Issue 083, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (March, 1994)

              wear an uimh 83 marta - march 1994 honour ireland's dead stormont any renewed talks between the so-called constitutional parties in the six counties under the aegis of sir patrick mayhew will be the latest round in a fruitless series of meetings held over the eight years and more since the 1985 hillsborough deal james molyneaux's announcement on february 28 that the ulster unionist party will not be rejoining the three-strand talks process and that it has no interest in future dialogue with the dublin administration can only mean one thing having in his own opinion rendered the london declaration harmless to the union with britain he now wants a new stormont assembly established all of which is calculated to appeal to the loyalist grass-roots in the run-up to the battle with the dup in the european assembly elections next june there can be no return to a failed stormont solution which was only overcome with the blood sweat and tears of the resurgent nationalist people more than 20 years ago a new stormont is also the only possible outcome of the terms of the london declaration ofdecember 1 5 last five times it says that the majority in the six occupied counties not the people of ireland acting as a unit will decide the future of ireland for john major to say in his article in the irish news february 25 that it is for the irish people alone to decide their future is nothing but hypocrisy separate referenda in two parts oflreland is not self-determination and the predictable outcome of such partitionist plebiscites was the reason why britain drew the border where it is in 1 920 an honest examination of where the declaration is leading shows that it cannot deliver peace contrary to the simplistic idea being promoted in the media on both sides of the irish sea only role a just and lasting peace cannot include the british presence in ireland the only role britain can have is to allow irish people decide for themselves how to live together and to make a public declaration of intent given before the world to leave ireland in a planned phased and orderly manner to enable that to happen at the end of february provisional sinn fein's ard-fheis saw gerry adams praising albert reynolds while his dublin administration collaborates with the crown forces in the six counties and puts through an even tighter extradition to the british bill in leinster house neither did adams rule out joint authority on an rte radio interview thus allowing the british a half-share in the six counties this is totally unacceptable to republicans other provisional spokespersons said the unionists had a right to opt out of a united ireland republicans insist on the essential unity of ireland as being non-negotiable as is its independence negotiable everything else beyond that is negotiable and republican sinn fein proposes in eire nua a four-province federation including a nine county ulster which would have every power oi government except foreign affairs defence and overall financing with maximum devolution to powerful regional and voluntary local district councils neither section of the population would • patrick mayhew - a new round of the three-strand talks will get nowhere be discriminated against or coerced this cannot be achieved within the six county state and reynolds and the british government are perpetuating the present conflict by siding with the unionists at the expense of the nationalists to describe the london declaration and the 1 985 hillsborough deal as being an advance for nationalists because they give dublin a say as provisional sinn fein did at their ard-fheis flies in the face ofdublin's confirmation of the british claim to rule in parts oflreland and their denial of the right of all the irish people acting as a unit to decide their own future this is not an advance it is a step worse than the treaty of surrender in 1 92 1 . annual testimonial dinner and ct\u friday april 15 1994,8pm west county hotel chapelizod co dublin taiile:£12 kevin and mckearney - ulst frank gr^dy - conn gearoid o maolmhic leinster mick maccarthy munster seamas 6 dubhda special honoree - e kerins o'conno tickets available from 41 arran quay dublin ' declaration opposition the following is a list of those who have publicly spoken out against the london declaration to date republican sinn fein ard-chomhairle and ulster executive cumann na mb an executive irish republican socialist party irsp andersonstown news belfast community newspaper bernadette devlin mcaliskey coalisland co tyrone fr des wilson belfast community and adult education worker tommy mckearney moy co tyrone former h-block hunger striker eamonnmccann,deny(veterancivilrights campaigner paddy short crossmaglen,co armagh veteran civil rights activist michael farrell belfast and dublin veteran civil rights activist desmond fennell writer and lecturer uinse ann maceoin dublin ( 1 940sactivist and editor of survivors and harry williammlafferty,professorofpouucal science university of oslo norway director ofbelfast international conference august 1 990 stle de valera td clare irish-american unity conference an t-athair piaras 6duill chairman national h-block/armagh committee 1979-1981 ) shane paul o'doherty former republican prisoner now a pacifist oliver kearney hon secretary equality.campaign for economic equality clergy for justice fr joe mcveigh fermanagh west belfastcentre forresearch and documentation pat finuc ane centre deny richard behal former director foreign affairs bureau sinn fein