[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 38 (Wednesday, March 10, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E382-E383]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     NORTHERN IRELAND PEACE PROCESS--ST. PATRICK'S DAY, MARCH 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 10, 1999

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, as Saint Patrick's Day approaches once 
again, permit me to share some thoughts with my colleagues concerning 
the peace process in Ireland.
  Ireland is at another critical crossroads in its search for a lasting 
peace and justice. The difficult struggle in the north of Ireland is of 
concern to millions of Americans, as well as the peace loving people 
all over the world.
  Last year was an historic chapter in Irish history. The Good Friday 
accord was signed on April 3rd. The Irish people, both in the north and 
south, overwhelmingly endorsed that peace accord in a public 
referendum. The people in the north in May then elected, as part of the 
terms of the peace accord, a new Northern Ireland assembly to govern 
much of their own internal affairs.
  Regrettably, as has so often been the case over the last several 
years, the issue of IRA arms ``decommissioning'' is still a major 
obstacle to further progress in the effort to bring about a permanent 
lasting peace and real concrete change to the north of Ireland. These 
are common goals which we, and most of the people in all of Ireland 
accept, and want desperately for their children and for future 
generations.
  What is still lacking is the political will and leadership on the 
ground in the north, especially in the unionist community, to begin to 
bring about the much needed real change, genuine ``power sharing'' and 
an end to the unsatisfactory status quo of unionist domination.
  The arms issue is once again being used as the old ``unionist veto'' 
which blocks progress and full implementation of the Good Friday peace 
accords.
  In particular, the decommissioning issue is being used to block the 
creation of a new Northern Ireland cabinet level executive intended to 
help govern the north, as well as to help implement the new North/South 
bodies under the Good Friday accord. All of the steps needed to devolve 
that power sharing arrangement have been taken by Westminster, and now 
all we need is strong leadership from the Northern Ireland Secretary of 
State, the British government and the unionist leadership in the north 
to create the new executive.
  The new cabinet executive must include the second major nationalist 
(Catholic) party Sinn Fein. It won that legitimate right through the 
ballot box and the democratic process to participate and govern the 
north, as well as to participate fully in the new North/South cross 
border bodies to govern the new Ireland.
  Like it or not, the unionists must acknowledge that Sinn Fein has a 
legitimate democratic mandate, which under the terms of the accord, 
entitles them to two ministerial posts on the new Executive Cabinet to 
be formed.
  The Good Friday Accord did not make the issue of IRA decommissioning 
a precondition to Sinn Fein's entry into government and the new 
institutions it established. It provides only for best efforts and the 
hopeful completion of the arms decommissioning process by the year 
2000.
  What is needed is not more calls for symbolic arms destruction 
gestures in the midst of a genuine cease-fire, but substantial power 
sharing as envisioned by the Good Friday accord.
  The entire complex Good Friday accord and peace process will work 
only if everyone keeps their word and does not seek revenge on those 
portions of the agreement they now profess to dislike.
  There can be no unilateral re-negotiations now of portions of the 
accord that some parties decide they don't want to honor, especially 
now that the day for power sharing is soon to be upon them.
  Yet, sadly, the IRA arms issue is once again being used as a red 
herring to re-write and undo the Good Friday accord and to thwart the 
will of the Irish people who voted in massive numbers for the accord 
and for peaceful political change.
  It is time to get on with it, and put an end to the unionist veto 
which for far too long has been used to maintain the unsatisfactory 
status quo which is in the north of Ireland today.
  We all know far too well how political vacuums in the past have been 
filled in Northern Ireland. No one wants a return of violence on all 
sides.
  Change must come on the ground. The nationalist community must be 
given equality and be given their rightful voice in the future of the 
new north. Many in the nationalist community have chosen Sinn Fein to 
represent them in the new government and no one has the right to try to 
undo that election.
  We also need to see new and acceptable community policing in the 
north, and equal opportunity and a shared economic future.
  Our House International Relations Committee will be holding full 
committee hearings on April 22nd on the need for new and acceptable 
policing in the north. We will be taking constructive testimony from 
witnesses from the north and the leading international human rights 
groups on the question of reform of the Royal Ulster Constabulary 
(RUC), and the compelling need for new and acceptable policing. The new 
police service must be both responsive and accountable as envisioned by 
the Good Friday accord.
  We look forward to constructive ideas for meaningful police reform in 
the north to emerge from our hearings and examination of this vital 
question. More than 9000 witnesses and 2000 written submissions on this 
important issue have been presented to the Patten Commission which has 
been examining this issue in northern Ireland.
  Our hearing efforts will add to that record and will consider police 
reform in other parts of the world, which have brought about change and 
improved public support for the police.
  We must work together to bring about concrete meaningful change and 
reform in the north.
  At a minimum, if the RUC is not disbanded, as many in the nationalist 
community are demanding based on years of harsh experience and great 
pain and suffering, we need real and concrete responses and a major 
change as soon as possible. At a minimum, there must be root and branch 
reforms of the RUC including such proposals as follows:
  1. Bringing in new police leadership, starting at the very top, who 
will publicly apologize to all of the community for past policing 
abuses

