Progress on Devolution Talks in Northern Ireland, No Settlement

Northern Ireland is less miserable a place than it used to be thanks to the Good Friday Agreement and the bravery behind it. However, the snags are still there, and the assembly in the province remains suspended as some of the orange and green still can’t agree to talk. While reviving Ulster’s government would be useful, the real accomplishment is the current level of violence. The squabbling over IRA arms and power sharing is going on in the absence of daily murder. Devolution is just icing on an already rich cake.

The piddling political problem is the terrorists on both sides (note the word, Mr. Bush) have put their weapons into storage but haven’t disarmed. Or in the local parlance, “put the weapons beyond use.” Beating swords into plowshares is only part of the issue – the other side has to be convinced that it happened. Until the IRA convinces the Ulster Unionist Party, the leading protestant party, that it doesn’t have its guns and bombs any more, the UUP won’t share power with Sinn Fein, the political front for the IRA gangsters. Meanwhile, the protestant thugs need to do much the same or this whole thing falls apart again. (Fascinating that there are catholic and protestant terror groups – what would the Prince of Peace say?)

The deal, though, hinges on the “Reverend” Ian Paisley, of the Democratic Unionist Party (a rejectionist bunch of protestants who won’t even talk to Sinn Fein – to the point of not negotiating during the Good Friday talks). At the age of 78, he has a career littered with the word “No” and moral responsibility for much of The Troubles. He has fought every election since the Good Friday agreement six years ago on the basis of renegotiating it. What he wants is majority rule, in a land where the protestant majority has spent a couple of centuries making the catholic minority miserable. The Good Friday agreement is a power sharing agreement that is, at its heart, undemocratic. For that matter, so is the constitution of the USA, or Al Gore would be president.

But the important thing to remember, and the lesson that can be applied in places like the Middle East, is that the killing has almost completely stopped. In a situation where bombs are exploding and innocents are bleeding, there isn’t much point in talking. The talking that goes on is usually posturing by the leadership of each side to impress the hard men in their own group. A negotiated peace requires a vast reduction in violence to have a chance. The people of Belfast, (London)derry and Antrim finally have some breathing space.

The last three days of talks at Leeds Castle, Kent, England, didn’t result in a settlement. But because no one died, there will be more talks next week after everyone has had a chance to sleep on things. Jaw-jaw is better than war-war.


© Copyright 2004 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.


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