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An Irish
Republican History Primer
1900's -- Defiance and Confrontation
In 1900, after eight hundred of subjugation and struggle, Ireland still
remained under British control. It was treated as an integral part of
the British Empire, was subject to Queen Victoria and was ruled from the
British Parliament in London. To all intent and purposes Ireland was a
subject nation that could not exercise any degree of political or
economic self-determination.
In spite of all of that, as well as the savagery endured at the hands
of the oppressor, Irish men and women remained defiant and continued to
struggle for freedom and independence.
In 1902, Arthur Griffith, Editor of the United Irishman, presented to
the third annual convention of Cumann na nGaedheal the most
revolutionary political idea since the fall of Parnell; it was that the
elected Irish Members of Parliament should refuse to sit in Westminster,
demand reinstitution of the Irish Parliament of 1782, and pledge
allegiance only to a king of Ireland, not to the King of England. While
the Liberator, Daniel O'Connell, had once considered such unilateral
action, he had not forced the issue. Griffith provided a strategy of
passive resistance by turning an assembly of Irish MPs into a de facto
constitutional convention. Modeled on Frank Deak's policy, which
resulted in the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867, Griffith
serialized his abstentionist program in the United Irishman as the
Resurrection of Hungary, and then published it as a pamphlet and
distributed it widely in 1904. The direct result of this idea was the
formation of Sinn Féin on 28th November 1905, as an abstentionist
political party, with internal self-reliance as its principal plank,
pledging never to recognize or use the services or forces of the enemy.
The founders of Sinn Féin were Arthur Griffith, Seán T. O'Kelly, Bulmer
Hobson, Countess Markiewicz and Seán Mac Diarmada. In addition to
contesting a Parliamentary election in North Leitrim in 1907, Sinn Féin
was also active locally, electing a number of men to county councils and
other local bodies.
(see contributing article)
The Ulster Unionist Council, currently the governing body of the Ulster
Unionist Party, was founded on March 3, 1905, by Edward James Saunderson
as an all-Ireland Unionist party. The Council consisted of delegates
from the nine Ulster counties and members of the Orange Order, the
largest Protestant organization in Ireland. Its main objective was to
counter the ongoing campaign for Home Rule and to preserve the union
between Ireland and Great Britain.
The stage was set for another century of strife.
1910's --Rebellion and War
The English General Election of 1910
produced a hung parliament in Westminster. The Liberals needed the
support of the Irish Nationalist Party to stay in power. The Irish
Nationalist Party agreed, providing that the Liberal Prime Minister,
Henry Asquith, introduced a Home Rule Bill for Ireland. The Bill was
passed in 1912. In accordance with provisions of the Parliament Act of
1911 The House of Lords could not obstruct the bill but only delay its
ratification by two years after which it became law. In the meantime,
descendants of the earlier Ulster Plantation settlers and elements of
the British army conspired to scuttle the deal. Bowing to pressure and
using the onset of the First World War as an excuse, Asquith capitulated
by making unspecified special arrangements for Ulster.
As a result of this treachery, Eoin McNeil raised an Irish Volunteer
army of thousands. During this same period, the Irish Republican
Brotherhood (IRB) re-emerged. Originally formed in 1857 they were
dedicated to ending the British occupation of Ireland. Members were
called Fenians and had deep Irish American roots.
The Easter Rising of 1916
was an armed uprising of Irish nationalists against British rule in
Ireland. The uprising occurred on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, and
centered mainly in Dublin. The aim of the uprising was to achieve
political freedom in a 32-county Irish Republic.
The uprising began when about two thousand men led by Padraic Pearse
seized control of the General Post Office (GPO) in Dublin and other
strategic targets throughout the city. Shortly after the initial
deployments, at four minutes past noon, Pearse read the
Proclamation of the Irish Republic
from the steps of the GPO and announced the establishment of a
provisional government of the Irish Republic.
Throughout the night of April 24, additional positions were occupied by
the rebels and by the morning of April 25 they controlled a considerable
part of city.
