Democracy in Northern Ireland received a body blow with the
postponement, yet again, of the Assembly elections by a Government
which is intent on totally ignoring the wishes of its citizens
here.
The May 29 elections to the Stormont Assembly should have
been allowed to proceed so as to provide an opportunity for
the various political parties to get a fresh electoral mandate.
Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Government, however, were
not prepared to risk a result at the ballot box which would
have sounded the death knell for the Belfast Agreement, a
process that has been absolutely disastrous for Unionism and
has produced major concessions for republicans.
The majority of Unionists are now convinced that the Agreement
signed in 1998 has worked against their interests and considerably
weakened the position of Northern Ireland within the United
Kingdom.
The Westminster Government is clearly not prepared to allow
the return of a devolved administration without the participation
of Sinn Fein-IRA and, with the SDLP unwilling to go into government
with unionists without republicans, the chances of getting
a workable administration from the constitutional unionist
and nationalist parties are not good.
Realistically, after the revelations of the Stormont IRA
spy ring, the Castlereagh Special Branch Office break-in and
the Columbian affair, there is no chance that a majority of
unionists will give their consent to a power-sharing administration
that involves republicans, unless the IRA totally disbands
and decommissions all of its illegal weaponry.
Even then, the evil legacy of past IRA atrocities would still
be around to haunt the process!
Unionist confidence in the political process that emanated
from the Belfast Agreement has been shattered by the long
train of concessions made to IRA-Sinn Fein and now there are
a further rake of gains to be made by republicans from the
Joint Declaration, resulting from the recent negotiations.
Lagan Valley Ulster Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson accurately
described the Joint Declaration as "a Sinn Fein charter",
with the plans to remove adequate security from border areas,
reduce the level of troop deployment in the Province, further
weaken policing, inflict perverse human rights legislation
and, most appallingly, give an amnesty to republican "on-the-run"
terrorists who have carried out the most heinous crimes against
innocent victims.
There is even legislative provision in the Joint Declaration
for a devolved Ministry of Justice, which could in all probability
be filled by a Sinn Fein-IRA activist.
This so-called Government initiative must be opposed by unionists
on all fronts, if the disastrous consequences of the Belfast
Agreement are to be reversed and proper forms of democracy
restored.
Unionists of all shades must unite at once to torpedo the
Government's agenda, which is conducted under the guise of
attempting to restore a devolved Assembly in Northern Ireland,
but is very carefully shaped towards the gradual development
of a united Ireland.
Labour Government policy, of course, is in favour of cutting
Northern Ireland off from the Union and all the honeyed words
and pretences from Tony Blair and his NIO ministers about
their acknowledgment of the status quo are a complete sham.
Unionist power in Northern Ireland is in their strength in
numbers, and they must exercise this in no uncertain manner
when they are eventually given the opportunity to do so at
an election.
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