18/19 April 1998

At the Centre of Irish Politics

SF Ard Chomhairle Political Report

In this Political Report we give a brief overview of the political situation in Ireland in 1997/1998, the role of Sinn Fein, and our priorities for the year ahead. The period since Sinn Fein last assembled for its Ard Fheis has been one of significant growth and historic development for our party. This has happened in the context of the evolving peace process and the year has seen Sinn Fein increase its political strength and assume an ever more central role in Irish politics.

Our political priority in the period since our last Ard Fheis has been our work for an inclusive process of negotiations involving all parties and both governments and leading to a democratic peace settlement. It has been a time of unprecedented effort on the part of Sinn Fein members at all levels of our organisation, from negotiators to party administrators, from elected representatives to cumann activists, from veterans of our struggle to the many new members, especially young people who have joined our party. The success of Sinn Fein Youth has shown our ability to regenerate our organisation.

The growth in our party reflects the confidence of nationalist and republican Ireland. This confidence has grown directly out of the peace process which our party, with others, set in train and which reached a crucial and historic juncture almost four years ago with the first IRA cessation. Thus began a new phase of struggle for Irish republicans and a period of optimism for all the Irish people. The new phase of struggle has provided the political education of a lifetime to people across the political spectrum and to the general public in Ireland and Britain and further afield.

The squandering by John Major's Tory government of the unique opportunity for peace over three years has been well chronicled and the election of a British Labour government on May 1st 1997 opened a new chapter. Sinn Fein welcomed this opportunity to rebuild the peace process and redouble our efforts to move towards inclusive negotiations. We pointed out the onerous responsibility on the new British government whose task was - and is - to transform its relationship with the Irish people.

A STRONG MANDATE

Sinn Fein addressed the new British government with its strongest electoral mandate in decades in the Six Counties. The increase in our vote and the election of two Sinn Fein MPs in Mid-Ulster and West Belfast were the principal features of the Westminster election in the Six Counties. More than that, it demonstrated the renewed confidence and strength of the nationalist electorate.

The determination shown at our Ard Fheis in Monaghan in April 1997 that major advances in the Westminster election would be followed by a breakthrough in the general election in the 26 Counties, was borne out when in June we secured the election, with one of the largest mandates in the country, of the first participating Sinn Fein TD in Leinster House. This election saw a major increase in the Sinn Fein vote in all constituencies where we contested. This pattern was repeated in the by-elections in Limerick East and Dublin North in March 1998. The momentum was maintained in a significant victory in the Mid-Tyrone by-election in January 1998.

The third test of our electoral machine came with the local government elections in the Six Counties. Once again the confidence of nationalist communities was manifested in increased Sinn Fein representation.

The Sinn Fein election successes of 1997 were the results, not of a passing mood among voters, but of years of work in representing our electorate, building our party, and increasing the efficiency of our activists and of our structures. These also will be the foundation for future advances.

Our electoral priorities in the year ahead will be increasing our representation in any poll that may result from negotiations, contesting by-elections as they arise, and preparation for the local government elections in the 26 Counties and EU elections in 1999.

This election will be one of the most significant we will ever have contested in the 26 Counties.

PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

The restoration of the IRA cessation in July 1997 paved the way for inclusive multi-party talks which began in September. They were led by two new governments in Dublin and London. Sinn Fein urged both the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrats Coalition and the Labour government to push forward to an agreement which would deliver fundamental political and constitutional change.

The course of the all-party negotiations was fraught with difficulty from the beginning. The principal causes of the deadlock were

• The refusal of the Ulster Unionist Party to fulfil its mandate to negotiate and seriously to engage with all the other parties
• The failure of the British government to challenge the unionist leadership on their intransigence.

In spite of the difficulties Sinn Fein negotiators engaged fully in talks across all three strands. After many weeks of fruitless talks the Propositions for Heads of Agreement were published in the New Year and represented a significant step backwards by both governments, and, in effect, a reward for unionist intransigence. The strength of nationalist opposition to these minimalist proposals was immediately manifest.