The British counteroffensive began on Tuesday with the arrival of
reinforcements. Martial law was proclaimed throughout Ireland. Bitter
street fighting took place throughout the city during which time the
strengthened British forces dislodged the Irish from their positions. By
the morning of April 29, the post office building, site of the rebel
headquarters, was under violent attack. Recognizing the futility of
further resistance, Pearse surrendered in the afternoon of April 29.
'All changed, changed utterly, A terrible beauty was
born.'
The Irish general election of 1918
was part of the 1918 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
general election. It is regarded as a defining moment in modern Irish
history as it was the only time the Irish people in all thirty-two
counties voted as an entity. The election saw the defeat of the Irish
Parliamentary Party (IPP), of Redmond that dominated Irish politics
since the 1880's. It also saw a landslide victory for Sinn Féin whose
Election Manifesto
was to break free from the scourge of British imperialism and march out
into the full sunlight of freedom.
Of the 105 candidates elected to the Irish Parliament, seventy-three
were Republicans and twenty-six were Unionists. Redmond's IRP party
gained only six seats. Sinn Fein garnered 70% of the popular vote.
Twenty-four of Ireland's thirty-two counties returned only Republican
members. The Unionists gained a majority in only four of Ulster's nine
counties: Antrim, Derry, Down and Armagh.
The first Dail Eireann of 1919
was formed from the Sinn Féin candidates returned in the general
election of 1918. At its first meeting on January 21, 1919 the Dáil
issued a
Declaration of Independence
and proclaimed itself the parliament of the Irish Republic.
The prerogatives assumed by the Dail included the creation of a viable
defense force and the establishment of Irish missions abroad. On August
11, 1919, the Irish Volunteers took an oath of allegiance to the Dáil,
and the organization changed its name to the Irish Republican Army
(IRA).
During the War of Independence, the Dail established republican
"Arbitration Courts" and the IRA acted as a police force in many parts
of the country where British law ceased to operate.
The Fist Dáil existed until the second Dail convened on August 16, 1921,
when the second Dail came into existence after the elections of 1921.
The War of Independence
started on January 21, 1919, as the first Dail Eireann met. Nine members
of the Third Tipperary Brigade of the Irish Volunteers ambushed a convoy
transporting explosives near Soloheadbeg in County Tipperary. In the
ensuing gunfight two members of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC), were
killed. This engagement is widely regarded as the beginning of the War
of Independence. The British in South Tipperary declared martial law
three days later. Having demobilized its army after the end of the war,
the British responded quickly by raising a military force of irregulars
and mercenaries for service in Ireland. Most were recruited from prisons
in exchange for a commuted sentence.
Throughout 1919 and 1920, the Irish Volunteers, renamed the Irish
Republican Army (IRA) in August 1919, attacked RIC barracks in rural
areas in order to obtain arms. The RIC retreated back to the larger
towns leaving parts of the country under Sinn Fein/IRA control.
In 1920 the IRA, decided to intensify the war as the ongoing level of
activity was not having the desired effect. On 21 November 1920, the IRA
shot dead (11) British agents known as the Cairo gang. Later on, that
day, the Black and Tans opened fire on a crowd of spectators watching a
football match in Croke Park in Dublin. Twelve (12) spectators were
killed, and the day became known as the 'first' Bloody Sunday. Ten days
later the IRA retaliated by killing (17) British soldiers in County
Cork.
The war ended in a Truce on July 11, 1921, after Lloyd George issued an
appeal for talks with Éamonn de Valera the president of Dail Eireann
In the first 18 months of the war, it is estimated that British forces
staged 38,720 raids on private homes, arrest 4,982 suspects, committed
1,604 armed assaults, 102 sackings and shoot-ups in towns and
seventy-seven murders. The RIC became the principal target of the
rebels. RIC losses were 165 killed and 251 wounded.
1920's -- Capitulation and Sedition
The Government of Ireland Act
of December 20,1920 was enacted by the British Parliament at the height
of the Irish War of Independence. The Act partitioned Ireland into two
sectarian states, namely the (26) counties of southern Ireland and the
(6) counties of northeastern Ireland and establishing separate
parliaments for each. The Act also repealed the Home Rule Bill enacted
in 1912, gutted in 1914 and suspended at the onset of the World War I.
