No alternative to Peace Process

I was the main speaker at the Sinn Féin Commemoration for Seán South in Limerick City on Jan 6.

Firstly, let me correct your editorial of Jan 8 where you state that Seán South and Fearghal O’Hanlon “blew themselves up in a bombing raid”. In fact these two men died from gunshot wounds they received when they took part in the IRA raid on Brookeborough RUC barracks in Co Fermanagh in 1957.

Unfortunately, in the media, the well attended Sinn Féin commemoration was overshadowed by the other event which you reported, and at which threats were issued. While this was newsworthy to an extent, I believe that the media, including your own, have blown the antics of a tiny splinter group out of all proportion. In doing so, you have also omitted the Sinn Féin event and, in your editorial, misrepresented our position.

You link the Limerick threats to the Unionist flag protests and state that in advancing the call for a referendum on Irish unity, as provided for in the Good Friday Agreement, we in Sinn Féin do “little to calm a fraught situation”. On the contrary, our call for a referendum is utilising the democratic and peaceful road forward created by the Peace Process.

In my speech at Seán South’s graveside I put our position clearly as follows: “The armed conflict is over. There is no place for armed struggle in the Ireland of today. The IRA fought the British government to a standstill and forced them to the negotiating table. The time inevitably came when armed struggle had to be set aside because republicans, through their mighty efforts, had constructed a peaceful and democratic road forward.

“That is an achievement of which we can all be proud and the Peace Process remains one of the great achievements, not alone of republicans, but of the Irish people in our time.

“To those who would attempt to shatter peace and to usurp the name of Irish republicanism our message is very clear. They represent no-one but themselves. They have nothing to offer and no way forward.”

Councillor Mícheál Mac Donncha

Sinn Féin

Halla na Cathrach

Baile Átha Cliath 2