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The Irish Republic boasts a non–
discriminatory policy toward the
five percent of its population which
is Protestant. Its constitution guar–
antees that there shaU be freedom of
religion.
The constitution states: "Freedom
of conscience and the free profes–
sion and practice of religion are,
subject to public order and morality,
guaranteed to every citizen."
Protestants claim that in practice
this guarantee is ignored. The issue,
they say, is not limited to the free
practice of one's faith. It involves
the whole way of Ji fe of Irish Protes–
tants. Divorce, permitted in Ulster,
is banned in the Irish Republic. The
freedom to plan one's family - a
gigantic issue affecting lives in a
very personal and powerful way - is
not encouraged in the Republic.
Film censorship is much stricter. A
knowledge of Gaelic is required in
sorne jobs, especially the civil ser–
vice.
All of these and other issues
would prove discriminatory against
Protestants if they were to become a
part of the Republic, claim militant
Ulstermen.
The Sunningdale
Controversy
In January of this year, Mr. Liam
Cosgrave (prime minister of Eire),
Mr.
Brian Faulkner (former leader
of the Northern Ireland Executive)
and Mr. Edward Heath (then prime
minister of Britain) met, along with
thei r advisers, at Sunningdale in
England to hammer out a common
policy on the security of Ireland.
A major proposal in the resulting
Sunningdale agreement, ratified in
May by the Northern Ireland As–
sembly since suspended, was the
eventual setting up of a Counci l of
lreland made up of represeotatives
of both Ulster and Eire, to consult
over security and police matters on
an ali-Ireland basis. The agreement
was seen by many observers - until
the collapse of the Ulster Executive
brought about by the Protestant loy–
al ist strike - as the best hope for
restoring peace in lreland.
10
But while three quarters of the
Catholics in Northt!rn lreland ap–
proved of the Council of Ireland
proposal, only a quarter of the Pro–
testants were in favor.
(London
Times,
April 19, 1974.)
Even if there had been agreement
on Sunningdale among the more
moderate Ulstermen, there would
still be the problem of gaining ac–
ceptance for it from the militant
IRA and militant Protestants. And
although the concept of power-shar–
ing in Ulster is still clung to as the
only real hope on the horizon, the
Sunningdale agreement's chances of
success have virtually evaporated in
the face of the Protestant backlash
which toppled the Executive.
Sunningdale was seen by many
Protestants as a vehicle for the even–
tual union of Ireland.
On the day following ratification
of the Sunningdale concord carne
th e paralyzing loyalist strike
throughout the province. The Ulster
Unionists, led by Harry West, Wil–
liam Craig and lan Paisley, went
along with the Ulster Workers'
Council, the Ulster Defence Asso–
ciation, and the Ulster Volunteer
Force in backing the strike. Militant
strikers threatened stores, businesses
and factories, closing them down
and bringing the Greater Belfast
area to a virtual standsti ll.
The fact is that while politicians
in London, Belfast and Dublin seek
answers, their solutions are simply
finding no support among the
people. There is a yawning chasm
between political ideas and political
realities in Northern Ireland.
How does one use a legal system
to control people engaged in illegal
activities? The IRA is outlawed in
both Northern and Southem Ire–
land, yet it operates despite the law.
And its operations, widely pro–
claimed as "on the way out" by
many politicians less than two years
ago, are growing.
lt
is one thing to
legislate and another to control the
"triggermen" and their bombs.
As in Vietnam, no government
pact will be able to bring real peace
in the province so long as the law is
fiouted by forces divided into para–
military blocks willing to gain their
ends by any means, including the
endless and barbarie sacrifice of
human life.
Will the British Leave?
The death toll in Ireland has not
been limited to the Irish. While
many hundreds of civilians have
been killed, more than 200 British
soldiers have also perished.
Almost reminiscent of the pow–
erful public lobby in the United
States which eventually brought the
troops borne, the first voices are now
being raised - albeit in a whisper so
far - against the continuing in–
volvement and the death of Britons
in a war that is not theirs. On the
day following the Sunningdale rati–
fication, a campaign was launched
by sorne forty people to get up a
petition of one million names,
aimed at bringing the troops home.
An
opinion poli published in the
London Times
showed that of Brit–
ish voters, the largest segment of the
electorate would welcome a unifi–
cation of Northern and Soutbern
Ireland , ind ependent of Britain .
"There may well be an element of
'let's get Northem lreland o ff our
plate at any cost' underlying that
viewpoint," said the
Times.
As violence in Northern lreland
mounts, will there be a strong call
by the people of England to with–
draw British soldiers?
If
there is such a call, it may not
fall on deaf ears. The Labour gov–
ernment is taking a different tack
than the Conservatives on the Irish
problem. Labour's decision to legal–
ize Sino Fein (the political wing of
the Provi.sional IRA) and the Pro–
testant Ulster Volunteer Force,
whjJe aimed at widening the politi–
cal dialogue on the crisis, could be
interpreted as a first sigo from the
Labour govemment of a lack of re–
solve to see the crisis through.
The IRA has not forgotten that
when the Labour govemment was
last in power, Mr. Wilson talked of
the
reunion of Ireland within 15
years.
PLAIN TRUTH August 1974