Northern Ireland Report, No. 15

Many thanks to the person who forwarded this to the Archive.

This edition of Northern Ireland Report, numbered 15 and published in November 1993 joins others in the Archive. Under the headline ‘British and Irish Cowardice’ it argues that:

In Northern Ireland, this fall was nothing less than extraodinary with both the possibilities of peace and the horrors of war being clearly evident. As such, the North was rediscovered by the world’s media, who emphasize the most recent acts of ”savagery” and ”carnage” over the development of a serious peace initiative. Lost in these reports was the fact that peace and justice in Northern lreland can be considered only within a context the acknowledges and reinforces Britain’s border.

It suggests that the Hume/Adam initiative ‘remains a mystery as they refuse to divulge any details’. It notes the increase in loyalist attacks against nationalists and ‘a stupid and irresponsible action’ by the IRA which resulted in the Shankill Road bombing ‘killing 9 innocent people and wounding many more in premature explosion’.

And:

Finally, and most important, as people were still being buried in the North, John Major announced that the Tory government supported a six point peace plan offered by Irish Republic Prime Minister Albert Reynolds and Foreign Affairs Minister Dick Spring. This peace plan, which hints at the possibility of unity, stresses majority consent, offers to amend the South’s constitutional claim on the North and demands the cessation of all violence before negotiation tion. In short, after rejecting Hun1e/ Adams, the British and Irish goverriments offered nothing new to the tired and embittered people of the North.

It concludes:

This flat out rejection of Hume/Adams (whatever its merits, and it had to have some given the political risks involved for both Hume and Adams) by the London and Dublin governments sent Northern nationalists a clear message: peace and justice in the North is only possible within British framework. Who are the extremists in the Irish war? History will no a doubt show that they wear business suits as often as they wear masks.

Other pieces examine ‘The Siege at Tigers Bay’, The Constitutional Debate and the Opsahl Commission as well as an interview with political prisoner Pol Brennan.

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