27 August 1998 Edition
Repression will lead to injustice
The Dublin and London governments have made a grave error of judgement by using the Omagh tragedy to introduce what they both admit is extremely repressive and draconian legislation.
It is a foregone conclusion that the implementation of these new laws will lead to abuses and miscarriages of justice.
What is particularly regrettable is that neither government has learned the lessons of recent history. Instead, they are determined to implement an old agenda. The measures will not work in that they will not in any way decrease whatever support exists for those who would currently engage in armed actions. In fact, the measures will alienate increasing numbers of people each time they are used.
The suspicion must also be expressed that the measures will one day be used against all shades of political opposition.
If Bertie Ahern's proposals are implemented as suggested, convictions of accused people will be secured on the flimsiest of grounds. The refusal of a person to answer questions in Garda custody is now enough to back up a Garda Chief Superintendent's suspicion that the accused is a member of a proscribed organisation. This is a very worrying development and bears all the hallmarks of the repressive measures which contributed so effectively to deepening the conflict in previous years.
One of the purposes of the Peace Process and the Good Friday Agreement was to consign to the past all the vestiges of conflict, repression and injustice. This, it appears, both governments have now forgotten.
The past 30 years are littered with abuses of power by police forces on both sides of the Irish border and in Britain. The Birmingham Six, Guildford Four, Ballymurphy Seven, Nicky Kelly and Don O'Leary are names which should stand as stark reminders of what happens when the state opts for repression.
Martin McGuinness was correct when he pointed out that the blunt measure of repression and draconian laws is the wrong way to tackle those who are trying to wreck the peace process and that people power, the force of popular republican opinion and political progress are the most effective ways and the only reasonable ways to isolate such elements and render them impotent.
The civil rights of all citizens in Ireland, North and South, and those in Britain are now being diminished by laws which will have no positive political effect.
The near unanimous consensus among Irish and British politicians and parties for the swing towards repression is depressing. The folly of political developments over recent days is understandably being obscured by the folly of those who carried out the Omagh bombing. However, the seeds of future injustices are now being sowed. Unfortunately, the pace is being dictated by what commentators once called the `politics of the last atrocity'. What we must however attempt to re-establish is the primacy of politics and political progress which is the only way forward to lasting and durable peace.
It is a foregone conclusion that the implementation of these new laws will lead to abuses and miscarriages of justice.
What is particularly regrettable is that neither government has learned the lessons of recent history. Instead, they are determined to implement an old agenda. The measures will not work in that they will not in any way decrease whatever support exists for those who would currently engage in armed actions. In fact, the measures will alienate increasing numbers of people each time they are used.
The suspicion must also be expressed that the measures will one day be used against all shades of political opposition.
If Bertie Ahern's proposals are implemented as suggested, convictions of accused people will be secured on the flimsiest of grounds. The refusal of a person to answer questions in Garda custody is now enough to back up a Garda Chief Superintendent's suspicion that the accused is a member of a proscribed organisation. This is a very worrying development and bears all the hallmarks of the repressive measures which contributed so effectively to deepening the conflict in previous years.
One of the purposes of the Peace Process and the Good Friday Agreement was to consign to the past all the vestiges of conflict, repression and injustice. This, it appears, both governments have now forgotten.
The past 30 years are littered with abuses of power by police forces on both sides of the Irish border and in Britain. The Birmingham Six, Guildford Four, Ballymurphy Seven, Nicky Kelly and Don O'Leary are names which should stand as stark reminders of what happens when the state opts for repression.
Martin McGuinness was correct when he pointed out that the blunt measure of repression and draconian laws is the wrong way to tackle those who are trying to wreck the peace process and that people power, the force of popular republican opinion and political progress are the most effective ways and the only reasonable ways to isolate such elements and render them impotent.
The civil rights of all citizens in Ireland, North and South, and those in Britain are now being diminished by laws which will have no positive political effect.
The near unanimous consensus among Irish and British politicians and parties for the swing towards repression is depressing. The folly of political developments over recent days is understandably being obscured by the folly of those who carried out the Omagh bombing. However, the seeds of future injustices are now being sowed. Unfortunately, the pace is being dictated by what commentators once called the `politics of the last atrocity'. What we must however attempt to re-establish is the primacy of politics and political progress which is the only way forward to lasting and durable peace.