Elections were held throughout Ireland in May 1921 to elect members to
the new parliaments. Sinn Féin participated but refused to recognize the
new home rule parliaments. Instead, the party treated the elections in
both parts of Ireland as elections to the Second Dáil.
The Act was implemented in Northern Ireland in June 1921. It was not
implemented in the twenty-six counties as the Sinn Fein members refused
to attend the opening of the Southern Ireland Parliament. However, in
order to comply with British demands, the Act was implemented in the
twenty-six counties in January 1922, to ratify the Anglo–Irish Treaty of
1921 and to put in place a Provisional Government. Michael Collins was
installed as head of the Provincial Government by Britain's Lord
Lieutenant in Ireland.
The second Dail Eireann
of August 1921 consisted of members returned in the elections of 1921
which, were intended to elect members to the parliaments of Northern
Ireland and Southern Ireland established by the British enacted
Government of Ireland Act of 1920. Sinn Féin participated in these
elections but refused to recognize the new home rule parliaments. They
treated the elections as elections to the Second Dáil Eireann.
The second Dail convened in August 1921 and functioned until June 1922.
One of its most important acts was to bring an end to the War of
Independence by approving the controversial Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64 to
57 votes. After the pro-treaty vote Sinn Fein members who opposed the
treaty left the Dail.
In March 1922, Irish Republican Army officers at their Army Convention
repudiated the authority of the Dail to accept the Treaty. The
anti-treaty IRA formed their own Army Executive which they
recognized as the legitimate government of Ireland
1921 -- Anglo-Irish Treaty
-- after numerous attempts to hold a peace conference, with
preconditions, with a delegation from the first Dail Eireann of 1918,
Lloyd George, the British prime minister finally settled for a
conference free of conditions to be held in London in October 1921. The
president of Dail Eireann, Eamonn De Valera, accepted the invitation and
sent Michael Collins to head a plenipotentiary delegation to London with
several draft treaties and secret instructions from the cabinet
After six weeks of negotiations with representatives of the British
Cabinet the Irish delegation signed a compromise treaty on behalf of
Ireland. The Cabinet was not consulted prior to the compromise treaty
being signed. Terms of the compromise treaty split the Dail between
those members in favor and those who held out for an Irish Republic as
proclaimed by Pearse on Easter Monday 1916.
On January 7th, 1922, (64) Dail members voted in favor of the treaty and
(57) members voted against.
After the vote, pro-treaty members led by Arthur Griffith and Michael
Collins left Sinn Fein and formed a new Free State party known as Cumann
na nGaedhael. De Valera stayed on as leader of Sinn Fein.
On January 10, 1921, Arthur Griffith was elected President of Dail
Eireann. Two days later, as head of the Delegation to London that signed
the Treaty, he called into existence the rival Parliament of Southern
Ireland, created by the British Government of Ireland Act 1920, to
ratify the Treaty and set-up a Provincial Government. In recognizing the
Southern Ireland parliament as the legitimate authority to ratify the
Treaty, Griffith ignored the fact that the Government of Ireland Act
1920 was rejected by the deputies elected to Dail Eireann in May 1921.
The Civil War
started on April 1922, when two hundred anti-treaty IRA volunteers led
by Rory O'Connor, occupied the Four Courts in Dublin in an attempt to
arrest the subversion of the Irish Republic. A tense standoff ensued
until the Free State under pressure from the British government
bombarded the Four Courts with artillery supplied by the British.
The bombardment of the Four Courts provoking a week of street fighting
in Dublin City that left 315 dead, 250 of them civilians. When the
fighting ended Dublin was in Free State hands and the IRA retreated to
their rural heartlands where they engaged in a campaign of guerilla
warfare.
Around 3,500 combatants, mostly from the IRA, had lost their lives,
along with an unknown number of civilian casualties, a greater number
than in the War of Independence. The Free State executed (77) volunteers
and many others were executed after been captured by Free State forces.
