DICK Spring was an elegant full-back who was worth more than the three
caps he received for pulling on the green jersey, and would have had
them but for a bad back.
It is not an infallible rule of thumb but I have found that decent
rugby players tend to carry qualities from the field into the rest of
their lives.
If Irish politics had been able to follow the example of Irish rugby,
totally integrated for more than 100 years with hardly a trace of
religious bigotry, the island would be a damned sight safer place,
instead of just a damned place.
Tit for tat, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, any atrocity you
can do I can do fouler, the killing goes on, and it will not be stopped
by mellifluous condemnations in the House, appeals by clergy of all
denominations nor by peace marches, however worthy all of these
activities may be. There has to be a political solution.
So whatever one thinks of John Hume, and I am inclined to give him the
benefit of the doubt, he is one of a handful of politicians able to act
as a mediator. As for Gerry Adams, he is certainly a man who has
consorted with killers and one is constantly revolted by his hypocrisy.
But hand on heart, has he any more blood on his record sheet than
Yasser Arafat, now hailed throughout the world as peacemaker? If our
Government can have no truck with Adams, how come we could negotiate
with Archbishop Makarios or Robert Mugabe -- or even the old Jomo
Kenyatta? Yesterday's terrorist can quickly become tomorrow's freeman of
our cities.
Before we even come to Adams, however, let us go back to Dick Spring.
The six principles which he enunciated in the Dail, and which have been
the basis for discussion between Albert Reynolds and John Major, surely
provide a starting point.
I heard the proposals being condemned on the radio by Ian Paisley
because they contained elements of the Adams-Hume initiative; that is
hardly a rational argument. How many more Shankills will it take to
start the talks?
Mr Spring suggests that no change can be made in the status of
Northern Ireland without the freely expressed consent of a majority of
the people. If the unionists don't like any suggested alterations to the
constitution, then they will not happen.
Am I being naive
or missing something here? I thought that was the unionists' stated
position.
Spring also suggests the republic must change its constitution so that
people in the whole of the island should be free ''to determine their
own future''. Yes, indeed, Dick, and let us just be clear about what
some of these freedoms would be.
There would be the freedom to divorce, there would be the freedom to
terminate pregnancies on the same basis as in the rest of these islands,
there would be a clear division between the role of the church, any
church, and state. There would be freedom to call the Pope, and Paisley,
silly old fools if that is someone's honest opinion. Because anything
less will not be accepted by citizens of Ulster and I do not just mean
the Protestants.
Dick Spring's final point will stick in some craws but not mine. The
men of violence, and the women, let's not forget their role, will not be
allowed to come to the conference table unless they would stop the
killing.
The British Government, of course, says the same but insists the
killing must stop first. These positions are not irreconcilable. There
are also enormous advantages to be gained by the first side to announce
a ceasefire, as Adams knows.
And maybe that is what we will have
to accept, a temporary cessation while talks take place. For what is
the greater evil, talking to terrorists, some people's freedom fighters,
or burying more innocents?
I have family in Ulster and friends in the Republic. There is an
overwhelming desire for an end to the butchery which transcends borders
and religious differences.
This morning, in parts of the United Kingdom and in Ireland, people
are living in fear for their lives. We are supposed to be sophisticated,
civilised nations; this is not Yugoslavia, it is not Somalia; this is
happening before our very eyes and on our television screens, every
night.
I always had the feeling that, despite the UK-Irish Agreement, Mrs
Thatcher was not much taken by Ulster politics. She was resolute in the
face of terror, -- she was almost blown to bits herself after all -- but
she never thought it was a problem that could be solved by one of her
cherished maxims.
John Major's more patient style may bring more progress. He also has,
in Mr Reynolds, a much more straightforward character with whom to deal
than Mr Charles Haughey. And Mr Spring still has his eye on the ball.
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