Ireland's OWN: History

 

1 June 2001 NEW? Police Service for the North of Ireland —from Starry Plough Bulletin (Britain) John Hume, SDLP grandee, has publicly signalled that the SDLP will endorse the new Police Service for N Ireland straight after the General Election. He has also made it clear that Sinn Féin will quickly follow suit. Given NI Secretary Reid's determination to bring in the new police service by next September, the pan-nationalist procrastination seems to have been a case of delaying the inevitable. The new post-GFA Police service will differ from the old in one crucial way, it will have the addition of the previously missing ingredient in six county policing, i.e., SDLP/SF support, reflecting other post-GFA structures such as the new Stormont. In the eyes of Irish freedom any endorsement from Adams/Hume represents the kiss of death. The reason being any pro-GFA initiative reinforces Partition, the border and British rule within the six counties. The consequences for the North of Ireland have been the tightening of the reins of British power. What the GFA achieved for the Provisionals c/o a Faustian deal was to entice them in from the cold, by giving them a slice of the action. But as in all deals there was a cost, namely the abandonment of the freedom struggle. Now it seems almost certain that SDLP and Sinn Féin nominees will take their places on the National and Local Policing Boards soon after June 7th. PIRA and UDA/UFF members will begin enrolling into the new police services as 'specials' in the areas under their 'control'. Their role will be primarily intelligence and information gathering on 'dissident' activity. However, on past precedent, the British will continue to turn a blind eye to any abuses of power, resulting from the war against 'dissidents'. For the Provisionals the contradictions between their new role of defenders of the NI state and old role as defenders of the Nationalist people will increasingly sharpen, leading to conflict on the streets. The growing disillusionment amongst Republicans with the peace process, will provide a fertile breeding ground for the continuation of the freedom struggle, and the fuse which will set the policing issue alight this summer, will be the loyalist marching season. Page updated 29 Sep 2008 Ireland's OWN Logo by Eamann Website Design and Celtic Background by Míchealín Daugherty Copyright © 2008 Ireland's OWN All Rights Reserved.