The most notorious example of this carnage occurred at Ballyseedy, Co
Kerry where (9) Republican prisoners were tied to a landmine, which was
exploded, and the survivors were then machine-gunned. One prisoner, who
was blown over a wall by the explosion, escaped to tell the tale.
The Civil War ended on May 24, 1923, when Frank Aiken ordered the
volunteers to cease fighting and dump arms rather than surrender them to
the Free State.
British artillery and the support of the Catholic Church carried the
day for pro-Treaty Free State forces.
Fianna Fail
was established in 1926 De Valera's motion after a motion he introduced
at the 1926 Sinn Fein Ard-Fheis was defeated. The motion he introduced
stated ‘that the only Republican objection to the Free State was the
oath to the English King and that it was removed they would enter
Leinster House'.
Opponents led by Father Michael O’Flanagan, defeated his motion by a
vote of 223 to 218. De Valera subsequently resigned as Sinn Féin
president to form Fianna Fáil. a new Free State party.
Having a political party that he controlled, De Valera had no problem
in his next proposal that his party enter Leinster House, taking the
oath to do so, in order to be able to abolish the oath once inside.
Fianna Fail members took the oath of allegiance to the King and entered
the Dáil of the Irish Free State in 1927.
1930's thru 40's -- Resistance, Emergency
Powers, and IRA Executions
Throughout the 30's and 40's, the Free State parties including Fine Gael
(originally known as Cumann na nGaedhael) and Fianna Fail continued to
accede to British demands to clamp down on republicans who continued the
campaign against their continuing presence in Ireland. Ironically,
former IRA veterans who succumbed to the lure of power and privilege led
the campaign against their former comrades who remained faithful to the
Irish Republic or Pearce and Connelly and the other martyrs of 1916.
In 1938, the Executive Council of the second Dail Eireann delegated its
authority to the Army Council. This delegation of authority was in
accordance with a resolution adapted at the first All-Ireland Dail
meeting in March 1921. The resolution stated that when enemy action has
reduced the House to five Deputies "'that it should resolve itself
into a Provincial Government" and that "Government should be left
to the Volunteers as the Military Body" which was usual in
the case of countries invaded.
In December 1939, members of the IRA stole most of the ammunition stored
in the Irish Army Magazine storage depot in Dublin's Phoenix Park in
what became known as the "Christmas Raid". The purported reason for the
raid was to replenish the IRA's ammunition supply.
Within a week of the raid, Gerald Boland, the Free State Minister for
Justice, introduced the Emergency Powers bill in the Dail to reinstate
internment, Military Tribunal, and executions for IRA members. The very
next day the
Emergency Powers Act
came into effect
The Fianna Fail government led by de Valera executed (6) IRA members in
the Free State. Amongst those executed was Charlie Kerins, the IRA's
Chief of Staff. Tom Williams was executed in the occupied six northern
counties.
On Easter Monday 1949, the Free State government, proclaim Eire a
Republic, formally breaking the last link to the Commonwealth of Great
Britain. The IRA refused to recognize this Republic, still professing
its allegiance to the Republic declared in 1916.
1950's -- The Border Campaign
In September1948, Tony Magan was appointed IRA Chief of Staff by the IRA
Army Executive at its convention. Along with Michael Traynor, Pádraig
MacLógáin and Tomás MacCurtáin he immediately set out to reorganizse the
political and military wings of the Republican Movement. At one point or
another all of these men had been imprisoned, been on hunger strike or,
as in the case of MacCurtain, sentenced to death.
Since the early 1930's the IRA and Sinn Fein operated as separate
entities with different agendas. Under the influence of the IRA
leadership Sinn Fein, once again, became the political wing of the
Republican movement.
On 13 August 1955, Ruairi Ó Brádaigh led a ten-member IRA group in an
arms raid on Hazebrouck Barracks, near Arborfield, Berkshire. The raid
was the biggest in Britain netting a large quantity of ammunition
together with a number of guns, rifles, and a pistol. Most of the items
were later recovered in a garage in north London.
