Analysis: Sinn Fein's political journey
By Martina Purdy
BBC | July 28, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/4648387.stm
Sinn Fein saw the Good Friday Agreement as a bridge to a united
Ireland. But the party was expected to journey towards its goal
without the IRA.
This was not only the logical consequence of Sinn Fein's decision to
fight elections in the 1980s. It was an imperative of the agreement.
Sinn Fein argued it needed time to make politics work and show the IRA
that it was no longer required. Benefits flowed from the agreement.
IRA prisoners were released.
The Stormont government has been suspended since 2002
The door was opened to power-sharing at Stormont with unionists. Sinn
Fein persuaded the IRA to decommission, and turned crisis to advantage.
Commentator David Adams, who was one of the agreement's loyalist party
negotiators, said Sinn Fein had played the process well.
'Tactics'
"Sinn Fein's tactics in the north are to create perpetual instability
while being careful that someone else takes the blame for that and
they present themselves as thwarted peace-makers."
Certainly Sinn Fein has made gains by being seen as the victim of
unionist intransigence. The party has advanced on both sides of the
border, winning five TDs in the Dail.
But its most marked growth has been in Northern Ireland where it has
overtaken the SDLP in successive elections both at Westminster and
Stormont.
The allegations around ongoing IRA activity and involvement in
Colombia, Castlereagh and Stormontgate, when the IRA was accused of
spying, undermined the process, but not Sinn Fein - not with many
voters, anyway.
The suspension of Stormont in 2002 indicated patience had run out with
the IRA. The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, came to Belfast to make his
"fork-in-the-road" speech, demanding republicans choose between
violence and democracy.
He said the IRA could not continue half in and half out of the
process. It was not only wrong, he said, but it would not work any more.
Republicans did not rush to react. Instead Sinn Fein and the IRA
continued, one talking peace, the other apparently engaged in
organising the Northern Bank robbery.
The fall-out from this was the catalyst for the latest initiative,
coupled with the alleged republican cover-up in the murder of Belfast
man Robert McCartney.
Gerry Adams' rating dropped in the Republic and with the process in
Northern Ireland stalled, and with an eye to electoral advantage,
Adams urged the IRA to embrace a purely political path.
For Sinn Fein, and the IRA, the prize is the same, but it has become
clear that it is Sinn Fein that is best placed to achieve the
objective, as the IRA in effect is now an impediment to power in the
Republic - the real prize.
History
The Irish Justice Minister, Michael McDowell, has warned the party is
going nowhere until the IRA gives up violence and ends criminality. He
said the days of ambiguity over IRA intentions are over and the IRA
has an appointment with history.
But the last steps may yet prove the hardest. This is not a sprint,
but a marathon. According to former IRA prisoner Tommy McKearney, it
is unrealistic to expect a break in the relationship between Sinn Fein
and the IRA immediately.
"Relationships, knowledge, friendships don't disappear overnight so
while officially there may be a change in policy it is unrealistic, it
is not practical to think all those contacts are going to disappear
overnight. It couldn't be done."
Other milestones remain in the future, not least support for policing.
It is also expected to take some time for unionism to accept the IRA
has broken with the past.
That could, however, advantage Sinn Fein who will play the thwarted
peace-maker. In that event, Gerry Adams will argue that the excuse of
the IRA is gone, but power-sharing has not come back.
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