Issue 103, Saoirse : Irish Freedom (November, 1995)

              j the voice of irish republicanism nora 0 accused over cork jail torture unit * an account of eight days in the notorious d-block of cork jail see page 3 z2 i s fli uimh 103 samhain — november 1995 minister michael ancram meets martin mcguinness of the provisional — the british are rubbing six-county nationalists noses in the current process a rift in the pan-nationalist front of the sdlp dublin and the provisionals emerged into the open with provisional criticism on october 28 of the dublin administration leader john bruton for refusing a meeting with gerry adams and john hume several weeks ago by such forensic tests the british could connect individual weapons to previous attacks and possibly use such information to charge and convict people such information would allow the british to hold over the provisionals heads the ' iftin process front both men asked for a joint meeting to present joint proposals to him about the current process but bruton refused adams accused him of pandering to unionists and letting them dictate who should meet whom so much for the nationalist front extending from belfast to washington john bruton is more concerned with not offending the unionists after being warned off by the pup and udp - the political representatives of the british-backed death squads the dublin administration seems to be falling in line with the pro-british sentiments of bruton and de rossa the latter the preferred member of the leinster house administration according to a recent poll of unionists gerry adams told a public meeting in belfast around the first anniversary of the provisional s ceasefire that plan b in the event of the british refusing to budge was the massive pressure from bill clinton and john bruton the provisionals are now left with the sdlp and fianna fail in their pan-nationalist front the provisional demand now is not abritish withdrawal but for london to recognise that they should be included in talks on a british agenda and that nationalists should be treated with respect parity of esteem this submissive desire for respectability is anathema to traditional republicans and has only resulted in the british rubbing their noses in it the british government is pushing for access to any surrendered provisional arms in order to forensically test them this will be akin to actually handing them over to the british — an impression the proposed international commission on the surrender of arms is specifically designed to avoid prospect of such prosecutions if they returned tfcj armed conflict in the future <¥' ' ~^ however dublin foreign minister p p said during a visit to belfast on october 23 ftiat believed that the ceasefires since 1994represent a permanent cessation of violence h echoing the irish times editorial ofthitsainie day which stated that disarmament by thet^ovisionals was less of an imperative now that the cxsasefire has effectively been declared permanent by gerry adams it is clear that pressure on the british from the clinton administration will not be used in the interests of irish self-determination the dup leader ian paisley declared himself satisfied after his meetings with al gore and anthony lake of the us administration at the end of october david trimble is lobbying washington to pressurise the provisionals to surrender arms meanwhile the unionists have carefully left open the question of whether they will attend talks between parties in the six counties even if the provisionals surrender their arms david trimble can therefore move the goalposts again and make further demands the bogus nature of the current process as a vehicle to deliver all-ireland democracy in the context of a british withdrawal could not be more self-evident the way forward must be a return to an unequivocal demand for britain to leave ireland republican sinn fein poblachtach 91uard-fheis1995 11-12 samhain 1995 ostan north star sraid amiens baile atha cliath • for visitors cards please contact ard-0 if ig 223 sraid pharnell bac 1 teil 872 9747 facs 872 9757