In the 1950s the IRA, under Magan’s leadership, started planning for a
renewed armed campaign, in 1956 Seán Cronin, who had considerable
military experience, drew up a plan codenamed Operation Harvest. The
campaign utilized flying columns operating from within the Free State
attacking military and infrastructure targets in Northern Ireland. In
addition, another twenty organizers were sent to various locations
within the North to train new units, gather intelligence and report back
to the leadership in Dublin.
On New Year's Eve, January 1, 1957, a unit of twelve IRA Volunteers
crossed the border into County Fermanagh to launch an attack on an RUC/B
Specials barracks in Brookeborough. During the ensuing gun battle, a
number of Volunteers were injured including Daithi O Conaill, Fergal
O'Hanlon and Sean South. South and O Hanlon later died of their wounds
as the unit made its escape. It is estimated that 50,000 attended Sean
South's funeral in his native Limerick.
After a raid on an RUC barracks in South Fermanagh in December 1956 some
members of the attacking IRA column were captured in Co. Cavan by the
Free State police. Amongst them was Ruairi O Bradaigh, who together with
his comrades were tried and imprisoned for six months in the Free State.
While in prison, O Bradaigh was one of four Sinn Fein candidates who
were elected Teachtai Dala on an abstentionist ballot.
In the meantime, internment without trial, introduced first in the north
and then in the south Upon his release, O'Bradaigh was rearrested and
interned in the Curragh Military Prison with other republicans.
In October 1957, Ó Brádaigh became IRA's Chief of Staff, a position he
held until the following year, when he was arrested and jailed under the
Offences Against the State Act in Mountjoy. From 1961 to 1962, he was
IRA Chief of Staff for a second time.
Internment curtailed military operations. In February of 1962, the IRA
announced that Operation Harvest, its border campaign, was over.
Eighteen people in total were killed during the campaign, of whom seven
were members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) and eight were
members of the IRA. In the Autumn of 1962 Cathal Goulding took over as
Chief of Staff of the IRA.
1960's -- Republicans Principles Violated,
Occupied Counties Erupt
In the 1960’s the Republican movement came under the
influence of
Desmond Greaves
and other socialists thinkers associated with the Connolly organization
in London. In 1962 Cathal Goulding was appointed Chief of Staff of the
IRA. Under his leadership the republican movement lifted the ban on
taking seats in
Stormont,
the six-county parliament and in
Leinster House, the
twenty-six-county parliament. His acceptance of the
Stormont
and
Leinster House
parliaments caused a split within the Republican Movement into the
Official and Provincial wings. The Official wing embraced
socialism
and the Provisional, wing, at that time, continued to
embrace traditional republican values.
The Provisional
wing of the IRA (PIRA)
elected Sean McStiofáin as its Chief-of-Staff at its convention in 1970
and reiterated its rejection of the partitionist parliaments of Stormont
and Leinster House and reaffirmed its commitment to waging an armed
struggle against British rule in Ireland. Goulding remained as the
'Officials' Chief of Staff. In 1972 the Official IRA declared an
indefinite, unilateral cease-fire.
The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) was formed in
January 1967 as a response to decades of Unionist discrimination against
Nationalists in the occupied counties. Inspired by the civil rights
movement in the U.S they took to the streets demanding equality in
employment, housing, voting rights, police, and civil rights. These
demonstrations were met with violent opposition from the authorities.
They were attacked and beaten by Unionists mobs led by the Royal Ulster
Constabulary (RUC) and B Specials (militia). Their homes and communities
were burned to the ground, many were killed, and thousands were forced
to flee across the border to the Irish Free State.
During the marching season of 1969, clashes erupted as the Apprentice
Boys marched past the Bogside, a nationalist district in Derry.
Protestant mobs assisted by the RUC and B Specials charged the
nationalists forcing them into William Street. Within hours rioting had
escalated into what became known as the
"Battle
of the Bogside".
Members of PIRA joined the Derry Citizens Defense Association (DCDA) in
defending the Bogside and its residents against the RUC and the
Unionists mobs. The British government sent in reinforcements,
supposedly, to protect the nationalist population,
1970's -- Insurrection and Retribution
By 1971 PIRA had intensified its campaign throughout the six occupied
counties to the extent that the British government felt compelled to
take action to regain control of the situation.
