Focused and imaginative debate
Ned Kelly reports on the historic debate
In the end, after five hours of debate, the support for change
was overwhelming. Of 350 voting delegates, 331 voted to alter the
party constitution and allow Sinn Fein to participate in the
elected institutions on the island of Ireland - to sit in a new
six county assembly. But the call remained, ``stay focused, stay
imaginative and stay united''.
The day started with Cavan/Monaghan TD Caoimhghín O Caoláin
confirming the need for a 32-county party committed to dynamic
change and equality that guaranteed rights for all nationalists
in the 32-counties. Moving emergency motion 16, he said it was
imperative that nationalists in the Six Counties could send
representatives to Dublin and that an important rights issue
would be to allow those in the Six Counties to participate fully
in referenda and presidential elections in the south.
Winding up the debate, Martin McGuinness said, ``the sense of life
and vibrancy in the hall reflected the mood of republican
people''. Weighing up the opportunities and the disadvantages,
McGuinness said, ``unionism's problems are 100-fold [ours] because
its time as a dominating force is finished.'' The chief negotiator
said, ``they don't want us in an assembly. Our people do. It is up
to us to drive the agenda on - unification, our primary
objective, equality, the RUC, the prisoners.''
In between, republicans from across the spectrum opened the
debate up. Daisy Mules from Derry said the document was no
settlement but represented an opportunity and that despite
conceding territory in the proposed changes to Articles 2 and 3,
``our nationalist rights remain the same.''
Meanwhile Aine NicGabhann, Dublin, expressed the ``great
difficulties'' that the Dublin membership had with the Good Friday
document and favoured retaining Articles 2 and 3.
Kaniah Ni Chiosoig, representing Sinn Fein Youth, said that a
nation or state was defined by the ``land it occupies''. And
changing Articles 2 and 3 ``left citizens in the 26 counties
landless'' while the Six Counties became ``an indisputable part of
Britain''.
Six County Saoirse chairperson, Martin Meehan asked what the
Articles had ever done for nationalists in the Six Counties.
``When we were being burned out of Cupar Street and Bombay Street
in 1969...it was a piece of paper and it meant nothing.''
Jim Gibney (Ard Chomhairle) said the struggle had ``started on the
streets, then gone into the prisons and emerged wiser and
stronger. It had absorbed the suffering and the pain, and gone
into the councils and carried the banner into Stormont.'' Saying
that it was not commitment but philosophy that was being tested,
he said change represented the ``surest route to achieve the
freedom of this country''. We need to ``forge a new relationship
between Catholic, Protestant and dissenter''.
Don O'Leary from Cork argued that a call for a No/No vote in the
referendums didn't represent an attack on the leadership but an
attack on the Good Friday document. Expressing the feeling that
unionist consent equalled a unionist veto with a unionist
majority in only 2 of 32 counties. Calling the North/South and
intergovernmental strands a farce he said, ``no does not have to
be negative, we can reject and go back to negotiation''.
There was also a feeling from some Southern delegates, including
Chris McManus, that a No campaign in the 26 Counties would
represent an opportunity for Sinn Fein to provide nationalist
leadership in the 26-counties and make serious inroads into the
disaffected Fianna Fail electoral base.
Supporting the motion, Gerry McHugh (Fermanagh) said the
negotiations had achieved an important objective in dividing
unionism and separating them from the British. Cathy Mackle
(Coalisland) said it was ``just the first step on the road''
towards a British withdrawal and that a ``No vote today would
please the British government and the unionists. When did we ever
do anything to please them?'' she asked.
Developing the debate, Martina Anderson, paroled from Maghaberry
Prison, said, ``our participation in the assembly will enhance our
struggle. We cannot allow the gains made by Sinn Féin to be
squandered by parties such as the SDLP.''
Dodie McGuinness (Ard Chomhairle) plainly spelt out that ``we must
fight for the disbandment of the RUC, the promotion of our
language and equality. The SDLP, DUP and UUP will not do this. We
should not be shackled. We must be allowed to develop and grow.
We must not isolate ourselves.''
Likewise, Sean Brady (Ard Chomhairle) also condemned the ``old,
failed'' UUP-SDLP consensus. He said, ``if we stay out, where will
we be? Out on the margins. Who will push our agenda?'' Eoghain
MacCormaic (Ard Chomhairle) asked people not to get bogged down
in the detail of the Good Friday document. He called on
republicans ``not to put the strategy into the document but to put
the document into our strategy.''
Padraig Wilson, the OC of the H Block POWs, who was also released
on parole, put the current decisions into context. Using the
prison struggle analogy, he said, ``cohesion is pivotal. At each
juncture, in a new situation of our design, we have created the
dynamic for change, this must be developed. Our struggle is not
yet over. There is a lengthy road ahead.''
Stormont negotiator Gerry Kelly said that in order to move Sinn
Fein's objectives of British withdrawal and a 32 County socialist
republic forward, ``we must increase our strength. To do this, we
must open up as many fronts as possible.'' Describing all phases
of the struggle as ``cumulative'', Kelly said, ``we have continually
taken the initiative. At this time, we must get as many rebels as
possible among our opponents.''
ne Speed (Ard Chomhairle) said it was important to ``use the
momentum we have created'', and that although the Orange Order and
David Trimble had refused to talk this ``must and will change''.
Joe Cahill, calling for support for the leadership said, seeing
the reception given to the POWs, still ``full of fire, venom and
determination'' had given him ``a massive boost''. Recalling his
time on death row in 1942, Cahill said, ``now represents the
greatest opportunity to achieve the ideals for which our dead
died'' and that it broke his heart when other republicans disputed
this. To a standing ovation, he said, ``Tá ár lá linn. Anois.''
Poignantly, it was one of the many Sinn Féin Youth delegates,
Niall O Murchu from Belfast, who summed up the arguments for
using the document to move the republican struggle forward. He
said, ``since the beginning, `no return to Stormont' and `no
return to one party rule' have been key slogans. If we vote No to
changing our constitution, the SDLP will do nothing to upset the
status quo. Social and economic regeneration will be placed on
the back burner. The language will remain unfunded, equality will
be rhetoric and the unionists will set the agenda. The RUC will
remain.''
Saying there was only one guarantee that this wouldn't happen, O
Murchu said that Sinn Fein was the ``one agent of change'' against
``partition, militarisation, inequality and injustice.'' He called
on republicans to endorse the leadership, calling ``self-imposed
isolation'' no option. He asked the leadership to work from inside
and ``take their assembly and turn it into our assembly.''
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