It was clearer than ever at this point, and remains the case, that while nationalists and republicans are generous and imaginative in their approach to negotiations, they are not prepared to see the opportunity for lasting peace reduced to a narrow agenda. Fundamental change must involve not only new institutions but a new constitutional dispensation and, crucially, real progress on issues of justice and equality.

At this 1998 Ard Fheis Sinn Fein reiterates our commitment to its republican objectives. We restate our adherence to the founding documents of our struggle, the Proclamation of 1916, the 1919 Declaration of Independence and the Democratic Programme of the First Dáil. We are totally committed to the achievement of Irish independence and the exercise by the Irish people of their right to national self-determination in a 32-County republic.

These objectives will be achieved, albeit not in the immediate short term.

The struggle for their achievement will continue beyond the term of the current negotiations and it is on this basis that Sinn Fein will judge the outcome of this phase of the process.

Absolute minimum requirements from an agreement therefore include:

1. No return to unionist domination in any form
2. No dilution of Irish sovereignty.

Essential elements for Sinn Fein are:

1. The ending of the British constitutional claim to the Six Counties
2. Justice and equality issues to be acted upon immediately.

Sinn Fein is prepared to play its part in the achievement of transitional arrangements, which end the political and constitutional status quo and facilitate the ending of partition and provide a dynamic towards an all-island solution. We remain strong in our commitment to our peace strategy and to achieving lasting peace through a negotiated agreement which has the allegiance of all.

JUSTICE AND EQUALITY

The test of any agreed outcome to negotiations will not be the quality of institutions but the quality of life of citizens. The past four years have seen no progress by the British government on the range of justice and equality issues which affect the lives of people in the Six Counties.

Immediate action on these issues is vital. These are matters of rights, not negotiated concessions. They include:

• the economic and cultural discrimination against nationalists must be reversed by a programme of legislative and other measures which reverse decades of second-class citizenship.
• the securing of equality, rights and justice needs to be visible and immediately tangible.
• equality of treatment should not even be a matter of negotiation and all provisions must be statutory, and must cover all aspects of life
• policing, human rights, the legal system and the administration of justice should come within the remit of North/South institutions
• economic development, fair employment and an end to discrimination are other important areas
• cultural rights are central to any settlement
• equality needs to be accorded to the Irish language
• a human rights commission should be established on an all-Ireland basis to ensure that the principle of equality applies in all areas of government and social life.
• the establishment of a Bill of Rights and an all-Ireland constitutional court responsible to a north/south council is essential, combined with changes in the administration of justice.

DEMILITARISATION

• The release of all political prisoners
• The disbandment of the RUC and its replacement with a police service which is representative of, drawn from and accountable to the community it serves
• The withdrawal of the British army to barracks pending their return to Britain as a first step towards demilitarisation and the dismantling of its military infrastructure
• The Royal Irish Regiment must be removed permanently from contact with the civilian population pending the early disbandment of its locally deployed units
• The repeal of the Emergency Provisions Act, the Prevention of Terrorism Act and other repressive legislation.

A GROWING FORCE

Sinn Fein is the fastest growing political force in Ireland. Sinn Fein is the the largest political party in the Six Counties. In the 26 Counties real progress has been made in building our party but very much more remains to be achieved. We must develop our politics and our organisation in the context of increased disillusionment among the electorate with the failure of the larger parties to deliver real change. The political spectrum has moved to the right and we have had a succession of coalition governments with almost identical social and economic policies.

While the success of the economy in the 26 Counties is praised the `Celtic Tiger' fails the equality test. This was demonstrated in the Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democrats budget which squandered a unique opportunity to redress the economic imbalance and to favour the disadvantaged. Instead the wealthy were rewarded and the poverty gap widened once again.

Sinn Fein throughout the 32 Counties in the year ahead sets itself the goal of representing more effectively our electorate on both the national issue and social and economic issues. We have undertaken comprehensive policy development and extensive reorganisation in order to fulfil our role. The commitment of all our membership is needed for that process to be successful.

The potential of Sinn Fein to grow and to provide to all the Irish people a real political alternative is enormous. Growing political strength for Sinn Fein will provide the dynamic for national progress, lasting peace and social and economic equality.

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