Sinn Fein News, April 6, 2005
Gerry Adams - An address to the IRA
The following is the text of a speech by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams in
Belfast on April 6:
"I want to speak directly to the men and women of Oglaigh na hEireann, the
volunteer soldiers of the Irish Republican Army.
In time of great peril you stepped into the Bearna Baoil, the gap of danger.
When others stood idly by, you and your families gave your all, in defence
of a risen people and in pursuit of Irish freedom and unity.
Against mighty odds you held the line and faced down a huge military foe,
the British crown forces and their surrogates in the unionist death squads.
Eleven years ago the Army leadership ordered a complete cessation of
military operations. This courageous decision was in response to proposals
put forward by the Sinn Fein leadership to construct a peace process, build
democratic politics and achieve a lasting peace.
Since then despite many provocations and setbacks the cessation has endured.
And more than that, when elements within the British and Irish
establishments and rejectionist unionism delayed progress, it was the IRA
leadership which authorised a number of significant initiatives to enhance
the peace process.
On a number of occasions commitments have been reneged on. These include
commitments from the two governments.
The Irish Republican Army has kept every commitment made by its leadership.
The most recent of these was last December when the IRA was prepared to
support a comprehensive agreement. At that time the Army leadership said the
implementation of this agreement would allow everyone, including the IRA, to
take its political objectives forward by peaceful and democratic means.
That agreement perished on the rock of unionist intransigence. The
shortsightedness of the two governments compounded the difficulties.
Since then there has been a vicious campaign of vilification against
republicans, driven in the main by the Irish government. There are a number
of reasons for this. The growing political influence of Sinn Fein is a
primary factor. The unionists also for their part, want to minimise the
potential for change, not only on the equality agenda but on the issues of
sovereignty and ending the union.
The IRA is being used as the excuse by them all not to engage properly in
the process of building peace with justice in Ireland.
For over thirty years the IRA showed that the British government could not
rule Ireland on its own terms. You asserted the legitimacy of the right of
the people of this island to freedom and independence. Many of your comrades
made the ultimate sacrifice. Your determination, selflessness and courage
have brought the freedom struggle towards its fulfillment. That struggle can
now be taken forward by other means. I say this with the authority of my
office as President of Sinn Fein.
In the past I have defended the right of the IRA to engage in armed
struggle. I did so because there was no alternative for those who would not
bend the knee, or turn a blind eye to oppression, or for those who wanted a
national republic.
Now there is an alternative.
I have clearly set out my view of what that alternative is. The way forward
is by building political support for republican and democratic objectives
across Ireland and by winning support for these goals internationally.
I want to use this occasion therefore to appeal to the leadership of Oglaigh
na hEireann to fully embrace and accept this alternative.
Can you take courageous initiatives which will achieve your aims by purely
political and democratic activity?
I know full well that such truly historic decisions can only be taken in the
aftermath of intense internal consultation. I ask that you initiate this as
quickly as possible.
I understand fully that the IRAs most recent positive contribution to the
peace process was in the context of a comprehensive agreement. But I also
hold the very strong view that republicans need to lead by example. There is
no greater demonstration of this than the IRA cessation in the summer of
1994.
Sinn Fein has demonstrated the ability to play a leadership role as part of
a popular movement towards peace, equality and justice. We are totally
commited to ending partition and to creating the conditions for unity and
independence. Sinn Fein has the potential and capacity to become the vehicle
for the attainment of republican objectives.
The Ireland we live in today is also very different place from 15 years ago.
There is now an all-Ireland agenda with huge potential. ationalists and
republicans have a confidence that will never again allow anyone to be
treated as second class citizens. Equality is our watchword. The catalyst
for much of this change is the growing support for republicanism.
Of course, those who oppose change are not going to simply roll over. It
will always be a battle a day between those who want maximum change and
those who want to maintain the status quo. But if republicans are to
prevail, if the peace process is to be successfully concluded and Irish
sovereignty and re-unification secured, then we have to set the agenda - no
one else is going to do that.
So, I also want to make a personal appeal to all of you - the women and men
volunteers who have remained undefeated in the face of tremendous odds.
Now is the time for you to step into the Bearna Baoil again; not as
volunteers risking life and limb but as activists in a national movement
towards independence and unity.
Such decisions will be far reaching and difficult. But you never lacked
courage in the past. Your courage is now needed for the future.
It won‚t be easy. There are many problems to be resolved by the people of
Ireland in the time ahead. Your ability as republican volunteers, to rise to
this challenge will mean that the two governments and others cannot easily
hide from their obligations and their responsibility to resolve these
problems.
Our struggle has reached a defining moment.
I am asking you to join me in seizing this moment, to intensify our efforts,
to rebuild the peace process and decisively move our struggle forward."