[[Page E383]]

to help bring about much needed reconciliation. The new leadership must 
also actively work to bring about fundamental changes essential to 
building broad cross community support through, among other things, 
actively working to make the police representative of the community as 
a whole.
  2. A new, younger police personnel, including new mid-level officials 
who truly reflect and substantially represent the whole community they 
serve, which will help the new policing gain badly needed community 
acceptance and support. If this fundamental reform requires a one time 
temporary change in the Northern Ireland Fair Employment laws to help 
build a representative police service, it will be justified by a 
current 93% dominated Protestant force.
  3. Clear and unequivocal right to dismiss (consistent with due 
process) by the head of the policing service of any police officers who 
do not measure up to new performance and human rights standards, and/or 
who based upon evidence of their human rights records have failed to 
respect fundamental human rights, and/or the diversity that is the 
north of Ireland.
  Both within the police service (reporting directly to the head of the 
police), and outside the new police entity as well, there must be 
independent investigative authorities. These investigative entities 
must be freely able to conduct inquiries into police abuses and 
misconduct, which may in turn justify and require the firing of police 
officers acting under their direction to the head of the police based 
on their investigative findings; or alternatively where appropriate 
based upon their investigations, the prosecution of police officers 
under the law by authorities outside the police.
  These strong no nonsense disciplinary actions must regularly follow 
whenever evidence of wrongdoing is uncovered (either by internal or 
external methods), and they must result in appropriate and timely 
disciplinary action and/or prosecution where warranted.
  4. Prohibition on police membership in the Orange Order and any other 
societies whose very principles and practices are inconsistent with 
developing broad cross community support for the police. This too may 
require a change in current Northern Ireland law, but is fully 
justifiable. This is critical to helping develop a working environment 
that can and will attract, as well as to hold Catholics in the police 
service. Any on the job harassment or intimidation of the nationalist 
community members must also be banned, and severely punished, whenever 
it is established.
  5. Repeal of the emergency power authorities, and restoration of the 
right to silence without any adverse inferences of guilt to be drawn 
from the exercise of this fundamental right by those detained for 
questioning by the police in Northern Ireland. Such reforms will help 
make more routine, as well as clearly define and normalize daily 
contacts by the police with the community.
  6. Increased professional human rights and respect for diversity 
training, both for new recruits and current police personnel at all 
levels. The increased training should also include cross border 
training and exercises with the Garda in the Republic of Ireland.
  7. De-centralization of the police force from the few current and 
large divisional levels down to much smaller units (e.g. precincts, 
wards, or constituency based units). This would help bring the new 
police much closer to the community and increase the ability to 
communicate and inter-act together. It can serve to build better local 
community support through greater accountability for the ``faceless 
police force'' that serves many nationalist areas today.
  8. Close Castlereagh and other interrogation centers as a important 
gesture of reconciliation and change to many who see it as ``symbolic'' 
of so many of the RUC abuses in the nationalist community.
  9. Eventual devolution of the policing issue to local government 
control when true power sharing and equality have been established. 
This too can help increase ``local accountability'' and build support 
for the new policing service.
  10. Recruitment and processing for entry into the new police service 
should be done in as many local communities (including nationalist 
areas) as possible throughout the north of Ireland and not limited in 
just one location in a unionist area. This will better serve in helping 
to outreach, and increase the diversity and attractiveness of the new 
police force, to the nationalist community.
  11. End the paramilitary role and ethos of the RUC, and turn the new 
service into a community policing service to serve the needs of all the 
community, not suppressing and politically controlling portions of it. 
Based on the British policing model, the new policing service in a 
peaceful north of Ireland, should prevent the carrying of sidearms.
  12. Change the title, uniform and other unacceptable symbols of the 
current police service in order to help create a new and acceptable 
community policing service. The process of separation of the policing 
duties from the security situation and concerns, must begin as soon as 
possible. These symbolic changes must also be made in a sensitive and 
mindful way, especially for the families of the more than 300 RUC 
officers who have been killed wearing the current uniform during the 
troubles.
  As we approach Saint Patrick's Day 1999, it is time to get on with 
the peace process, ending the foot dragging, and implement the will of 
the good and generous Irish people in the north of Ireland.
  May we soon see peace, justice and a unified Ireland.

                          ____________________