17 September 1998 Edition
Back issue: Documents, talks and noises
Last week saw the beginning of a public debate on the analyses exchanged by Sinn Fein and the SDLP during their series of talks. It also saw an attempt by the Irish political establishment to, in the words of Progressive Democrats leader Des O' Malley, ``seize back the initiative from the men of violence'', in the form of a re-launch of the invitation to unionists to talk to the Dublin government.
The Sinn Fein/SDLP talks have changed the Irish political landscape quite perceptibly by moving the issue of Irish self-determination back towards the top of the agenda as well as drawing the public's attention, especially in the South, to the fact that republicans have articulated an analysis of the situation which they are willing to debate with any and everyone.
As Mary Holland noted in her Irish Times column last week: ``What Provisional Sinn Fein says will be condemned publicly by most politicians North and South. That goes almost without saying. Nonetheless the documents will be studied minutely by officials and politicians in London, Dublin and Belfast''. Republicans, she added, must be part of the solution as ``the fierce loyalty which the Provos now command in whole areas of the North is such that any political settlement which excluded Sinn Fein would be seen to outlaw a considerable section of the Catholic community.''
The Sinn Fein/SDLP talks have changed the Irish political landscape quite perceptibly by moving the issue of Irish self-determination back towards the top of the agenda as well as drawing the public's attention, especially in the South, to the fact that republicans have articulated an analysis of the situation which they are willing to debate with any and everyone.
As Mary Holland noted in her Irish Times column last week: ``What Provisional Sinn Fein says will be condemned publicly by most politicians North and South. That goes almost without saying. Nonetheless the documents will be studied minutely by officials and politicians in London, Dublin and Belfast''. Republicans, she added, must be part of the solution as ``the fierce loyalty which the Provos now command in whole areas of the North is such that any political settlement which excluded Sinn Fein would be seen to outlaw a considerable section of the Catholic community.''