Operation Demetrius,
or Internment without trial
as it is more commonly known started on February 9, 1971, and continued
until December 1975.
Thousand were interned in the initial phases of the operation. By the
end of 1971 approximately 1,000 people, mostly Nationalists, were
interned. At the same time that internment was introduced, a six-month
ban on public demonstrations was imposed under emergency legislation in
force at the time. Instead of quelling the IRA as the British intended,
the opposite was true. The IRA drew valuable sympathy and support from
internment.
The
Eire Nua
Program
coauthored by Ruairi Ó Brádaıgh and Daithi Ó Conaıll
was
launched in 1972. The program contained proposals to reunite the British
occupied six north-eastern counties with the twenty-six southern
counties in an all-Ireland federation comprised of the four historic
provinces of Ulster, Munster, Leinster, and Connacht. The comprehensive
and far-reaching program, which is still on the table, is a constructive
proposal for achieving an enduring peace in Ireland in contrast to the
failed British schemes such as the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921,
Sunningdale, Hillsborough and the Good Friday Agreement. All of these
schemes were formulated, not necessarily to achieve peace, but rather to
copper-fasten and legitimize British control over the occupied six
counties.
On Sunday January 30, 1972, British soldiers from the 1st Parachute
Regiment opened fire on unarmed and peaceful civilian in the Bogside,
Derry. Thirteen demonstrators, six of whom were minors, were killed on
the spot and seventeen others wounded, one of whom died later in
hospital. What has gone down in history as
“Bloody Sunday”
is a key event in the latest phase of the struggle for Irish freedom and
reunification. The massacre of innocent civilians blew apart British
claims that the military were in the province to defend the Catholic
minority.
The Sunningdale Agreement
of December 9, 1973
was their first attempt by the British to preempt the IRA campaign to
force their withdrawal from the occupied counties and reunite Ireland.
The Agreement included among its provisions, an elected assembly,
a power-sharing executive and a cross-border Council of Ireland.
As the result of a failed
motion in the Northern Ireland Assembly to condemn power-sharing, the
loyalist Ulster Workers' Council called a general strike for 15 May
1972. On May 28, after two weeks of shortages, rioting and intimidation,
Brian Faulkner resigned as Chief Executive causing the Agreement to
collapse
"Ulsterisation
- Normalization - Criminalization"
was introduced by the British in 1976 to process
political prisoners. Non-jury courts, the centerpiece of this policy,
were constituted to render the same results as the existing policy of
internment without trial. This new approach would, in their opinion,
mute international criticism and show the world how judicious the
British were in handling Irish malcontents.
The new policy
utilized a conveyor-belt type system of injustice. After being arrested,
IRA volunteers were interrogated, tortured, and then forced to sign
self-incriminating statements. Next, they were processed through the no
acquittal non-jury courts ending up in the Long Kesh prison camp as
before. This time around they were to be treated as common criminals.
The British
felt that this new approach to handling their so-called Irish
malcontents was adequate to stifle any future criticism of their
political and judicial processes; after all they were dealing with the
Irish.
In September
1976, the late Keiran Nugent
became the first volunteer to be subjected to the new policy. He would
not accept criminal status and in protest began the ‘blanket protest.’
Other prisoners of war (POW’s) soon joined the protest. Over time the
blanket protest escalated in the ‘dirty protest.’
1980's -- Collusion and Dishonor
In
1980 after four years of protest the POW’s decided to stage a hunger
strike in an attempt to regain political status. The strike ended after
the renegade faction within PIRA’s Northern Command made a deal with the
British. The details of the deal, if indeed a deal was made, were
shrouded in secrecy. Either way the British ignored it and as a result,
the hunger strike ended in failure.
The second
hunger strike in 1981 was a different story.
