NI policy document: Were they doves or pigeons? A Fianna Fáil spokesman insisted last night that three white doves, traditional symbols of peace, were used for the launch of the party's policy document on the North, entitled Peace - The Next Steps.
In one of the campaign's more lighthearted moments, dark mutterings from Opposition sources that the birds in question were, in fact, "rock pigeons", which might even have been sprayed white, have been categorically rejected by Fianna Fáil.
Actors are told they should never perform with animals or children, and the same might apply to politicians working with feathered creatures. Nevertheless, the party got the winged trio into the air and went on with the serious business of the news conference.
Doing the honours at Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin yesterday were Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern, Dublin North-West TD Pat Carey and Dublin South Fianna Fáil candidate Maria Corrigan.
The 18-page policy document pledges that, if returned to government, Fianna Fáil would press for "a single all-island corporation tax [ rate] of 12.5 per cent" to stimulate economic growth in Northern Ireland.
An anti-sectarianism fund for projects in "flashpoint and interface areas" would be set up. The party would also seek the "permanent removal"of British troops from the streets of Northern Ireland, and press for the full decommissioning of loyalist and dissident republican weapons.
Fianna Fáil would "maintain a focus on the issue of collusion in our contacts with the British government" and establish a "transparent mechanism" to deal with all outstanding matters in relation to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974.
Mr Ahern said: "The issue of peace on our island has been one of the key elements of our party for the last 20 years. We set out a constitutional republican analysis of Irish unity; we had discussions 20 years ago with those people, particularly Sinn Féin, at times when it was very difficult.
"Thankfully, albeit 20 years on, people have come around to our analysis of how anyone who has an aspiration for a united Ireland can do it, not down the barrel of a gun, not with a bomb in a car, but by dialogue and by trying to convince others that our aspiration for Irish unity is one that they should perhaps embrace," the Minister said.
A Conflict Resolution Unit (CRU) has already been set up in the Department of Foreign Affairs and, in parallel, an Academic Centre for Conflict Resolution would be established to provide "academic and analytical expertise in this area".
An annual €25 million stability fund, overseen by the CRU, would assist conflict resolution in the developing world. Irish "roving ambassadors" would be appointed to assist in the resolution of particular conflicts. Funding would also be provided for fourth-level scholarships in the area of conflict resolution.
When it was put to him that the North was not an issue on the doorsteps, he replied: "You're wrong, it is coming up on the doors on the basis that it has been a resounding success and that my party have been central to that success."
