President of Republican Sinn Féin Ruairí Ó Brádaigh yesterday renewed his call for British withdrawal from Northern Ireland.
"History teaches us that there is no final settlement short of British disengagement from Ireland. No matter what Blair and Hain, Ahern and Kenny, Adams and Paisley, tell us, that is the situation," he said. "While the British government remains in Ireland, the historic Irish question continues to be unsettled, with all the consequences of that position."
Addressing the party's ardfheis in Dublin, Mr Ó Brádaigh said those who had ignored such realities had blinded themselves to the way forward. "The best hope in the wake of British disengagement lies in a nine-county Ulster as part of a new four-province federation, with power and decision-making shared naturally, not artificially, according to local majorities," he added.
He said that 20 years ago, they had been told the Provisional IRA "would never, never, never" enter Stormont or Westminster. "Now, having so far as was in their power stopped the war of national liberation and destroyed all arms under their control, they propose to accept and join the British police in Ireland," he said.
"We all accept policing but not British policing in Ireland. This is the harsh actuality behind the . . . 'qualified acceptance' of the St Andrews proposals."
