30 January 1997 Edition
Idiocy of British rule
Two statements by Patrick Mayhew this week showed up the idiocy of British rule in Ireland.
In the first he made comments familiar to anyone who has lived through the past 27 years. It was the standard ``we will hunt the IRA to the ends of the earth'' speech which is regularly brought off a shelf in the NIO and dusted down.
We have heard it all before and, like every time it has been given, it will add nothing to the search for a solution to the conflict. It is mere blustering hot air.
But what makes it particularly offensive at this time is that it was delivered in the week of the 25th anniversary of Bloody Sunday when the people who should be hunted to the ends of the earth are those who gave the orders which left fourteen Irish people dead on the streets of Derry.
Mayhew's speech will rightly be treated with contempt.
The second sign of idiocy was Mayhew's defence of a planned NIO propaganda film comparing sectarianism in the Six Counties with the situation in Germany in the 1930s. Mayhew's words were a long way from his ``cheer up, for heaven's sake'' comment last summer when Orange sectarianism strutted through the streets.
And nowhere in his comments this week was there any acknowledgement of his government's responsibility for the sectarianism which is now rife in the Six Counties. Britain's actions during Drumcree encouraged sectarianism by allowing the Orange Order to assert their brand of supremacy.
No doubt the truth is lost on Mayhew that in Nazi Germany it was also the government which was responsible for sectarianism.
John Bruton's call for an independent inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday is to be welcomed. In the face of overwhelming evidence there is now no credible excuse which a British government can have for refusing an inquiry.
But what John Bruton and his government must do immediately is to put pressure on the British through all diplomatic channels to set up an inquiry.
The fact of new evidence is not enough to force Britain to cough up the truth. It will require pressure from governments and from the mass of people of goodwill to grant the relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday their just demand - the truth. John Bruton should now follow up his words with urgent action.
In the first he made comments familiar to anyone who has lived through the past 27 years. It was the standard ``we will hunt the IRA to the ends of the earth'' speech which is regularly brought off a shelf in the NIO and dusted down.
We have heard it all before and, like every time it has been given, it will add nothing to the search for a solution to the conflict. It is mere blustering hot air.
But what makes it particularly offensive at this time is that it was delivered in the week of the 25th anniversary of Bloody Sunday when the people who should be hunted to the ends of the earth are those who gave the orders which left fourteen Irish people dead on the streets of Derry.
Mayhew's speech will rightly be treated with contempt.
The second sign of idiocy was Mayhew's defence of a planned NIO propaganda film comparing sectarianism in the Six Counties with the situation in Germany in the 1930s. Mayhew's words were a long way from his ``cheer up, for heaven's sake'' comment last summer when Orange sectarianism strutted through the streets.
And nowhere in his comments this week was there any acknowledgement of his government's responsibility for the sectarianism which is now rife in the Six Counties. Britain's actions during Drumcree encouraged sectarianism by allowing the Orange Order to assert their brand of supremacy.
No doubt the truth is lost on Mayhew that in Nazi Germany it was also the government which was responsible for sectarianism.
Bloody Sunday Inquiry
John Bruton's call for an independent inquiry into the events of Bloody Sunday is to be welcomed. In the face of overwhelming evidence there is now no credible excuse which a British government can have for refusing an inquiry.
But what John Bruton and his government must do immediately is to put pressure on the British through all diplomatic channels to set up an inquiry.
The fact of new evidence is not enough to force Britain to cough up the truth. It will require pressure from governments and from the mass of people of goodwill to grant the relatives of those killed on Bloody Sunday their just demand - the truth. John Bruton should now follow up his words with urgent action.