Sir, - An Taoiseach's courageous stand on decommissioning is very much to be welcomed. By publicly lambasting Sinn Fein, he speaks for the vast majority of Irish people.
Sinn Fein`s argument is that as decommissioning is not a pre-condition for its participation in the assembly, the unionists do not have a case. At the very heart of the agreement, however, lies a democratic governance structure agreed to by Sinn Fein, a structure whose very essence depends on decision making by exclusively peaceful means.
Sinn Fein, by fudging this essential prerequisite, twice says "no" to democracy; once by insisting on participation in the assembly while backed by a private army; again by ignoring the democratic will of the Irish people. Eighty-eight per cent of the electorate on this island voted for an end to violence and the threat of violence, and 84 per cent of those recently polled in Northern Ireland said they wanted decommissioning to start now.
Another "out" Sinn Fein uses is that it is being asked to do the impossible - deliver on decommissioning on behalf of the IRA. This position certainly has some credibility, even though the two organisations are organically linked. However, the logic of this position is that if Sinn Fein wants to sit in the assembly, it will have to break with an IRA that adamantly refuses to disarm. This may be hard for Sinn Fein, as it will become a much less significant party without the backing of militant republicans. But how else can it establish its truly democratic credentials? Either Sinn Fein's members are serious about being democrats, or they are not. And there are important historical precedents: the radical nationalist, Eamon de Valera, broke with the IRA after 1927, as did Prionsias de Rossa more recently. - Yours, etc.
Robin Bury, Derek Simpson, Anne Holliday,
The Reform Movement, P.O. Box No. 6338, Dublin 2.
