"New Labour" crumbles before "Auld Orange" - 07-07-97

GARVAGHY - "all the terrible apparatus of the the police state"

The decision of the past twenty four hours in relation to Drumcree have effectively written Sec of State Mowlam out of the political equation in Ulster. What one journalist, at her mid day press conference, accurately identified as the "corporate gutlessness" of herself and her advisers will come back to haunt her and Ulster in the coming months and years.

 No one disputes that the decision both she and the RUC faced was difficult. Squaring the circle between unyielding factions is never easy. However, the fundamental blunder she has made is to retract her guarantee to the people of the Garvaghy road to communicate her decision, when she took it, to them directly.

Pressed on this point she unconvincingly evaded the question by referring to the protracted nature of the negotiations which "went on into the early hours". Nationalists and Unionists observing this performance will jointly conclude this is a woman you cannot trust.

 Garvaghy 3 was an undignified spectacle to those observing it and no doubt its impact internationally will do much to undermine the carefully cultivated gloss of evenhandedness in its Ulster dealings portrayed by the Blair government.

 The overwhelming weight of security forces and the imagery associated with them brought to mind Churchill's comments in relation to Nazi Germany about "all the terrible apparatus of the the police state". The random discharge of baton rounds at close range, the overwhelming use of force also graphically re-emphasised that the role of the RUC in repressing the Nationalist community appeared closer to that portrayed by Sinn Fein and less that the British government would like us to accept.

 The lasting impression of this day will not however be the violence of the early hours, the weighty repression of the morning or the swaggering lunch time passage of the last days of Unionism. It will be the blubbering evasiveness of Mo Mowlam, spluttering and blustering like so many before her, on the steps of Stormont.
 
 

Text of Letter to NI Secreatry of State - 07-07-97

 Dear Secretary of State,

 I write to place on record our organisations concern at the decision taken by you, in consultation with the RUC Chief Constable, to allow an Orange march along the Garvaghy Road, Portadown on Sunday.

 The march was clearly opposed by those who live in the area and the manner in which their rights were usurped was shameful. Moreover the sequence of events which has unfolded since indicate that this decision was fundamentally flawed.

 There is no doubt that the agreement to allow this provocative parade to proceed has caused considerable damage to the hopes for a lasting peace settlement. There is obviously a need for the British and Irish governments to move speedily to redress this by urgently implementing a fully inclusive dialogue with all political parties in N. Ireland.

 We would also place on record our surprise that guarantees, clearly articulated by you, to the residents of the Garvaghy road, which committed you to personally communicate your decision to them in respect of the march were not honoured.

 Over the past twenty years the discharge of role by successive Secretary of States in N. Ireland has hardly engendered confidence.

 The Celtic League, which has monitored the situation in N. Ireland for almost 30 years, did detect a sense of confidence in what appeared to be a new evenhandedness by your Office.

 It is clear from comments by nationalist spokesmen in the North of Ireland that your actions have belied that confidence.

 Yours faithfully,

 J.B. Moffatt,
pp. Celtic League

Royal Ulster Constabulary unsuitable to police - 02-06-96

 Over the past three nights there have been disturbances in Northampton in England involving groups of several hundred and necessitating the deployment of over 150 Police, some in riot gear.

 Despite the protracted nature of the disturbances the Police have managed to contain there operation within the norms expected i.e. they have not seen fit to deploy let alone use firearms.

 Contrast this with the brief disturbance in Ballycastle, in the north of Ireland last week. A very much smaller and short lived disturbance apparently necessitated the RUC to utilise the firearms they still carry as standard.

 Because it was Ulster, the fact that shots were fired gained little prominence in the UK media.

 No significant government politician in the N. Ireland Office saw fit to question the total lack of restraint exercised in this situation.

 Great play is being made presently throughout the British Isles with almost unanimous support for the process of peace in Ireland.

 Can there really ever be peace when the Police Force deployed in the Six Counties remain trigger happy?

 J.B. Moffatt

Text of letter sent to Sir Patrick Mayhew, 13th July 1996

 I write to express the concern of our organisation about the events currently unfolding in the north of Ireland which are directly as a consequence of the decision taken to allow the Drumcree march to proceed.

 The "public order" argument advanced at the time this astonishing "U turn" was undertaken is one that the Chief Constable of the RUC and those he consulted with, including yourself, will have to justify. At least one person has already been killed and many, including police officers, injured. The cost in damage, fear and intimidation can only be speculated on. The disastrous consequences of this decision are, quite understandably, being quantified in relation to the process of dialogue which both sides in the Ulster conflict had started to embrace. Hopefully the present situation can be stabilised and a more meaningful dialogue opened with all sides. Having been to the north of Ireland several times in the past two years I personally was struck by the relaxation that had occurred and the degree of normality that was returning to everyday life - this cannot be lost.

