Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Almost 4,000 people died in the recent conflict. Countless others died in other phases of conflict over the centuries. Is as gach pobal a tháinig said. The victims came from all walks of life and all sections of the community. They include members of the British State forces, Garda and Defence Forces members, members of republican organisations, Unionist paramilitaries, and civilians.

The focus of political leaders and of this Dáil must be to ensure that there are no more casualties of political conflict on this island, no more victims, and no more deaths. That means we must understand the errors of the past in order not to repeat them. Ní raibh cogadh maith riamh ann, nó ní raibh síochán dona riamh ann ach an oiread.

I remind the Fianna Fáil leadership that the democratic position is that the conflict on this island arose from the British Government’s colonial policy and its immoral and illegitimate claim to jurisdiction in Ireland. Following the Black and Tan war, the partition of Ireland, as James Connolly predicted, triggered a carnival of reaction and created not one but two conservative states administered by two elites who entrenched their own power and privilege to the detriment of ordinary citizens. In the North, a one-party Unionist regime controlled a sectarian Orange state with the aid of the RUC and the infamous B-Specials, backed up by draconian legislation and the use of pogroms. Denial of basic civil rights and other measures, including the introduction of internment without trial, were the order of the day in both states. Discriminated against in employment, education, housing and voting rights, Nationalists in the Six Counties were treated as second-class citizens. The Protestant working class were only marginally better off, but sectarianism was utilised by the British and Unionist establishment to separate citizens.

Over this period, abandoned by Dublin, a republican minority maintained heroic resistance at periods during the intervening years, but it was not until the 1960s that Nationalists demanded our basic civil rights in an effective way. The campaign of the Civil Rights Association in the late 1960s for equality in housing, education and employment and at elections was met with a violent response by the Stormont regime. Savage attacks by the RUC and the B-Specials, backed up by loyalist mobs, culminated in organised pogroms in August 1969 against Catholics in Belfast and Derry. The violence saw the biggest population movement in western Europe since the Second World War.

As the Orange state began to crumble under the weight of democratic demands, British troops were more frequently deployed. Promised reforms from Westminster turned out to be purely cosmetic, and the British Government's guns were turned against the Nationalist population.

Following the introduction of internment without trial, many Nationalists who advocated reform within the six-county state realised that the state was not reformable. The shooting dead by British troops of 14 Nationalists in Derry on Bloody Sunday in 1972, and the condemnation that followed this televised event, left the Stormont regime in ruins. Last week, the Taoiseach met another group of victims of British terrorism from Ballymurphy, and I very much welcome his support for them and their campaign and for the other victims. It was those responses by the British State to democratic demands that created the conditions for republican armed struggle.

It is often forgotten that Sinn Féin was banned outright in the Six Counties between 1956 and 1974. Armed resistance or support for armed resistance was the only path that many saw open to them after the civil rights movement was shot and beaten off the streets, and that included members of the present Government. The IRA that emerged in these years was one built by ordinary people out of sheer necessity because of the conditions in which they found themselves. In the Nationalist areas of the North, as it had been previously in this part of the island at other times, the IRA was from the people, not some abstract idea. However, the British, and the Irish Government as well, used oppression, initially in the belief that it could militarily defeat the IRA and later because it hoped to isolate or criminalise it.

We should focus on how the abject failure of successive Irish Governments to represent Irish national interests, and specifically to stand by those citizens under attack, contributed to the political conditions in which armed struggle was waged. From the "we cannot stand idly by" moment, the relationships of Irish Governments with repressive British Administrations grew more and more subservient.

The militarisation of society in the North and the corruption of policing, the prisons, the Judiciary and public life were obvious for decades. What was less obvious was the extent to which that adversely affected the people and the institutions of this State. From the early 1970s, many areas of public life here - the prevailing political culture, broadcasting legislation, the courts, and the Garda - were gradually subsumed into supporting British counter-insurgency efforts. Many good people here who wished to stand by their fellow citizens in the North and stand up for justice were hounded and harried by the forces of the State. Many had their careers ruined. While Irish Governments did not ban Sinn Féin outright, they attempted to close down the party and harassed our members on a continuing basis. Surveillance of political radicals, the abuse of detainees in Garda custody, and the activities of the notorious Garda heavy gang became a feature of political policing here, which only a tiny minority of journalists were prepared to question and expose. Non-jury courts and extremely anti-republican Ministers for Justice gave the green light to such abuse and malpractice.

