The Bishop Says No

Listening to Paul Mc Fadden on Radio Ulster on Friday 11th July I was heartened to hear that the Bishop of Derry had refused to sign a petition calling for the disbandment of dissident Republicans namely the Real I.R.A., the Continuity I.R.A. and the Irish Liberation Army.

When it comes to drafting a petition it is useful to know who are the draftees. The community supposedly drafted the petition under consideration but a community cannot draft anything. An individual or group of individuals within a community can only draft a petition and the individuals who drew up this petition seem to be faceless. A number of listeners to Paul Mc Fadden stated, and correctly so, that the prime movers in the drafting of this petition was Provisional Marxist Late Sinn Fein. In this petition Late Sinn Fein is tightening its grip on the Creggan.

The bishop is correct in saying the petition doesn’t go far enough. It is true that the Provisional I.R.A. seem to have said farewell to arms for the moment but the army council remains in existence. The petition should call for all groups to disband, Republican and Loyalist, and vanish into the history books.

But even that doesn’t go far enough. Unrepentant members of terrorists groups and those who have flirted with terrorists groups now rule over us at Stormont. We are now ruled by an unholy alliance of Marxist Republicans and Right Wing Union Jack Unionists. A petition in the six counties should call for the disbandment of the assembly and urge the setting up of an assembly composed of brand new faces that do not carry with them a luggage of mayhem, of murder and the bomb.

But even that doesn’t go far enough. A petition should stretch right back into Irish History condemning Tone and the violence of 98 (98 was riddled with sectarianism) and Pearce and the Catholic sectarian uprising of 1916 (There wasn’t a protestant to be found in the leadership or in the ranks) and The Battle of the Boyne. Beginning with that a petition should call for the disbandment of sectarianism in Ireland.

All of that may be considered a tall order but even so, it is a must for a new future in Ireland. Federal unionism Early Sinn Fein places such a new future in Ireland on offer in its thinking. Its analysis places an unwritten undemocratic U.K. constitution as the cause of Ireland’s current sectarian divisions. The constitution, which remains intact but is imposed in the six counties, is rejected by the overwhelming majority of the people of this island and by a significant minority of the people of the six counties. On the other hand the twenty-six county Republican constitution is rejected by a significant minority of Protestants in Ireland because a Republican constitution wounds the cultural psyche of protestant Ireland which is loyalty to the Crown. For these reasons Federal Unionism – Early Sinn Fein places the U.K. constitution at the centre of the Irish problem and an unwritten imposed constitution lies at the heart of the sectarian nature of the Irish Problem since 1801.

A written reformed democratic constitution, which can be lived with by all, can only be drawn up in a United Kingdom context. Such a constitution will require the drafting of the National Government of Ireland in the six counties. The main outline of the Act can be found in the novel---THE WAY IRELAND OUGHT TO BE--- published by Authorhouse.

So the bishop of Derry has got it right in saying that the petition doesn’t go far enough. The distance to be travelled stretches far back into Irish history. The Patriots in 18th century pressed for the parliament in Dublin to be separate from but co-equal to Westminster under the Crown. Such a stance was constitutionally moderate and if this had been developed with patience Ireland would now be a united sovereign nation in a U.K. context but this moderate position was swept aside by the stupidity of 98. One hundred years or so later Griffiths put forward the idea of a dual monarchy. Had this idea been developed with patience Ireland would nowadays be a united sovereign nation in a U.K. context but this moderate was swept away by the stupidity of 1916.

In the late 20th century a peaceful constitutional reform was called for in the Civil Rights Movement but this was swept away by British and Republican violence. If Captain O Neill had been allowed to introduce modest reforms in N. Ireland and if Ian Paisley had shaken the hand of Sean Lemass as he did with Bertie Ahern in later years there would never have been trouble in the six counties and they would have remained within the U.K.

What we have now is a constitutional monstrosity at Stormont composed of former terrorist, those who have supported terrorism and those who have flirted with terrorists, each adept at manipulating sectarian politics. If the sickness of sectarianism is to be eradicated in the whole of Ireland, this can only be done in the constitutional reforms of the National Government Of Ireland Act

Michael Gillespie Federal Unionist – Early Sinn Fein