Bodenstown Speech by Sinn Féin Mid-Ulster MP Martin McGuinness 1995

• Speech_ArdFheis95 (185 KB)

Today we have come to honour and pay tribute to one of Ireland's most exceptional freedom fighters.

Wolfe Tone was a man of struggle. Our sacrifices and our struggle have brought us to this Wolfe Tone Commemoration, the first since the IRA cessation last year, determined that the progress made in the Irish peace process made in the Irish peace process will bring all of us, Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter, to the threshold of a new beginning for Ireland and the Irish people. As we gather here today, at the grave of Wolfe Tone, Irish Republicans can take pride in the fact that it is primarily our efforts which have brought us to the verge of this new beginning.

On behalf of you all I extend our deepest respect and gratitude to all those who have dedicated their lives to the cause of Irish freedom. To the families of Republicans killed in struggle we offer our continuing solidarity and support. To Republican prisoners of war everywhere we also offer our heartfelt thanks, together with an assurance that we shall not rest until each and every man and woman imprisoned as a consequence of the conflict in our country has been released.

Oglach Pól Kinsella from Derry belonged to the new generation of Republicans. Pól died of leukemia whilst a prisoner of war. His early death last December was made all the more tragic by the refusal of the British government to allow him to go home to his family to die - even in the light of the IRA cessation the British persisted in their vindictive treatment of prisoners.

Since we were here last June, a number of Republicans have gone to their rest. We send our love and condolences to their families. It would be impossible to mention all their names individually but I have selected four names as representatives of all those Republican men and women who have died since we were here last year.

Wolfe Tone was as we are - an advocate of a free and independent Irish Republic. He believed in equality between all sections of society in Ireland, in unity between all the people of Ireland and in freedom from British interference in the affairs of Ireland. He believed as we believe - that together all who live on this small island can govern Ireland peacefully. He desired, as we desire, the ending of British rule in our country and the creation of a free, independent, sovereign and united Irish Republic. He thought as we do - that Catholics, Protestants and Dissenters of Ireland should live together in equality and in peace.

We have come here today to rededicate ourselves and the people we represent throughout our island to these guiding principles. Lest there should be any doubt - this is what we stand for, these are our beliefs and no one, no government, no army, no power on this earth can remove our right to advocate that Ireland is entitled to be united and free.

Irish Republicans are convinced that unity between Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter is coming. It is often said that there are two traditions, or two cultures, in Ireland. That is not true - there are scores of traditions, maybe hundreds, which all make up a rich and diverse culture. All those traditions are equally valid - they are all part of what we are.

The slogan 'Brits Out' is not a call, as is sometimes mischievously suggested, for the banishment of Ireland's Unionists. We don't seek to exclude anyone - the peace process, just like the philosophy of Irish Republicanism, in founded on inclusiveness.

The consent and allegiance of Unionists is needed to secure a peace settlement. However, the Unionists cannot have a veto over British Government policy. The balance has to be tilted away from the negative power of veto and towards the positive power of consent. Far healthier than the constant cry of 'No' is the search for consent, the consideration of the possibility of consent and the negotiation of consent.

I am convinced that there is an increasing questioning of traditional political positions among rank and file Unionists. Many accept that far-reaching change is inevitable , even desirable. They are seeking real leadership from Mr. Molyneaux and Mr. Paisley but regrettably they are still being told to say 'No'.

Between us, Catholics, Protestants and Dissenters, we are will able to agree our own future. I appeal once again to the Unionists - bring your hopes and your dreams, your fears and your concerns, bring them to the negotiating table and let us all, as equals, negotiate the democratic basis on which we can all live on this island in peace.

The concept of all-party peace negotiations in Ireland is supported by an expectant and watching world. Only the British Government stands in the way of real peace talks. The focus is now on Britain. Almost one year since the IRA cessation there is incredulity and amazement that the British Government would dare to contemplate allowing the first anniversary of that cessation to pass without committing itself wholeheartedly to the initiation of all-party talks.

The limelight is now on the British Government as the rest of the wold anticipates such an historic development. Of that there can be no doubt. There must also be no doubt that the current British opposition to talks can be overcome by the combined efforts of all those, both in Ireland and internationally, who support an effective peace process. From Washington to Brussels, Johannesburg to Canberra, the world is waiting, waiting in anticipation of a new beginning for Ireland and its people.

For centuries the threat of and the actual use of British weapons, legal and illegal, have denied the Irish people their right to be free. In every decade since partition Irish people demanded their rights. They were suppressed, contained and persecuted.

Then came a difference, a very big difference.

In the past twenty five years Irish Republicans and Irish Nationalists from all over Ireland have risen up and challenged British injustice in Ireland. But - and it is a big 'but' indeed - this time they couldn't contain us. Successive British governments have never, never, not once in the course of the last twenty five years - despite all the power, wealth, repression and technology at their disposal - they have never been able to contain us or extinguish our desire for justice and freedom.

Before the grave of Wolfe Tone we stand united, confident and more determined than ever to achieve complete freedom for this country.

