Decommissioning
A chairde,
No answer to the question, ``Why won't republicans offer some
decommissioning now?'' could change the facts that the Good Friday
Accord requires the establishment of the shadow Executive by 31
October 1998, and no decommissioning is made in that Agreement
prerequisite to that establishment.
Why are republicans now asked to do things not required in the
Good Friday Accord even before Unionists even do the things that
are required therein?
Thomas Hutchison McFadden,
London
What about `legal' guns?
A chairde,
I cannot be alone in feeling very weary while observing the
machinations of hardline unionists as they keep David Trimble
imprisoned in the ``decommissioning'' corner they have reserved for
him. Of course they are all aware that if he falls so may the
peace process.
The issue which deserves serious attention is the sheer hypocrisy
of demanding that republican weapons be decommissioned while
there are still at least 138,727 legally held firearms in
circulation in the north of Ireland - nearly all in unionist
cupboards - for which 83,500 firearms certificates have been
issued (police statistics as at 31 October 1997).
What was equally worrying after these figures were published was
Dr Mowlam's response to a written parliamentary question from Jim
Murphy MP for Eastwood concerning the 1998 Review of Firearms
(Northern Ireland) Order 1981, under parliamentary scrutiny
because of the ban on handguns in Britain after Dunblane.
Mo Mowlam replied, ``After much thought, I am not persuaded of the
need to prohibit the possession and use of target handguns in
Northern Ireland. I realise that my decision may disappoint some
people who feel strongly, as I do, about firearms control and
safeguarding the public''.
This was an extraordinary decision for a politician as
politically skilled as Dr Mowlam and only explicable in terms of
the power still wielded behind the scenes by the Orange Order.
However, as the backdrop for the present impasse on
decommissioning, it says a great deal about insidious double
standards still in place despite the New Order.
Indeed, if there is to be any future agreement on
decommissioning, surely the 12,771 legally held handguns in the
north of Ireland should be the first weapons to be
``decommissioned''. Then perhaps the111,014 shotguns and airguns
followed by the 13,736 small bore rifles and the 326 full bore
rifles. Once these have been ``decommissioned'' perhaps the owners
of the 880 ``miscellaneous'' licensed weapons could be induced to
hand them over.
I suggest Dr Mowlam's Office first meet with the gun clubs run by
the Orange Order, the Black Preceptory and the Apprentice Boys to
put these points in order to gain some credibility as a
``persuader'' for the movement.
Moya St Leger
London
Mourning band
A chairde,
I am a third generation American from Ireland. Currently I live
in Chicago where I study weaving at the School of the Art
Institute. Although I live in America I still feel very close to
Ireland through my family's experiences.
I have been researching mourning rituals and have been
particularly drawn to the black mourning ribbons which are common
in one form or another to many cultures. I feel it is a
universally understood symbol. I would like to create a mourning
band for all the Irish who have died in the troubles, to
commemorate their spirits in cloth by weaving a long narrow band
with the name of the deceased and the date of their death
embroidered onto it.
Cloth is such a strong metaphor for so many things; family,
nurture... it evokes the image of the mother, the provider of
raiment and warmth. I urge all of you who have lost loved ones to
send their names and dates of death and a brief story or note
about them to the following address:
C. Ni Cheallaigh
1116 N. Milwaukee Ave. #2
Chicago, Illinois 60622
USA
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