Gerry Adams Presidential Address to Sinn F”In Ard Fheis

Gerry Adams Presidential Address to Sinn Féin Ard Fheis 2000 If asked, 'Where stands the Good Friday strategy itself. All of this is fair enough. In fact, I Agreement today?' most nationalists, and all believe such ongoing dialogue and debate is an republicans, would say that it's dead. essential part of this struggle and of the work of this party. This response is hardly surprising given the two years of time-wasting and obstructionist politics by Let me also say that I appreciate immensely the unionists, the body-blows inflicted on the process great commitment shown by our activists and by over that period, and the British Government's the republican base in the face of frustrating and, at suspension of the institutions, including the all- times, provocative actions, particularly by the Ireland bodies. British Government and the unionists. I do not intend to take this Ard Fheis through every While the main focus of your dissatisfaction is with twist and turn of the 12 months since we last met. the British Government, I also know that many of Instead, I want to deal in a broad, brushstroke way you are critical of the Irish Government's and the with the politics of this phase in our struggle. SDLP's handling of some aspects of the process. And I want to confront the need for us all — that is London's approach has created a real anger within every single activist here — to review our individual republicanism and nationalism. There was stewardship of the process and our personal confusion, though that should have disappeared by handling of the various issues. I also want to see us now. I know there is considerable frustration, and doing this in a constructive and comradely way, not let's face up to it, there is also disappointment at just at this Ard Fheis but as part of an ongoing the current state of the peace process. process, through every level of this party from the Ard Chomhairle to the cumann. That disappointment reflects in many ways the feelings of people, north and south of this island, Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil cáineadh éigín ann faoin and others throughout the world who support the dÚigh inar lamhseáil an ceannasaíocht gnéanna search for a lasting peace in our country. áiríthe dár stráitéis agus ar ndÚigh tá cuid daoine ag ceistiú an stráitéis féin. Tá sé sin uilig maith go Peace Requires Justice leor, mar abhár fior creidim go bhfuil an t-idirphlé agus an díospóireacht sin Iárnach dár gcoimhlint But I have to say that republicans should be the agus d'obair an pháirtí seo. last people to be surprised by what happened here over the last two years. I know there is some criticism of how the leadership have handled elements of the strategy. Who said it was going to be easy? And indeed there is some questioning of the Everyone here knows that peace requires justice. elements of unionism, who voted for the Good Friday Agreement, and others within civic unionism Everyone here knows that this demands great and the business community, have risen to that changes within society, particularly, but not challenge. exclusively, in the North. And, of course, our peace strategy challenged the Everyone here also knows, or should know, that British Government and political parties in London. such changes will be resisted by those who cling to the old order, the old agenda. The first organisation to accept that challenge was the IRA. Its cessation in August 1994 — six years There is no comfort in this for the faint-hearted or ago — created the space in which politics could the weak-willed. But then we know that people like grow, if others were up to the challenge. ourselves who want to see a total transformation of society on this island cannot be faint-hearted or Out of all of that came the Good Friday Agreement. weak-willed. Many things have and can be said, for and against When war was a daily fact of life or death — that Agreement, from the republican perspective. unlikely or unpopular as it may be to say this, many But I believe that one of the most compelling people — including perhaps some of us, took arguments in favour of the Agreement is that, for refuge in that. Depending on one's perspective, the first time, a British Government and others you either blamed the IRA or depended upon the were made to face up to what is wrong in the North. IRA. These totally opposite viewpoints had one thing in common — the war was the reason or the Whatever happens to the Agreement, we have to excuse for doing nothing or for not doing as much understand that this is ground gained which must as we could. never be conceded. Rising to the Challenge From our perspective, the measures contained in the Agreement may not go far enough to right Sinn Féin's peace strategy has challenged all of these wrongs. But this has to be seen as work in that. And the peace process, which is a hand because, from the unionist perspective, these consequence of our strategy, has clarified issues measures go too far and there has been an for many people and closed down the hiding places ongoing effort to reduce them still further or to for many others. remove them entirely. At a time of widespread conflict it challenged those This is what has created the current crisis. who paid lip service to the role of peace maker. Huge Mistake At a time of censorship, misinformation and revisionism, it challenged the opinion makers in the The British Government made a huge mistake and media and the censors. miscalculation on February 11th when it endorsed the unionist view that the issue of decommissioning It challenged the partitionist attitudes of the was a precondition on the continuation of the government and of the Establsihment political institutions. Whatever reason is put forward to parties here in Dublin. justify this decision, this is the reality. It is also the biggest single mistake by the British Labour Party It challenged the cosy consensus between church since it took power in May 1997. and state on this island. It is totally contrary to the Good Friday Agreement. It also challenged political opinion in the North, There is no default link between 'government and most clearly within the unionist section of our guns' in the Agreement. This is also the reality. people. Credit for this is sometimes given to the Sinn Féin While rejectionist unionism opposed our efforts, we negotiating team. Let me make it clear that we did recognise that more progressive and modernising not have to change one word in the decommissioning section of the Good Friday We remain wedded to our objective of taking all of Agreement. the guns out of Irish politics. This is a collective responsibility and there is no special onus on our The governments knew the score. They accepted party to do this above and beyond the reality and they valued the cessations. This is the responsibilities of every other party in this process. truth. We will continue to do our best but if a British The Agreement took the wise course, the conflict government, with all of its military firepower and resolution course, which saw the resolution of the muscle, could not get an IRA surrender in 30 years arms issue as an objective of a process and not as of war, then unionist leaders or British ministers a blockage on progress on all of the other matters. cannot expect a Sinn Féin leadership to do it for them. But the ink was barely dry on the Agreement when the British Prime Minister stepped outside of this British Strategy has Failed framework and produced his side letter for the Ulster Unionist Party. From then on this issue was That is not the way to build lasting peace on this treated as an issue of tactical political island. It is not the way to build a new, inclusive management. political dispensation. It ceased to be an objective of a peace process. Had the Agreement been implemented as agreed, Instead it became a precondition dogging the I am quite sure that a way of resolving the weapons process. This reduced the Good Friday Agreement issue would have been found by now because to something less than the people voted for. It also politics would have worked. subverted the electoral mandates of genuinely committed pro-Agreement parties. The value of the Instead, the opposite has been the case and the vote and the implementation process was, and is entire process of change and the rights of citizens now, subject to unionist terms. From that point on, has been made conditional on unionist approval. the current vacuum was a crisis waiting to happen. Worse still, it has been made conditional on those unionists who have clearly set their face against That's the flaw which the British Government change and against the Good Friday Agreement. introduced into the Good Friday Agreement. The responsibility for this rests squarely with the Tackling the Arms Issue British Government. There is no way that a workable solution to the current crisis can be found This is what has subverted all of Sinn Féin's efforts unless Mr Blair and Mr Mandelson come to terms to resolve this issue. with this. All these efforts were based on our view that the The strategy pursued by the two governments on purpose of any peace process must be for the weapons issue, insofar as it can be described opponents or enemies to see each other's point of as a strategy, has failed.

Load more