26 February 1998 Edition
Dúirt siad...
So tainted and devalued has this process been seen to become, that suddenly the old certainties of conflict and bitter silence seem not so bad in comparison.
Editorial from the Andersonstown News last week.
Sinn Féin is out but Sinn Féin is not down.
Gerry Adams after Sinn Féin was suspended from the talks. Friday 20 February.
If they think they can throw us out and then expect us to come back meekly when they decide, they have another thing coming.
Senior member of Sinn Féin on the party's suspension. Sunday Business Post, 22 February.
The reality is that we have not decided to return to the talks... We may not go back, yes, that's a possibility... Because the talks have lost credibility over the events of recent weeks.
Martin McGuinness on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Saturday 21 February.
I believe there's a broad spectrum of people who would be interested in seeing a return of the IRA campaign and within all of that I have not ruled out and do not rule out elements within the securocrat.military agenda, which has exploded bombs in the past.
Martin McGuinness again on the same programme.
The party [Sinn Féin] has demonstrated how essential it is to the process. No Sinn Féin meant no progress... The TV images of Sinn Féin's youthful looking, carefully gender balanced, delegations made the SDLP's appearances seem like a collection of aging, unmade beds.
Tim Pat Coogan, Ireland On Sunday, 22 February.
It does show that in critical situations there is no substitute for the United Nations and its Secretary General acting as the impartial objective referee.
A British UN official after the USA and Britain failed to satisfy their blood-lust in the Gulf by bombing Iraq.
We are not prepared to accept insults from the British government. We are not prepared to accept a refusal by the unionist leadership to negotiate with us. We are not prepared to accept their attempts to treat us as second-class citizens. We are not prepared to accept a condition that we go back to the talks where the power to throw us out remains in the hands of the chief constable of the RUC, Ronnie Flanagan.
Martin McGuinness at a Sinn Féin rally on Monday 23 February.
Maybe Ireland has been united already and they forgot to tell us... If that's the case it suits me. I am an Irishwoman and proud of it. If the bureaucrats have united the country I'm delighted - but surely someone should tell Gerry about it.
Fermanagh Sinn Féin Councillor Geraldine Cassidy speaking on behlf of a young mother in Fermangh, who received a letter from the DHSS regarding her cliam saying ``you cannot get Family Credit... You are not in Great Britain on the date you made your claim. Great Britain is England, Scotland and Wales''. Irish News Monday 23 February.
Editorial from the Andersonstown News last week.
Sinn Féin is out but Sinn Féin is not down.
Gerry Adams after Sinn Féin was suspended from the talks. Friday 20 February.
If they think they can throw us out and then expect us to come back meekly when they decide, they have another thing coming.
Senior member of Sinn Féin on the party's suspension. Sunday Business Post, 22 February.
The reality is that we have not decided to return to the talks... We may not go back, yes, that's a possibility... Because the talks have lost credibility over the events of recent weeks.
Martin McGuinness on BBC Radio 4's Today programme. Saturday 21 February.
I believe there's a broad spectrum of people who would be interested in seeing a return of the IRA campaign and within all of that I have not ruled out and do not rule out elements within the securocrat.military agenda, which has exploded bombs in the past.
Martin McGuinness again on the same programme.
The party [Sinn Féin] has demonstrated how essential it is to the process. No Sinn Féin meant no progress... The TV images of Sinn Féin's youthful looking, carefully gender balanced, delegations made the SDLP's appearances seem like a collection of aging, unmade beds.
Tim Pat Coogan, Ireland On Sunday, 22 February.
It does show that in critical situations there is no substitute for the United Nations and its Secretary General acting as the impartial objective referee.
A British UN official after the USA and Britain failed to satisfy their blood-lust in the Gulf by bombing Iraq.
We are not prepared to accept insults from the British government. We are not prepared to accept a refusal by the unionist leadership to negotiate with us. We are not prepared to accept their attempts to treat us as second-class citizens. We are not prepared to accept a condition that we go back to the talks where the power to throw us out remains in the hands of the chief constable of the RUC, Ronnie Flanagan.
Martin McGuinness at a Sinn Féin rally on Monday 23 February.
Maybe Ireland has been united already and they forgot to tell us... If that's the case it suits me. I am an Irishwoman and proud of it. If the bureaucrats have united the country I'm delighted - but surely someone should tell Gerry about it.
Fermanagh Sinn Féin Councillor Geraldine Cassidy speaking on behlf of a young mother in Fermangh, who received a letter from the DHSS regarding her cliam saying ``you cannot get Family Credit... You are not in Great Britain on the date you made your claim. Great Britain is England, Scotland and Wales''. Irish News Monday 23 February.