British need to commit to peaceful and democratic activity - Gerry Adams MP
Over recent days the news has been dominated by the revelation that Denis Donaldson was a British agent working within Sinn Fein for as long as twenty years. When we stand back from the sensationalism, there are profoundly important issues to be addressed. And if we reduce all of this to its core, the stark reality is that a small number of faceless and unaccountable British securocrats have been allowed to collapse the democratic institutions established under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement and supported by the people of Ireland in referendum.
This cabal of anti-Agreement forces
have not only subverted the democratic decision of the Irish people but
they are actively working against the policy of their own government.
This is the stark reality that Tony Blair must deal with as we face into
the New Year and a renewed attempt to see the Good Friday Agreement
implemented in full.
The fact is that
there was no Sinn Féin spy ring at Stormont.
The
fact is that the documents allegedly stolen were found in the home of the
British agent.
The so-called
Stormont-gate affair was a carefully constructed lie created by the
Special Branch in order to cause maximum political damage to the Good
Friday Agreement.
The fact is that
the collapse of the political institutions, the Assembly, the Executive
and the all-Ireland ministerial council was caused by elements within the
British security system.
It is no
surprise that the British intelligence services are continuing to target
Sinn Fein. Our political project threatens the interests of those who wish
to maintain the status quo. These people are continuing to fight a war
against Irish republicans. They are obsessed with notions of victory and
defeat. They resent the fact that, despite all of their unlimited
resources and money they could not defeat the IRA.
Ten,
fifteen and twenty years ago these same people were orchestrating a murder
campaign against our party through their control of the loyalist death
squads. The British state continues to deny and hide truth about their
policy of collusion. And by protecting those involved they have allowed
these people to continue their activities unchecked. So at every point in
the peace process where we have seen progress or the potential for
progress, we have also seen the effects of the continuing activities of
the securocrats.
Raids that find nothing,
but which are conducted in the glare of media cameras, arrests which
command newspaper headlines and charges which are brought in a blaze of
publicity and then quietly dropped some time later.
What we are seeing now
is a rearguard action by old-RUC elements, trying to stop the tide of
history. That is why we are seeing examples of political policing more
brazen than ever before. Televised raids and arrests have replaced the
death squads, but the motivation remains the same - to defend the British
state in Ireland and to target Sinn Féin because our peace project
threatens their power by delivering real and meaningful change.
We
have been warning about the negative power of those in the British system
who are against the Good Friday Agreement and against the new
dispensation. It is those people who have engineered the conditions
whereby the political institutions were suspended.
Here you have the
stated policy of the Irish and British governments being subverted by
agencies of one of the governments. Here you have agencies of the British
Government actively opposing British policy and subverting an
international agreement and treaty.
If
Britain's war is over in this country, if British policy in Ireland is to
become totally peaceful, then the British Prime Minister has to rein in
the securocrats. The activities of the British security agencies in Ireland
must be brought to an end. Political policing must be brought to an end.
Achieving this as part of our wider efforts to see the Good Friday
Agreement fully implemented remains the focus for Sinn Fein as we face
into the New
Year.
2005
will be recorded in the history books as one of those pivotal points when
profound developments changed the future. The IRA announcement in July
that it had formally ended its armed campaign and it's decisive move in
September to deal with the issue of IRA arms were initiatives of lasting
significance. These developments have opened up the possibility of real
and significant progress in early 2005.There will undoubtedly be more
challenges and difficulties in the period ahead. That is the nature of
peace making.
But these elements who oppose the peace process can only slow down
the process of change. They cannot stop it. Ultimately their efforts will
end in failure as the rest of us move forward in building a new and better Ireland.