“they don’t belong in the new Northern Ireland..”
Just a thought, but what will happen to the legislation on decommissioning following the devolution of policing and justice powers?.. ANYhoo, Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, MP, continues his campaign on behalf of.. whom exactly? UTV carry half of the available quotes. There’s much more in this report. According to the Secretary of State
“If nationalists and republicans felt that somehow they were going to be excluded from power-sharing in law and order, I think quite quickly you would see quite a lot of disquiet.”
So much for that ‘possible resolution’ then.. And those other quotes
He said dissidents had no support in the Catholic community and he contrasted the RIRA and CIRA groups with the mainstream republican movement of the 1980s. “They could elect (IRA hunger striker) Bobby Sands,” he said.
Ah yes, they have “no political mandate”..Shaun Woodward continues
“But the idea that anyone from RIRA’s leadership, if that’s the word for it, could be elected… I don’t think they could actually be elected on to a postage stamp. These are people who have no community support, but they do have a bit of capacity, hence their ability to put five shots into the shoulder of a policeman who, thank God, didn’t die.
“But so long as they’ve got some kind of opportunity, I suppose they have some kind of a goal. And the best way, therefore, to make them completely pointless is to actually remove any psychopathic conception of a goal that they have.
“It’s about making sure the dissidents have got nowhere to go and they become an ever-dwindling number of ageing people.”
And the Probation Service opening up “lines of communication”?
The NI Secretary of State had, earlier, explained the reason for his concern
Mr Woodward said: “One of the things that worries me about the amount of time that is left between stage one and stage two of devolution is that it presents an opportunity for dissidents.
“I don’t think it is by chance that we’re seeing more (dissident violence) than we have at any time over the last four or five years.
“They think their time is running out and they’re right, their time is running out because they don’t belong in the new Northern Ireland.”
Mr Woodward said the best way to isolate dissidents was to copperfasten devolution with the transfer of policing powers.
Since the reports repeat that, “Sinn Féin insists the move is a commitment of the St Andrews agreement that paved the way for shared government in the North”, it’s worth pointing out, again, that the only “commitment” in that document was to a target date – despite what the deputy First Minister apparently thought. And here’s another reminder of what the deputy First Minister said on May 28th.
“However, agreement between the political parties (as you well know) remains the key determinant before detailed steps can be taken to implement devolution of justice.”
[Alert the amphibious squadron? - Ed]
Is this thread supposed to be about decommissioning…a comparision between the Provos and the dissidents…or thread #789 about May being a “target date”?
Maybe I’m wrong, but isn’t the decommissioning legislation reserved for Westminster? Devolving P&J;only lets the locals get their hands on certain, relatively minor powers, and I can’t see Westminster allowing them to deal with something like this.
It is Shawn Woodward that does not belong in Ireland.
if he was to clear off back to England, along with the 5000 strong garrison and the MI5 spooks in Hollywood… then there would be no CIRA or RIRA.
But Harry…wouldn’t he have to take all the Prods with him too???
…….and then RIRA and CIRA would have to have a civil war among themselves to sort out who would be in power
…… while the Shinners went to court to try and copyright the term ‘IRA’ and protect the valuable T-Shirt and Calendar revenues
if he was to clear off back to England, along with the 5000 strong garrison and the MI5 spooks in Hollywood… then there would be no CIRA or RIRA.
That’s like a burglar saying if only people just gave him their possessions, then he wouldn’t have to steal.
There would still be the CIRA because they are the National Army.
Continuity Not Compromise,
you could have added that they also represent the completely non-sectarian repuublican force in Ireland, dedicated to uniting Protestand, Catholic and dissenter.
For those who would doubt this, may I present Exhibit A: selling arms to loyalist terrorists/drug dealers/gangsters; Exhibit B: Facilitating the import of drugs for said motley crew; Exhibit C: Meeting, speaking regularly with and working for those decent English gentlemen stationed in that big building at Holywood.
They are, it must be said, the pride of Ireland.
“It is Shawn Woodward that does not belong in Ireland.
if he was to clear off back to England, along with the 5000 strong garrison and the MI5 spooks in Hollywood… then there would be no CIRA or RIRA.”
I, and he can take his supermarkets with him. And that extra “l” in Holywood.