McGuinness: We won't be demonised
There is a crisis of confidence in the republican movement which could destroy the Good Friday Agreement, it was claimed tonight.
But Sinn Féin chief negotiator Martin McGuinness told his party’s Árd Fhéis that his party would not allow the Republican movement to be demonised or caught in a downward spiral that led to a return to violence.
Speaking during the opening address, Mr McGuinness said that the January 30 murder of Robert McCartney was a grievous crime that involved a small number of IRA volunteers.
He said: “But the lessons of the last few weeks go wider than that – and painful as it is, we republicans have to face the reality that there is a crisis of confidence that could destroy the Good Friday Agreement.
“I am not prepared to let our struggle be demonised, or to be caught in a downward spiral that leads inexorably to a return to violence.
“Instead publicans are determined to find a way however difficult and challenging, to put all conflict and violence behind us for good.
“We want to see all weapons put beyond use, to prevent criminality, to participate in policing on the right terms, and to pursue a purely political, peaceful and democratic path to the Irish unification that every one of us wants to see.”
McGuinness insisted that Sinn Féin was prepared to take hard decisions to kick start the ailing Northern Ireland peace process.
He said: “We face the mammoth and immediate task of rebuilding the peace process. We are absolutely determined that the peace process will not fail. We are willing to face up to the difficult choices but this is not just down to republicans alone but we will not be found wanting in facing up to our responsibilities and facing down our opponents.”
Mr McGuinness admitted that recent weeks had been very difficult for republicans and for the communities that they represented.
He said that he was hurt the most by criticism from the British and Irish government’s political opponents and the media.
He said: “We cannot allow republicanism to be diminished in this way.
“To do so would be a betrayal of our struggle, of our own personal commitment, of the hunger strikers and of those brave republicans who selflessly gave their lives and liberty for a noble and worthy cause.”
He compared the response of the IRA to its involvement in the McCartney murder as a stark contrast to decades of cover-ups by the British government in relation to shootings and tortures.
The Sinn Féin Árd Fhéis occurs this weekend against a background of crisis within Sinn Féin and the republican movement.
The party had planned to use its annual event to celebrate 100 years of existence and toast electoral success north and south of the border.
But instead it is mired in a dramatic chain of events which began with the Northern Bank robbery in December and included last month’s IRA-linked cash laundering racket in the Republic.
Looking ahead to the future, McGuinness predicted strong gains in next week’s by-elections and in the local government and Westminster polls in the north in May.