Gerry Adams avoids answering hard questions

Tuesday November 26, 2002 21:23

by doheochai - Socialist Party

Sinn Fein leader, Gerry Adams, attended a Sinn Fein Public Meeting in Shannon on Saturday night. In a town with a large population of people from Northern Ireland, Adams may have been expecting an appreciative audience. While many did come to hero worship, he also had to face some hard questions. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, getting the answers from Gerry Adams was far from easy.

Approximately 70 people attended the meeting, which followed on from a Sinn Fein members meeting for SF’ers from Clare, Limerick and Tipperary. Adams spoke on the theme of “building an Ireland of equals”. It was an enlightening speech, more for showing how much Sinn Fein were willing to compromise than anything else.

Adams started by talking about how the Irish had travelled the world without bothering anyone, telling the following story. St. Brendan went to America, had a few pints with the natives and then came home; Columbus went to America and turned the place into a colony. It was later pointed out to him that the Irish became some of the most ruthless slave-owners in the southern states of America in the 19th Century.

The thrust of his speech was that the Good Friday Agreement had to be implemented and that it must be a good agreement because Unionists and Loyalists opposed it. He stated that Blair promoted the interests of Unionists, so he expected Bertie Ahern to support the promotion of the interests of the Nationalist community.

He spoke of the continuing attacks by loyalist paramilitaries on the Nationalist community and called for the Patton proposals on the PSNI to be fully implemented. He stated that the primary objective was to achieve a united Ireland and that, if after 10 or 15 years we are not happy with the type of country we are living in we could change it.

He finished by saying, “we have a long way to go, but with your help we will get there”

Peace activist, Mary Kelly, asked why Sinn Fein weren’t condemning the actions of the Israeli army and what they intended to do in the future. Adams replied that every time he meets representatives of the US Administration he raises the issue with them, as he had done with Haas last week.

Socialist Party member, Dominic Haugh, pointed out that the Socialist Party regarded the Good Friday Agreement, rather than being an instrument of peace, was actually an instrument of division. He pointed out that while 90% of attacks were coming from the loyalist side, it was wrong to ignore the fact that sectarian attacks also originate from the nationalist community.

He asked Adams to explain why Sinn Fein’s Health Minister, De Bruin was privatising the Health service and quoted the Hayes Report and the fact that different Sinn Fein representatives was either supporting or opposing the report depending on which area they represented. Also raised was the issue of the term-time workers strike and the fact that Martin McGuinness refused to pay the workers despite the fact that Finance Minister Mark Durkan said money was available. Why did Sinn Fein councillors in Sligo vote in favour of refuse charges after doing a deal with Fianna Fail to secure the mayor’s position for Sinn Fein? Finally, referring to the closing comments by Gerry Adams, Dominic Haugh asked that if the Republican movement had a long way to go, should not the real question be, “What direction it was going in?”

Needless to say Adams did not answer any of the questions posed. He was rather condescending in his reply stating that he would not answer the questions because he lived in the real world. He said that the question of coalition was not whether Fianna Fail would go into Coalition with Sinn Fein but the other way around.

The real world of Adams and Sinn Fein is the world that expects Bertie Ahern to enter a Pan-Nationalist alliance with Sinn Fein. Ahern represents the interests of the Irish ruling class and no one else.

The real world of Adams is the world of shutting hospitals and privatising health and education, of attempting to defeat striking workers, to prove how responsible they are.

The real world of Adams expects that the implementation of “Patton” will actually change the nature of the state forces in Northern Ireland

The real world of Adams expects the working class in Ireland to repeat the mistakes of 1918. The Socialist Party will do its be to insure that the cause of socialism will not be put into the cupboard until some distant day in the future when, after a United Ireland, it can be taken out dusted down and then Sinn Fein might talk about it.