REPUBLICAN prisoners, who had been instrumental in securing the IRA ceasefire, were now wondering if they were the forgotten people of the peace process, according to the former Taoiseach, Mr Albert Reynolds.
Speaking at the annual Old IRA commemoration at Crossbarry, west Cork, Mr Reynolds said that he had received 18 letters from republican prisoners in the Republic, Northern Ireland and Britain, over the past few weeks, reiterating their commitment to the peace process. "Without exception, the letters were supportive of the peace process and expressed the wish that the ceasefire would be restored", he said.
He said that "gestures" were now needed to get the peace process back on track and to persuade the IRA leadership that the British were in earnest. One such gesture, which would go a long way towards restoring confidence, would be the release of Patrick Kelly, who has been transferred from Britain to a jail in Northern Ireland.
Mr Reynolds continued: "He is within weeks of dying. He could and should have been released long before now, because he is a threat to nobody. In the past week, I have sent a message to the British Prime Minister, Mr Major, seeking Patrick Kelly's release on humanitarian grounds. I have pointed out that he has only weeks to lived and that he should be allowed out.
"His death in prison would only serve to create another republican martyr. His release, on the other hand, would be a gesture that could help to tease the peace process forward and, just now, need gestures like this."
From the beginning of the peace process, the issue of arms decommissioning had "poisoned" trust and confidence. "When we began the process, decommissioning was never a precondition as far as I was concerned or as far as the British Prime Minister was concerned. My feeling is that the entire decommissioning issue started the breakdown of the process because the British seemed to want to continue moving the goalposts. More than anything else, this has poisoned the peace process."
Mr Reynolds said that the INLA statement that it was returning to violence was extremely worrying. The danger was that the INLA announcement could interfere with the patience and discipline of the loyalist paramilitaries, who had shown exemplary behaviour.
The messages of support for the peace process which he had received from the prisoners amounted to a hopeful sign and should be built upon.