Adams, stay out of our House
Sunday August 07 2005
Another last-minute piece of appeasement is now emerging. Following an earlier claim by SF vice president Pat Doherty, Mr Adams asserted last Friday that "the Taoiseach has given a commitment that MPs elected in the Six Counties will be able to speak in the Dail" on all - not merely Northern - issues. Adams demands that this be done with all speed.
Given that Bertie yielded to SF on this issue last December, the response of the Taoiseach's office to the Adams claim has been weak and unconvincing. Oh, a spokesman hastily explained, it was never intended that Northern MPs should speak in plenary Dail sessions, simply that the Taoiseach would recommend they be invited to attend Oireachtas committees dealing with Northern Ireland matters, and of course that would be a matter for all-party agreement!
There's no doubt about it, once again - you couldn't be up to Bertie. Fortunately the other parties seem to have robustly demurred.
What Gerry Adams brazenly demands is unconstitutional. Bunreacht na hEireann clearly limits its jurisdiction to the 26-county area. Admitting Northern MPs to the Oireachtas would amount to representation without taxation. More important, such a step would violate the spirit and the letter of the Belfast Agreement. In this fences-rushing move towards an embryonic all-Ireland parliament, SF contemptuously flouts the basic principle of the requirement of Northern majority consent for any change to the constitutional status quo.
SF/IRA are now waging their "struggle" by other means, with all possible speed and pressure. This was probably promised to the IRA hardliners. These renewed proposals would create - are intended to create - tensions, confusion and instability, and are calculated to provoke unionist fury. Apart from all that, our deputies and senators (whenever they return) should jealously guard the integrity of their Houses against undemocratic encroachments.
And, Mr Adams, you have plenty of speaking outlets. Don't intrude where you are unelected and unwanted.