Ten young republican volunteers
died for their beliefs. The widespread empathy generated
by the sufferings and sacrifices of the hunger strikes resulted in
substantial gains at the polls in both the occupied counties and the
26-county Free State. While on hunger strike, Bobby Sands was elected to
the British parliament. Paddy Agnew and Kieran Doherty were elected to
the 26-county parliament.
The
second hunger strike ended with the return of political status for the
POW’s.
In 1983 the
Northern faction of Provisional Sinn Fein, led by Adams and McGuinness
wrestled control of the organization from Ruairi O'Bradaigh by claiming
that it was their right to lead the struggle, because the war was fought
in the north. Also in 1983, unknown to the Army Council, Adams had
engaged in indirect talks with the London and Dublin governments through
Father Alex Reid, a
Redemptorist priest from West Belfast.
In 1984, as the Army Council was planning for a major escalation of the
war, Adams was engaged in talks with the Dublin government regarding a
possible IRA ceasefire. During that period, he was also requesting the
assistance of the Dublin government to create a "pan-nationalist
initiative".
Hillsborough Agreement of 1985
was signed by the London and Dublin governments at Hillsborough, Co.
Down on 15 November 1985. Both Governments agreed that there would be no
change in the status of Northern Ireland without the consent of the
Unionist majority, the infamous built-in Unionist veto. Despite the
Agreement, the situation in the occupied counties continued to
deteriorate. The unionists, unwilling to accept any Dublin government’s
role in the affairs of the occupied counties withdrew from
implementation talks with the British Government in the summer of 1993.
At the 1986 Sinn Féin Árd-Fheis Adams and McGuinnesss, through a series
of dubious maneuvers involving delegates representing 'paper units’,
managed to deep-six the Eire Nua policy document authored by Ó Brádaigh
and Ó Connail in 1972, ‘as a sop to the unionists’. They and their
cronies also managed to set aside the ban on taking seats in Leinster
House thus accepting the legitimacy of the 26-county Free State.
As a result of
these dubious tactics that violated the Sinn Féin constitution a
substantial number of delegates walked out of the Ard-Fheis led by Ó
Brádaigh and Ó Connail. At a subsequent meeting they rejected the
renegades’ tactics as a betrayal of true republican principles and
declared that “they a minority had expelled a majority to protect the
core principles of Sinn Féin.”
Responding to
rumblings within PIRA/PSF following the rejection of the Éire Nua policy
document Adams and McGuinness published a new document in May of 1987
entitled ‘A Scenario for Peace”. What was telling about this document
was that it replaced the traditional republican demand for a British
withdrawal with an ambiguous demand for "national self-determination".
This should have been a wake-up call for those who continued to believe
in Adams/McGuinness’s commitment to a 32-county Irish Republic.
1990's -- Betrayals and Deceit
As a result of ongoing negotiations throughout 1990 with MI6
representatives, Martin McGuinness called for a formal PIRA Christmas
cease-fire. The cease-fire conveyed McGuinness and Adams desire to
abandon the revolutionary path in favor of a purely political approach;
an approach more in tune with their own political ambitions
In 1992, the Provisional movement introduced a new policy document
dubbed “Towards A Lasting Peace" at its annual Ard-Fheis. This document
stated that the republican struggle could not achieve national
liberation and that the creation of a "pan-nationalist alliance" was
essential if they were to achieve their objective. What this meant was
that the Provisionals would join with other established political
parties who accepted British occupation and the unionists veto as
non-negotiable conditions with respect to any political deal regarding
the future status of the occupied counties. The message was clear for
anyone listening that the Provisionals would accept a settlement that
would leave the constitutional status of the six-county enclave
unaltered. The publication of that document portended the most insidious
political betrayal in Irish republican history
In early 1995, the Provisionals stated that they would accept the return
of Stormont providing that it was treated as a “transitional measure".
The term 'transitional' would be used by the Provisional leadership
throughout the nineties as the rationale for accepting other agreements
that further copper-fastened British control of the six occupied Irish
counties and advanced the Provisionals agenda. While the Provisionals
were accepting all these agreements they never again mentioned or
pursued any transitional mechanism that would lead to national
liberation, their purported objective.