The overall effect was extremely corrosive and included serious miscarriages of justice. The peace process, the fruits of which we now enjoy, was made possible only when this failed policy of repression, censorship and political exclusion was abandoned in favour of a more enlightened approach in response, initially, to Hume-Adams. I recall the contrived outrage at the news that John Hume and I had met. John Hume was vilified at the time. The sterling work of Fr. Alex Reid, Des Wilson and others created the way forward. The Good Friday Agreement marked an historic shift in politics on this island by establishing a firm foundation from which it is now possible to continue building a future based on equality. For the first time since partition almost 100 years ago, there is an international agreement involving the Irish and British Governments, as well as Nationalist, republican and Unionist parties, on a way forward. Unlike the efforts that governments had concocted previously, from Sunningdale in December 1973 to the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, the Good Friday Agreement was comprehensive, inclusive and addressed the issues that were previously ignored. The agreement tackles constitutional issues, political and institutional matters, policing, weapons, justice and equality and more. Citizens in this State expect the Government and the Oireachtas to be proactively involved in the peace process. Just as important, citizens in the North expect the same. As I have said to the Taoiseach previously, I want issues relating to the past conflict to be dealt with in a rational, reasoned, considered and informed way but I also want to see the future discussed in a non-threatening and inclusive manner.

I want to see this Dáil breaking out of a partitionist mindset. An Irish Government that truly wanted a united Ireland would understand this means unity of all the people, including those who see themselves as British. It would require us to pursue every avenue to promote greater all-Ireland co-operation and seek to build relationships on the basis of equality between all the people on this island. It means genuine outreach efforts to Unionists on the basis of equality and undoing ingrained partitionist thinking on the part of policy makers. An esteemed economist recently spoke about the efforts to develop an all-island economy and cross-Border economic corridors. One of the difficulties he encountered was that many of the policy makers were partitionist in that their thinking did not extend beyond the Border.

There has never been a better time to plan and deliver on an all-Ireland basis without infringing perceived Unionist sensitivities. When it is to our mutual benefit, even the most fundamental Unionist will embrace these measures. I welcome the work that has been done thus far, but much more needs to be done. The Government, in its caution around some of these issues, does not differ from the previous Fianna Fáil Governments, including those in which Deputy Martin served. As someone who comes from the North, I want the cross-Border agencies and the implementation bodies to expand and intensify their efforts. As I noted to the Taoiseach well in advance of the decision, if he had wanted the Narrow Water bridge to happen, it would have happened. That was a missed opportunity which will cost more when we return to deal with it at some point in the future.

There is also a need to deal with the British Government in an ongoing way. I have seen too many senior people from here almost tipping the forelock, such was their delight to be in Chequers or some other stately house. This is a sovereign Government, notwithstanding the powers that have been given away, and it needs to act in the national interest of the entire island of Ireland, including what we perceive to be the interest of all of the people who live in the Six Counties. The British Government acts in what it perceives as its national interest. Not all aspects of the Good Friday Agreement and subsequent agreements have been implemented. It is not that the British do not know they should commission an inquiry into the murder of human rights lawyer Pat Finucane or that the Oireachtas passed motions on the issue on two occasions. It knows about collusion, but the Irish Government needs to face up to it on the issue. This should be a matter of concern to every Deputy and Irish Government. The issue of collusion has most recently been set out by Anne Cadwallader in her book Lethal Allies. Many people in this State were killed as a result of this policy, including the victims of the greatest loss of life in any single incident during the conflict, namely, the Dublin-Monaghan bombings of 1974. The Irish Government has a responsibility to educate the British Government on these issues and to persuade it to engage on the basis of the agreements it has made.

There is also an ongoing need to enlist the support for this necessary endeavour of our friends internationally, especially in the USA. It is no accident that Irish America and its representatives have often been more informed, involved and progressive than successive Governments here. I thank our friends for that involvement and welcome the ongoing interest shown by Bill Clinton, who is due to visit Belfast next month. I also thank President Obama and Vice President Biden for their ongoing efforts.

The British and Irish Governments must be clear and unambiguous in their support for the ongoing process of change. If the British Government is not focused and clear, we cannot expect Unionist leaders to be positive. I commend the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement on the important work it has done in this regard. Those tiny minorities who want to cling to the past must be rejected. Those of us in Sinn Féin reject such minorities every day of our lives in the Six Counties. Sectarianism must be tackled and ended. We should also consider some of the scandals in this State, because some of them are the product of the post-colonial condition in which we find ourselves. Building a real Republic will benefit everyone.

The promise of the Good Friday Agreement for a new society in which all citizens are respected and which is based on justice and equality must be advanced. If I came into this Chamber 20 years ago to announce that there would be a ceasefire and that Ian Paisley would be in government with Martin McGuinness, I would have been laughed at. I would not have been allowed in, as John Joe McGirl and Eddie Fullerton found to their cost. I can think of nothing better for this Government to accomplish than to advance that process. That needs to be the focus of every Member of this Dáil.

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