Issue 046, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (February, 1991)

              issn 0791 - 0002 bulk rate us postage paid hummel dist corp return address saoirse box 1053 south orange n.j 07079 dalthioconaill 1938-1991 4-page tribute see pages 5-8 uimh.46 feabhra february 1991 30p usa 22 per year to peace • pictured at the dublin launch on january 21 left to right ruairf 0 bradaigh uachtaran cathleen knowles ard-runai emmett walsh and des long ard chomhairle sinn fein poblachtach $ launch of towards a peaceful ire land on january 21 last at simultan eous press conferences in dublin and belfast represents a serious and significant attempt to break the on going political impasse in ireland these proposals were drawn up by the late daitht 6 conaill vice president sinn fein poblachtach shortly before his death on new year's day last and ap proved by an ard chomhairle at its jan uary meeting towards a peaceful ireland makes the following three proposals i that a constituent assembly be es tablished representative of the whole people of ireland and elected by the suffrage of the adult popu lation the assembly would have the sole function of drafting a new constitution within a six-month period the agreed constitution would be submitted to the people in referendum for acceptance or rejection in such a free and open debate sinn fe*in poblachtach has pre pared a set of proposals — eire nua — which outlines the basis for a new constitution in a federally structured ireland before the assembly is set up the british government must declare that it will withdraw its forces and establishment from ireland within 12 months of the adoption of a new constitution by the people of ireland in this way mr brooke's state ment of november 9 1990 that britain has no strategic or selfish interest in ireland is put to the test of a british public commit ment to withdraw an amnesty for all political prison ers and people on the wanted list these releases to be completed one month prior to the election for the constituent assembly no necessity with the acceptance of these three proposals it is clear that the political stalemate in ireland would be overcome and there would be no necessity for the continuance of armed struggle all elements including the british engaged in such activities should cease action immediately on acceptance of these proposals by so doing a new spirit of freedom would pervade the country and the irish people could at long last enter into a dialogue of genuine discussion to fashion the ireland of the future the alternative is a continuation of the present hopelessness into the foreseeable future failure to adopt these proposals will prolong the current situation of fur ther loss of life police harassment of the people hundreds languishing in jail and thousands fleeing our shores because of the lack of employment such conditions cannot be allowed to continue sinn fein poblachtach intends to pro mote these proposals at every available public forum of irish people in the coming weeks and months the collapse of the brooke initiative at the end of jan uary only serves to reinforce the repub lican argument that the restoration of democracy and self-determination is the key to a solution towards a peaceful ireland outlines practical steps in the securing of that self determination and puts forward a cred ible timescale in which it could be imple mented response there has already been a response in certain areas dr john robb bally money co antrim of the new ireland group sent a message to the press conferences on january 21 the 72nd anniversary of the first all-ireland dail eireann saying that his group would be most anxious to respond to the proposals and would be studying them carefully also fr des wilson who has established credentials none of them from church and state establishments attended the launch in belfast and expressed his good will in addition the editorial in the ander sonstown news february 2 headed the peace-makers called for a public debate of sinn fein poblachtach's pro posals and argued that they could be a possible way out of the political impasse the editorial went on to comment on the silence from those who usually flaunt their peace credentials their deafening silence gives weight to the belief that their true objective is not peace but the violent destruction of their enemies what you can do there is something that every person can do to assist in creating a public de bate on these proposals • mention them to friends and acc quaintances and make them known to persons in positions of influence • write to the press local and national to show your approval • mention them on a radio/tv pro gramme • propose support for them in your trade union tenants or residents assoc iation political party local council or community association brooke talks collapse the statement by british sec retary peter brooke on february 5 that the time to ' put up the shutters on his talks about talks may be approaching surely indi cates that the whole affair has final ly collapsed for want of substance while it is possible that he was engaged in a last-ditch attempt to pressurise the dublin administra tion or unionist leaders into mak ing concessions it is more likely that he was preparing the ground for the latest british failure to make a two-state ireland work when the so-called brooke init iative began a year ago the british secretary quickly adopted the role of " long-suffering referee be tween the unionists and the sdlp this age-old british ploy was of course practised by lloyd george when negotiating with john red mond in 1914 . that double-deal ing led to partition and the eclipse of the constitutional nationalists by a revolutionary sinn fein commit ted to a 32-county irish repub lic watershed peter brooked unissued state ment of july 5 1990 was probably a watershed due to the reluctance of the dublin administration to cast themselves in the role of redmond with no tangible benefits on offer to allow them to drop the hills borough deal in the period since last july the whole process has been foundering brooke insisted in his july 5 state ment that unionists would only talk to the dublin administration as part of a british team led by him self while dublin insisted on talks with unionists alone the unionists also objected to any early dublin involvement in the talks the failure of the brooke talks adds urgency and weight to sinn fein poblachtach's peace initiative in towards a peaceful ireland the document states that " an open democratic forum such as the con stituent assembly proposed would oe more meaningful to the irish people today than meetings behind closed doors between politicians who have failed the people so often no more british solutions