A main plank of the Good Friday Agreement (GFA) was that Britain supported the wishes of a majority living in the six counties over the wishes of a majority in the free state but that subject to that condition that it was for the people of Ireland as a whole to determine the future of Ireland. Prior to the recent assembly election, I pointed to speculation that Britain was preparing legislation to unilaterally scrap parts of the protocol on the basis that it was to protect the GFA and that there was a significant proportion of the population that were opposed to the protocol. Following the election it has become clear that a majority of those elected are supportive of the protocol but notwithstanding that there is growing speculation that Britain is preparing legislation to unilaterally reject parts of the protocol and the DUP has indicated that it will not enter a new assembly unless the protocol is scrapped. What all of this means, of course, is that the British government is listening only to the voices of a minority here in relation to the protocol and is prepared to legislate to promote the interests of that minority of those in the majority.
If the British government is prepared to enforce the interests of the DUP over a majority in the six counties by legislation, the significance of that cannot be underestimated. Primarily it goes against its stated aims in the GFA to protect the wishes of a majority of the people, instead promoting the interests of a minority over the majority. Secondly it states that its intention is to protect and safeguard the GFA. That assertion works on the assumption that if it overrides the consensus in relation to the protocol that those assembly parties that support the protocol would still participate in an assembly where the British government has overridden their wishes in relation to that in order to support a minority DUP. In other words that to get a functioning assembly is to concede to DUP demands in the confidence that whatever the British government does will be accepted by the remaining assembly parties, or at least will not lead to them withdrawing from the assembly.
Those parties who support the protocol should have by now made it clear to the British government what the consequences would be if it was to legislate in support of a minority in relation to the protocol but that doesn’t seem to be the case. However, the more telling point here that political commentators have studiously avoided is that Britain’s intention to support a minority here over the majority undermines the basis of its claimed legitimacy for continued British rule, the idea that it has a democratic basis. What the parties here must now decide, and in particular Sinn Féin, is that if the British government decides to legislate in favour of the DUP regarding the protocol whether there is any effective democratic route to effect political change here. Will Sinn Féin participate in an assembly here when the wishes of a minority take precedence over the wishes of a majority by virtue of British government interference?
SEÁN O’FIACH
Belfast BT11
Plea for information on Dermot Hackett’s killing
O
n May 23 1987 Dermot Hackett was shot and killed while driving his bread van on the Omagh to Drumquin Road. The killing was carried out by the UDA/UFF and it has been claimed Ulster Resistance was involved in the planning and execution of the murder. Michael Stone was later sentenced to life imprisonment for his part in this and other murders, most notably the killing of three people in a gun and hand grenade attack in Milltown Cemetery.
Dermot was falsely accused by his killers of being a member of the Provisional IRA. This was simply untrue. Dermot worked for the St Vincent de Paul charity in his spare time and in the eyes of some this would have been enough to make him an enemy of the state. The claim that he was an active republican was based on the fact that in the last few months of his life he was repeatedly stopped and his van searched by the state security forces. On occasions the contents of his van were thrown onto the road. In the process, a dossier was compiled by the security forces which included photographs of Dermot. It is clear part, if not all, of this dossier was passed on to Dermot’s killers who acted on it with tragic consequences.
Some of the Hackett family believe the full story of Dermot’s death has yet to be told. They are acutely aware that Dermot would not have been killed had it not been for the information passed from the security forces to his killers. They are also aware that the planning and literal execution of Dermot would have involved many more people than were charged and sentenced. Apart from the transfer of intelligence documents, including photographs, the killing could not have been carried out without local knowledge of roads and the transfer of people and guns as well as the use of safe houses in the locality.
The family are making a plea, through Relatives For Justice, for anyone with any knowledge of the murder of Dermot Hackett to come forward with any information that would add to their knowledge of events around the killing. Dermot’s death had a devastating impact on the immediate family as well as the wider community and is still keenly felt.
If anyone has any information on this please contact me at Relatives For Justice, 39 Glen Road, BT11 8BB on
028 9062 7171 or pat.conway@relativesforjustice.com
PAT CONWAY
Belfast BT11
Alliance is not ‘progressive’
It was a shame to see progressive Green and certain progressive SDLP MLAs lose their seats largely to Alliance candidates.
While Alliance are portrayed as progressive in the media by way of their ‘Other’ designation, they are not a progressive party in the true sense of the word if one considers their socio-economic policies. Increasing third-level tuition fees; supporting water charges; favouring the use of the private sector in the NHS and cutting legal aid budgets are not progressive ideas by any stretch of the imagination.
With the additional vote share will come additional scrutiny and it will be interesting to see how they maintain their ‘progressive’ tag. There will be no Green MLAs to bring forward further climate legislation. With large parts of Claire Bailey’s former South Belfast constituency forecast to be under water by 2050, we will all be buoyed in a different way and we will look back upon this ‘progressive’ surge as the missed opportunity to steer ourselves away from the neo-liberalism that will have, by then, entirely submerged us.
N McMAHON
Belfast BT7
British double betrayal
There is no point in wasting words, or expressing surprise, on British double betrayal on amnesty and the protocol, so let me just quote the famous words of General De Gaulle: “For England... there is no alliance that holds, no treaty that is respected, no truth that matters.”
And Ireland – under its almost 1,000 years of England’s domination – is an enduring example of De Gaulle’s dictum.
Our ‘One Ireland Petition’ is now signed by more than 30,192 people. Our response to Boris Johnson’s perfidy is to encourage more people to sign this splendid petition: “Ireland, too, has the right to be one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
To sign this petition logon to www.change.org/IrelandOneNation
FR SEAN McMANUS
President Irish National Caucus, Washington DC
