20.07.1995

Talks falter on

GERRY ADAMS said of the British Government’s demand that the IRA must decommission their weapons before Sinn Fein would be allowed a seat at the negotiating table, “The British government are saying that the peace process is finished ... We are starting to go down a slippery slope from whence we came.”

Sinn Fein wants to be an all-Ireland, fully legal, nationalist party. It entered negotiations with the British because it saw no future in continuing armed resistance.

Both sides know that the threat is a negotiating tactic, as indeed is the British demand for the arms to be handed in. Both sides have constituencies to appease.

Adams later said, “I would not be surprised if there was movement on the prisoners.” Obviously behind-the-scenes negotiations are continuing as usual.

The release of Private Clegg demonstrates that the whole ‘peace process’ is being paced to bring maximum advantage to the beleaguered Tory Party. The problems of Ireland, which imperialism can only solve negatively, at the expense of working class rights, are very much secondary considerations.

Arthur Lawrence