 4 when he said that he had made it clear at the time that there had to be an agreement a commitment in good faith to seriou sly and quickly discuss arms decommissioning as the irish times washington correspondent wrote on march 10 there is a price too for provisional sinn fein the president of the united states has gone to the wall for them it makes it unthinkable for them to let him down the previous day gerry adams had released a statement saying that for any progress to be made movement was needed on a number of issues including the decommissioning of weapons the bargain had been made and now the british are coming to collect the us administration is already playing the role of third party the price demanded extends beyond the destruction of arms something which had never happened before in the history of ireland it involves the acceptance of a new stormont and the cementing in position of british rule and the british-imposed political settlement of 1921 which has been resisted throughout the intervening 74 years portrayed those faithful republicans who are against this are being maliciously portrayed by political enemies and the establishment media as being anti-ceasefire republicans are not anti ceasefire but are opposed to the current process out of which the ceasefire emerged we oppose the hume/adams agreement and the joint declaration of december 1993 because they contain repeated endorsements of the undemocratic unionist veto allowing 1 8 of the population of ireland to forever block the other 82 we also oppose the framework document which is a dressing-up of the failed sunningdale formula of 1973 another attempt to reform the six-county state and absorb former republicans into the system republicans are for an alternative peace process which can bring a permanent end to conflict in ireland that process must begin with a british declaration of intent to withdraw from ireland it can achieve a just political settlement in a totally new four-province federal ireland a look at recent actions by the authorities in british-occupied ireland the 26 counties and in similarly • similarly in the 26 counties the extradition case against crumlin road jail escapee angelo fusco is proceeding apace in the dublin high court fusco is fighting a 1992 district court order to extradite him to the british authorities in the six counties after his arrest in co kerry in 1982 the same 26-county judicial system charged him with escaping from british custody in crumlin road jail the previous year and sentenced him to 10 years five days before he was due to be released from portlaoise prison the 26-county court ordered his extradition • meanwhile in the united states in recent weeks armaghman patrick maguire and tyrone native brian pearson face proceedings for their extradition to the six counties maguire a married man with children has been living in the us for more than 17 years both men were arrested and charged in new york other such cases have also arisen in the past few months where is the peace process in all this oppression of irish citizens north and south and in exile there is clearly no halt to this offensive against the oppressed people of ireland in the eyes of the british and their allies in dublin and washington the ceasefire is clearly one-sided by contrast when the republican movement took part in bilateral truces in 1972 and 1975 on written terms agreed by both sides a similar incident of arrest and prosecution of republicans in 1975 was regarded as a truce violation and resulted in swift offensive operations against the british crown forces annual testimonial dinner and ceili friday april 28 1995 8pm west county hotel chapelizod co dublin taille 12 1995 honorees pj dolan leitrirn seamas 6 caoil down christy ellis kitdare dan keating kerry frank mcgowan scotland new york emerald society police band us honoree tickets available from 41 artan quay dublin 7 tel 8729847 battle for us visa for ruairi 0 bradaigh reaches washington dc — see pp 8-9