Danger in Irish Peace Agreement
April 15th, 1998
A letter to the Daily Telegraph which was published on 15th April 1998.
David Trimble’s article (April 13th) shows how, sadly, he has mistaken fair words for concrete actions. What he has agreed to is the most complex job-creation scheme for politicians imaginable without dealing with the central issue, the handover of IRA weaponry.
The only things that will actually be done are all things detrimental to the British position: an effective veto by the Irish on the functioning of the proposed Northern Ireland Assembly (strand 2, article 13); admission of Sinn Fein to executive power (strand 1, article 16); extension of the Irish government’s involvement in UK affairs (strand 3, article 5).
Under what should properly be called “security for terrorists”, Army surveillance installations will be dismantled (section 2 (ii)), Army numbers reduced (2 (i)) and emergency powers removed (2 (iii)).
For 30 years the security forces have been handicapped by insistence on treating terrorists as non-political civil offenders. Tony Blair and Mr Trimble, both lawyers by profession, now agree to the premature release on political grounds of people found guilty of the most wicked of crimes. The next time Mr Blair chatters about the rule of law, we will at least know what he is not talking about.
Mr Trimble could have bargained for a tariff – say 10 man-years of remission for every ton of weapons given up. Unless this connection is made, the Northern Ireland people – of both communities – would be well advised to vote No.