NORTHERN NATIONALISTS would still be “on their knees” and “second class citizens” had it not been for the IRA, Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams has said.
Addressing the annual Easter commemoration at west Belfast’s Milltown cemetery yesterday, Mr Adams said he was proud of the IRA and his association with it, although he denied being a “militarist”.
He welcomed the fact that the violence had ended, and also recognised its cost.
“The war should never be glamorised or repeated,” he said, “but neither should the republican involvement in it – the [IRA’s] involvement, the involvement of our patriot dead – be permitted by us to be criminalised or retrospectively delegitimised.”
Referring to the renewed controversy over his role in the Troubles, Mr Adams said: “This is bigger than me. This is about us as a republican community, especially in this city of Belfast. This is about our integrity and the just nature of our cause.
“The Irish Republican Army – Óglaigh na hÉireann – was known as the people’s army . . . I am not a militarist and I never have been, but without the IRA the nationalist people of this state would still be on our knees. We would still be second-class citizens.”
Addressing claims that he had been central to the IRA in Belfast, Mr Adams continued: “So bear in mind that this relentless campaign against me is not really about me at all. It’s about trying to defeat the struggle.”
He further commended the IRA, claiming it was “an undefeated army when it took brave decisions to support the Sinn Féin peace strategy and to create the present opportunities for a new future”. This decision was central to political advances of recent years, he said. “This society, the citizens of this island, would not be in the new place, a better place particularly here in the North, but for the dedication and determination of republicans.”
He also appealed for common cause with unionists. “We want to work with unionists,” he said. “This party is more active on grassroots issues in working-class unionist areas of this city than at any time in my lifetime.” He said republicans took seriously their “republican heritage”, which “embraces the radical Presbyterian tradition of the United Irish Society”.
“We are serious also about wanting to make friends with unionists . . . This great, proud party believes that a free, independent and United Ireland makes political and economic sense.”
His message was echoed by Martin McGuinness, who addressed the commemoration in Carrickmore, Co Tyrone. Republicans were ordinary men and women volunteers who had stood against oppression, and demanded the rights and entitlements of the Irish people, he said.