In June 1997 British negotiators issued an aide memoire (reminder) to
the Provisionals of the terms for their entry into all-party talks. The
terms included (1) a declaration of an IRA cease-fire, (2) a commitment
to the Mitchell principles. (3) an acceptance of May 1998 as the
deadline for all-party talks. (4) an acceptance of Mitchell's proposals
on decommissioning. (5) the initiation of confidence building measures
on all sides.
The aide memoire made no mention of a British withdrawal.
By an overwhelming vote PIRA leaders rejected a new cease-fire thus
defeating the five British terms for participation in the all-party
talks. In spite of the PIRA's overwhelming rejection, the Army Council
declared a cease-fire on July 2, 1997, without the knowledge or consent
of Army Executive or GHQ. At a subsequent meeting between the Army
Council and the Executive to discuss the cease-fire, Adams asked the
Executive to pass a motion of confidence in the Army Council. The motion
was defeated as no one came forward to propose or second the motion.
The Good Friday Agreement
(GFA) was unveiled by the London and Dublin governments on April
10th, 1998. The Agreement, to all intent and purposes, is a
restatement of the Government of Ireland Act 1920, and the subsequent
Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. The GFA did not revoke the partition of
Ireland, the prime cause of decades of conflict and strife. One
significant outcome of the Agreement was that the Dublin government
relinquished all territorial claims to the six occupied counties by
deleting articles 2 & 3 of the Irish constitution, thus leaving British
sovereignty over the occupied counties unchallenged.
The Provisionals latched on to the agreement, including the deletion of
articles 2 & 3 from the Irish constitution, without a question or
whimper regarding its 'transitional' credentials. They also agreed to
take their seats in Stormont, a British institution they once vowed to
destroy. Taking seats in Stormont, the nemesis of Irish republicanism,
was the most insidious and revolting betrayal in Irish republican
history as it discarded to the junkyard of history the premise upon
which the Provisionals came into existence in the first place. The
decision also gave credence to the British occupiers that the 30-year
war was for naught and that the sacrifices and loss of life was
unnecessary.
In a rush to surrender all vestiges of resistance to the British the
Provos proceeded to destroy stockpiles of arms and explosives. They
agreed to the reform and not the disbandment of the Royal Ulster
Constabulary (RUC) and accepted, as a right, the unionists veto over
Irish reunification. Their latest step in the surrender process was to
join the RUC from whence they will try to destroy any remaining
resistance to the British occupation.
The reason it is taking Gerry & Co. so long to deliver the goods is not
because they are unwilling, rather, it has to do with the quality of
goods they are required to deliver. The British want more than
stockpiles of explosives and arms they want Gerry & Co. to deliver the
ashes of the Republican movement. After centuries of trying to destroy
Irish recalcitrance, the British want it over with once and for all.
Gerry & Co. is their best hope.
After a century of struggle, the British are still controlling six of
Ireland's 32 counties. This outcome would not be possible without the
readily available Irish touts, collaborators and assassins recruited by
and operating on behest of the British. The Provo leadership and their
willing followers are the latest crop to grace the British court.
The Way Forward
Any
political program that does not include the reunification of the Irish
nation as a prerequisite is meaningless and doomed to failure from the
start.
The
Eire Nua program originally
authored by the late Daithi O'Conaill, Ruairi O'Bradaigh and others is
visionary in concept and far reaching in that it includes all of
Ireland. It offers a solution that guarantees equality and the maximum
distribution of authority at provincial and subsidiary levels in a
federal system comprising the four provinces of Ireland.
The National Irish Freedom Committee (NIFC) consider the Eire Nua program to be innovative and far-reaching and
believes it to be a positive approach that recognizes the rights of all
Irish people, irrespective of their ancestry or religious affiliations.
For this reason, the NIFC has adopted and will promote Eire Nua
as the most logical choice to achieve a lasting peace for Ireland. We
believe that this program is based on sound and honorable principles
incorporating fair and realistic plans to achieve national unity within
the framework of a 32-county Irish Republic.
This article was
originally published in the 1980s
Contributed by TOC
1/20/2022
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