PIG'S breakfast, a dog's dinner, a monster raving looney proposal, a unionist agenda anathema to nationalists, an unholy alliance between Dublin and the SDLP. Consult your prejudice and take your pick. Abuse of the British designed doorway into all party negotiations on June 10th is rumbling on and on.
And yet. And yet. A separate, cooler, and more dispassionate assessment has been going on behind closed doors. For this, after all, is the long and winding road towards political compromise. And many fine horses will be transmuted into camels before negotiations between the Northern Ireland parties and the two governments are completed.
It was significant that John Hume sat mute in his Westminster seat while Seamus Mallon baited John Major for conceding the unionist demand for a forum and for not formally endorsing the SDLP idea of a peace referendum. It was also interesting that Ian Paisley ruled out negotiations with the IRA - rather than with Sinn Fein - in the aftermath of the complained of election process.
There was certainly more sound than fury in the initial responses. And, in the general uproar, the Alliance and fringe loyalist groups emerged as the only satisfied customers. But, as the main parties went off stage to measure the implications of the package as a whole, it was clear that pressure on Sinn Fein had become intense.
Gerry Adams declared the British initiative to be "anathema to nationalists" and to represent a unionist agenda. But the door to elections was being quietly left ajar. And then the cold, lethal voice of an IRA source said the proposals did "not contain the dynamic to bring all parties forward into meaningful peace negotiations, free from preconditions."
Reference to preconditions appeared to be on going IRA speak for "we will not decommission a single bullet or a bomb until the end of negotiations". A process of parallel decommissioning, as recommended by George Mitchell, was still being resisted.
THE hard line response by the IRA is deeply depressing. But it is hardly surprising in view of Sinn Fein's ardfheis which opens in Dublin today. Clear divisions exist within the republican movement over the ending of the IRA ceasefire and the role of democratic politics in securing a settlement. In such circumstances the only way a united front can be maintained is through a militant, blame apportioning approach.
The British government becomes "perfidious Albion". John Bruton and Proinsias De Rossa are "quislings" or worse. And the unionists are a problem that must be absorbed within an agreed Ireland. A similar finger pointing approach was adopted before the Letterkenny Sinn Fein conference in 1994 which, in spite of a raft of bellicose statements, led almost immediately to an IRA ceasefire.
This time, however, the situation is more fraught. Mr Adams and his close supporters do not have the same authority they once exerted. And pressure is being applied from within and without.
A faction within the INLA has cranked up the heat by retargeting loyalists and the security forces. But, given the murderous campaign between those for and against a ceasefire within that small organisation, yesterday's statement was something of a sick joke. It does, however, offer salutary evidence to the IRA of what might lie ahead if discipline is not maintained. And it underlines the danger that exists of a slide back into uncontrollable violence for so long as the IRA remains on a war footing.
Bertie Ahern moved yesterday to steady the situation and to keep pressure on the IRA. As the man Sinn Fein identifies as a key Dublin ally and the next Taoiseach, the Fianna Fail leader was moderation itself. He described Mr Major's package as "helpful".
And, in a rare passage of Irish/British understanding he declared: "It is reasonable enough... What else could he [Mr Major] have done?"
The previous night, Ray Burke had rounded on the Government for "a total failure of negotiating skills and capacity". But Mr Ahern was looking at the big picture. All party negotiations would begin on June 10th. And a camel of an election process was a small price to pay for political arrangements which saw the creation of a time locked, modest forum, with powers flowing directly from the negotiating body rather than vice versa.
The forum was such an unreal threat that Mr Ahern thought nationalists should become involved in it, if unionists joined the British/Irish parliamentary body and participated in the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation. Guaranteed loyalist representation at the negotiations was also an important advance, he said.
The Government was playing it cool. And John Bruton was almost invisible as Dick Spring took the weight of the Government's negotiations and responded to the outcome. For, having set the date for all party negotiations last month, the Taoiseach could only lose brownie points by becoming involved in the contentious detail.
Why offer Sinn Fein another whipping stick for its ardfheis?
Given the sensitivities of unionists to interference in Northern Ireland affairs, Mr Spring left the formal response to the SDLP. But he hoped the ground rules for negotiations and the transition documents would make the overall election package palatable to them. The key point, he said, was that negotiations would start on June 10th.
As to detail, the draft ground rules for all party negotiations provide for discussions on the three interlocking strands to begin on the same day. And undertakings suggested by Senator Mitchell will be required from the negotiating teams. But there is no certainty how or where the practical process of decommissioning will be addressed. The approach favoured by the Government involves the creation of a special sub committee with an independent chairman, along the lines of the Mitchell Report.
After the outcry by nationalists and unionists at Westminster, the first really positive response to the British initiative came from the United States. A White House spokesman welcomed the announcement of an election process, along with Mr Major's assurance that "the transition from the elections to the negotiations will be automatic and immediate." Shortly afterwards, Mr Ahern provided his important and courageous support.
All elements of the so called pan nationalist front" are now out of step with Sinn Fein. They are fully committed to a process of parallel decommissioning and to "the principles of democracy and non violence."
THE republican movement is at a crossroads this weekend. Debate floor of the ardfheis will not deal with an IRA ceasefire. But there will be a full exchange of views in separate and very private conversations. And the outcome may become clear, next month, as the Northern parties prepare to contest the elections.
Sinn Fein is still very much the poor relation within the republican family. That must change if the democratic path, is to be followed and reassurances given to unionists. Another temporary ceasefire would not be enough. As a guarantee of commitment to an agreed political settlement, Sinn Fein negotiators should be given plenipotentiary powers by the IRA. That way there could be no question of a return to violence before the democratic process was exhausted.
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