18/19 April 1998
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams MP
Closing Remarks
19 April, 1998
The past two days have marked our preliminary discussions on the Good Friday document. When the Ard Fheis meets in session again to decide our response there will be proposals from the Ard Chomhairle and from anyone else who wishes to put them.
Republicans are facing a real and demanding challenge at this time. I want you to be absolutely clear that it is this party, Sinn Fein, that has opened up the possibilities that now lie ahead of us. We have been the catalyst and the dynamic for change. It is us, Sinn Fein, that has changed the entire landscape of Irish politics - and we're not finished yet.
We put the issues of partition; the British presence; inequality; injustice and national and democratic rights at the top of the media and political agenda, in this country and internationally. And it has been kept there.
We negotiated on every issue, as we have struggled on every issue. And that struggle goes on.
Sinn Fein is about the business of national reunification, independence and sovereignty. That is, and will remain the end object of our strategy.
You are the struggle. We are not in the tradition of the verbal republicans. Those who talk fondly of Irish unity but have never developed a strategy to bring it about. Those who wrap the Proclamation and the tricolour around them but have no sense of their real meaning.
On the contrary we are in the tradition of those republicans who have worked hard, who have fought hard, who have been imprisoned, who have seen our loved ones killed but who have never accepted that the British have any right to be in our country, dividing our people, and dictating to us how we should live our lives.
We realised many years ago the need for strategies and tactics which can advance our struggle for freedom and justice and the absolute necessity of political strength and power if we are to advance them. We also understood that our strategies and tactics need to be constantly reviewed and reassessed in light of changing political developments and of our growing power and influence. That is what you must do. That is the challenge.
This document must be examined by all republicans in the context of our strategy and our tactics. We must also examine all of this in the light of the positions of our political opponents.
This is not a settlement. It is transitional. It is an accommodation. It can be a basis for advancement. A big challenge for us will be how we deal with the new structures which are being proposed. We need to assess our attitude to the Assembly in the light of its relationship with the all-Ireland institutions and the whole package. Can we use all of this to advance our political goals? That judgement can only be made in the context of our strategy. Of course this is an emotional as well as a crunch political issue for us.
People are naturally very worried at the proposed changes in the Irish constitution. There have also been changes to the British constitution. We set ourselves the task of weakening the British link and we fought at every opportunity for maximum British constitutional change. The Government of Ireland Act has been repealed. And the new Act will supersede all other British constitutional legislation including the Act of Union. Be influenced only by your own judgement. Do not be fazed by media or political spins from our opponents. David Trimble says the union is stronger? He knows that isn't true.
But he also knows that this isn't good enough for us. Nothing but the end of the union will suffice.
A defensive strategy will not achieve our ends. It will emasculate the struggle. We need to take the political offensive. We need to take the initiative and to take the struggle to our opponents in every way: the intellectual debate; the public debate; and on every issue. This will mean taking risks. This is the essence for advancement of the struggle and our goals.
This struggle cannot and will not be restricted to a negotiations strategy. We have made that clear. It needs to be built on the streets; in the ballot box; everywhere.
One of the concerns which I had in the negotiations is that we could have had a stronger position if we had more political strength. So we must build that strength. That is the task before us - to build our strength north and south and to move ahead.