This is a time of critical importance in the history of our country. The IRA cessation of last August has created a unique opportunity for a peace settlement based on eradicating injustice. The world has welcomed this opportunity. It is an opportunity which ultimately the British government will either accept or reject. It must not be squandered.

Before and after the Irish Republican Army's announcement of a complete cessation of military operations Irish Republicans have worked tirelessly to create the conditions which would allow each party to the conflict to engage in all-party peace talks.

The Sinn Féin delegation which has been involved in talks with British government representatives for the past seven months has ow requires a new realism from the British government. That realism must be grounded in an acceptance that the most important task facing all of us is to address and remove the root causes of the conflict. We can only hope to do this in all-party peace talks. All-party peace talks within an agreed timeframe must be the next stage of the peace process.

The failure of the British government to initiate all-party peace talks effectively devalues and subverts the peace process. The demand for the decommissioning of IRA weaponry must be seen for what it is -a lame excuse to prevent real peace talks. There is a general recognition that if the British government continues to insist on the unilateral decommissioning of IRA weaponry before substantive political dialogue this represents an absolute obstacle to political development. However, it is equally obvious and inevitable that there must and will be a universal decommissioning of arms once an all-encompassing political discussion and framework is agreed upon.

The dangerous and cynical game that Major and Mayhew are engaged in has neither intellectual substance nor political credibility. It is, in essence, public relations masquerading as politics - public relations being employed as a substitute for policy and public relations that threaten the fragile process of reconciling the people of Britain and Ireland.

Major and Mayhew are alienating Irish and world opinion by their pathetic 'hard-men' impersonations. They have no allies apart from a Unionist leadership that, as can be seen by last Thursday's by-election turnout in North Down, is hopelessly out of touch with its own constituency, and a motley bunch of right-wing Tory backbenchers.

It may be psychologically difficult for the British government to renounce the use of violence in Ireland and come to terms with the failure of its policy of rule by domination. We have been patient, more patient than many commentators would have predicted, simply because we are convinced that the prize of peace is too great to throw away. We have, up to now, been resigned to the fact that we would have to put up with a certain amount of British bluster and threats.

But rhetoric must eventually give way to substantive dialogue. The British tactic has been to deliberately and wilfully put the cart before the horse by demanding "Decommissioning before politics". The Sinn Féin position has been constant and is grounded in political reality:

• Decommissioning through dialogue and politics

• Permanent peace through negotiation and agreement

The British government has raised the decommissioning issue up in the full knowledge that it cannot be resolved at this stage.

So why have they persisted in placing this unrealisable watching world.

It has been suggested that the British government is merely asking for a symbolic gesture from the IRA. We, of course, know differently. We know that such a gesture would constitute the actual surrender of the IRA.

The British government also seeks the surrender of the Republican people. The Republican people have not struggled, have not resisted, have not endured generations of British injustice and repression, they have not come through all of that undefeated to then surrender to the British government.

The British government must recognise, and must be convinced by others with influence over it, that the existence of arms and armed groups in our society is a clear indictment of the failure to address and resolve the central causes of conflict.

The Six County Statelet was created amid the threat of arms. Partition was only confirmed when the then British leader, Lloyd Geort they will only do so when the British government actively encourages them to do so. There has to be an 'open door' policy for the forthcoming peace talks - everybody must be at the table and all issues must be on the table.

Talks which do not include Sinn Féin cannot possibly deliver a democratic peace settlement. The attempt to place obstacles in the way of our participation is, in effect, also putting obstacles in front of all other parties by preventing their participation in inclusive negotiations. It is, in effect, an attack on the peace process itself.

It is time to move on to the next phase of the peace process. The British government must abandon this artificially contrived crisis. A deliberate attempt by the British government to impede the peace process has been marked by a determined propaganda thrust aimed at convincing people that the process for resolving the causes of conflict will take years. This is totalt of Irish politics. If, however, the British government's position is to throw up obstacles which prevent the core issues being addressed then the causes of conflict will remain.

If the British government is unwilling or unable to get to grips with the mechanics of conflict resolution it could well benefit from taking heed of the experience of others who are in the process of resolving seemingly intractable conflicts. In South Africa tomorrow Gerry Adams will meet with Nelson Mandela as part of our attempt to learn from other conflicts. The 'open door' policy employed in South Africa has been successful in bringing all the conflicting parties together and ensuring a peaceful transition to democracy. If the British government is serious about peace, if it genuinely wants to see peace in Ireland, why doesn't John Major go to South Africa and talk to Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk and ask them for the secret of real peace negotiations.

unite Ireland. Pax Britannica has failed. Wolfe Tone's vision - a vision which was shared by many of the ancestors of the Unionists of today - was of an Ireland where nobody would be either privileged or damned on account of his or her religion, where all would enjoy equal rights and where the future of Ireland would be shaped by the people of Ireland alone. That Ireland is coming, make no mistake about it. Catholics, Protestants and Dissenters will resolve their differences and learn to live together in peace in the land of their birth. As we work towards that goal we can take heart from our greatest strength - the unity of our people. We are unbreakable - and the tide of history is with us.

Beir bua, mo chairde, tiocfaidh ár lá.