[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 26 (Thursday, March 9, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E261-E262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      NORTHERN IRELAND IN CRISIS AS SAINT PATRICK'S DAY APPROACHES

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. BENJAMIN A. GILMAN

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 9, 2000

  Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, next week is Saint Patrick's Day, when so 
many Irish and their many friends around the globe celebrate the great 
patron saint's day of honor. This year's Saint Patrick's day was to 
have held out great hope for lasting peace and justice in the long 
troubled north of Ireland. The Irish and peace loving people all over 
the world were joyous last November 29th when the new Northern Ireland 
power sharing executive was finally formed and the British government 
devolved most of home rule to Belfast. Along with the Northern Ireland 
assembly, north/south and east/west bodies, the future of all of the 
island of Ireland was bright for peaceful democratic change in the 
unsatisfactory status quo that has long been the north of Ireland. The 
Good Friday accord supported by the people of both the north and south 
of Ireland was finally being implemented and change was to come through 
democratic means and new power sharing institutions.
  It was a step backwards in the search for lasting peace and justice 
in the north of Ireland when the British Government on February 11, 
2000 suspended the power sharing institutions that had been the best 
chance to produce overall change in the north, including 
decommissioning.
  Regrettably, the Irish peace process since February 11, 2000 is once 
again in crisis. The most recent announcement that the IRA is 
withdrawing from their efforts with the arms decommissioning body is 
another body blow to a fragile and tenuous future in the north of 
Ireland.
  Even after positive steps were being made to resolve the arms issue--
the IRA had committed to put them beyond use--the old unionist veto by 
the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) forced the suspension of power sharing 
under the threat of resignation by the UUPs First Minister, David 
Trimble from the new local government. Terms of the Good Friday Accord 
set out simultaneous time frames for removal of the guns on both sides 
from Irish politics.
  Those who have unilaterally changed its terms and exercised a veto 
over its operation must explain their intransigence, and be held 
accountable for failing to carry out the terms of the Good Friday peace 
accord.
  In order to create the climate for arms decommissioning as envisioned 
by the terms of the Good Friday Accord, power-sharing institutions must 
be reestablished, sooner rather than later.
  The accord itself set a mid-May 2000 time frame for good faith 
efforts by all sides at getting all of arms decommission in the North 
Ireland. Regrettably, the institutions that should have been in place 
for the last 18 months has only been up and running for just the last 
10 weeks. Now they have been suspended.
  We soon will have the marching season again in the north of Ireland. 
We cannot let the political vacuum in the north go on indefinitely. We 
need the political institutions up and running so change can come 
peacefully through democratic means. Only then can we expect the 
political process that the Good Friday accord set in motion can help 
make the guns on both sides in the north, both irrelevant, and 
unnecessary.
  The parties need to get back to the table and fully implement the 
Good Friday Accord. As Senator George Mitchell has wisely said, history 
might forgive the failure to reach an agreement in the long conflict 
over Northern Ireland, but will never forgive the failure to implement 
one that has been agreed upon by both governments and all of the 
parties in the long troubled region.
  Let us, on this St. Patrick's Day, hope and pray for a united, 
peaceful Ireland.

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