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16 January 1997 Edition

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Ceasefires in Wonderland

It is easy to spot the double standards in Patrick Mayhew's attitude to the loyalist ceasefire. By his logic, because the CLMC has not claimed their recent attacks, their ceasefire is still in place.

Can anyone imagine the same attitude being taken towards the IRA? If the IRA decided not to claim their actions, would Mayhew consider their ceasefire intact? If he did it would be logically consistent with his position towards the loyalists. That he doesn't exposes how he treats republicans differently.

Mayhew's double standards are designed to prevent Sinn Féin from entering talks and to ensure the UDP and PUP's continued participation. It is a convenient denial of logic aimed at prolonging the life of the meaningless talks fiasco through to the next Westminster election.

The argument is not about whether the loyalists should be expelled but about why Sinn Féin is not included. What must be stressed is that talks are useless unless they are inclusive.

Mayhew's comments this week make it clear how bare-faced they are willing to be to ensure the talks aren't inclusive. This British government simply ignores ceasefires when it suits them and pretends they exist when they don't. In the Alice in Wonderland world of Stormont, ceasefires mean exactly what Patrick Mayhew wants them to mean.

Garda drugs strategy



Two stories in An Phoblacht this week raise serious questions about the Garda's anti-drugs strategy. There is evidence that, as part of an attempt to gather intelligence, they allowed drug dealers to import heroin into the 26 Counties which was sold on the streets of Dublin. At the same time the Garda have been harassing - and beating up - community anti-drugs activists trying to prevent heroin being sold.

The bottom line, particularly for those communities which have been ravaged by drugs, is that the Garda strategy is not succeeding. Not one major or medium-sized drug dealer has been charged, despite the endless Garda briefings that they have broken up Dublin's major drug dealing gang.

The real problem is that the Garda are not being held accountable. It is criminal that they can continue to target those who are fighting to rid their communities of drugs while they have drug dealers on the Garda intelligence payroll. A legitimate question is: who is protecting who?


An Phoblacht
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Dublin 1
Ireland