 There is, however, another disastrous spin-off from Sir Hugh Annesley's misguided move and that is in relation to policing within the overall Island of Ireland. Whatever one's views of the RUC, I believe all would agree that the force is large, armed and well resourced. It is backed up, in relation to the civil order element of its work, by considerable numbers of military personnel. This substantial force has stood aside in the face of possible mob violence. What on earth do you believe is the message this sends to the organised criminal elements in both the north and the Republic?

 The so called "Loyalist" gangs who make their living via extortion, drugs trafficking and vice now are aware that if they wear the orange sash, bang the Lambeg drum or wave the Union Jack, the RUC will run away or worse, as at Portadown, assist their progress. In surveying the wreckage of recent days, one could be forgiven for concluding that the RUC have awarded a spectacular "own goal" to those who seek its disbandment!

 There is presently much speculation about the future of the RUC Chief Constable and calls from all sides for his resignation. This will mean little as he is due to retire shortly. There will undoubtedly also be calls for your resignation, again this is of little consequence to you as you also will shortly retire.

 The people of Ulster and indeed the whole of Ireland cannot, however, retire from the mess that has been bequeathed to them. They will have to go on and we can only hope that there are sufficient numbers on both sides of the community with a will so strong for peace that they can extricate this situation. In the meantime it would assist if the British government would admit a mistake was made.

 Yours sincerely,

 J.B. Moffatt

Text of Letter from Celtic League to U.S.A. Embassador (Dublin) - 13-07-96

 Dear Ambassador,

 I attach a copy of a letter forwarded to the Northern Ireland Secretary setting out the concerns of the Celtic League following recent developments in the north of Ireland.

A considerable investment has been made by a wide range of individuals and governments, including the United States, in encouraging a dialogue to resolve the long running dispute in the six counties.

 The recent inertia of the British government resulting in a resumption of armed struggle by the IRA had seriously frustrated the opportunity for peace. However nothing prior to the events in Portadown last week had seriously threatened to derail the process. This would now seem to be a serious possibility.

 The spectacle not only of provocative marches but the scenes of RUC Officers bludgeoning aside peaceful nationalist protesters on the Garvaghy road could have been calculated to have produced the violent reaction the north is now enduring.

 It is the view of the Celtic League that the majority of people in northern Ireland desire peace. That fact was clearly demonstrated when President Clinton visited Ireland. Your government moved swiftly to criticise bombings carried out by the IRA. Will you now set out a criticism of the United Kingdom after its disgraceful betrayal of the nationalist community. Peace in the north of Ireland cannot be achieved at any price and certainly not by allowing a substantial percentage of the population, the catholic community, there to be treated as second class citizens.

 Given the strong traditional link between the United States and Ireland, and the good Offices your President has used to date, we urge your government to use every effort to assist in the retrieval of the Peace process and the establishment of inclusive dialogue.

 Yours sincerely,

 J.B. Moffatt

RIOT GUN ENQUIRY TOO LATE - LETHAL WEAPONS MUST BE BANNED - 01-08-96

 The move comes following fierce criticism of the RUC for its less than even handed handling of disturbances following the break up of a peaceful protest by residents of the Garvagh Road area of Portadown when Police forced through a previously banned Orange march.

 The use of plastic bullets and their forerunners, the rubber bullet, has always attracted controversy. Of 17 people killed to date by the weapons, 16 have been from the Catholic nationalist community. Eight of those killed have been children.

 Well documented cases of abuse of so called guidelines for the use of the weapons indicate that the many deaths and hundreds of serious injuries have been caused by the RUC discharging the weapons, in contravention of orders, at the upper body and head of demonstrators.

 Only one RUC constable has ever been charged arising from the deaths and in that case (the death of Sean Downes in 1984) he was acquitted.

 Despite calls by the respected US intermediary in N. Ireland, Senator Mitchell, that use of the weapons should be reviewed, it has taken the unprecedented discharge of over 6000 of the weapons against Catholic demonstrators during the recent disturbances to force the British to act.

 The obscene misuse of the weapons to intimidate Catholic Nationalist demonstrators was carried by TV stations world wide and it was obviously this highly visible "slap in the face" for the Mitchell report which forced the review.

 Along with others committed to peaceful change in N. Ireland, the Celtic League will campaign for their withdrawal. A resolution to this effect will be moved at the Celtic League AGM in Brittany on August 10 1996.

 J.B. Moffatt, General Secretary.