"All of us are tired of reading between the lines." In these words, Tanaiste Mary Harney reflects widespread impatience at the continued stalling by Republicans. I explained the significance of reading between the lines to a horrified friend who then said she had had enough of the doublespeak of politicians. All of us have to live with some ambiguity but a time comes for plain speaking and clarity. We want truth, the whole truth and nothing but truth whereas reading between lines is uncertain and confusing.
It is five years since the Good Friday Agreement called for "total
disarmament of all paramilitary organisations" and almost a decade since the Downing Street Declaration called for "a permanent end to the use of or support for, paramilitary violence". Last week the joint communique removed ambiguity when Bertie Ahern, Tony Blair and George Bush nailed their colours to the mast saying there was no place for paramilitary 'capability', let alone 'activity'. Decommissioning may have begun – though not to anyone's satisfaction – but disbandment is not within sight and capability remains more or less intact.
Unionists have bent over backwards in giving the benefit of doubt to republicans. Loyalists acknowledge that decommissioning is extremely difficult for republicans and almost impossible for themselves. Such a demand, one said, could bring the process to its knees. I appreciate the difficulties, but once republicans took up ministerial places in the Executive they faced a different ball game.
Republicans have been prepared to place Irish unity on a longer finger as long as they are accommodated at all levels of Northern Irish society and, as David Trimble once said, having a past should be no bar to the future.
But republicans are trying to have their cake and eat it too. Poachers can become gamekeepers but can't continue to poach and must stick to the rules. Their job is to apprehend other poachers, confiscate ill-gotten gains and impound illegal weapons. There is no other way. There are risks in this for republicans but they are minimal compared to the risks faced by society.
Despite disappointment, the Good Friday Agreement anniversary remains worth celebrating. It has a special place in my own memories because I was in Castle Buildings into the early hours of that Good Friday morning. I could hardly believe my good fortune, having been virtually smuggled into the building where I wandered freely in and out of the offices of various political parties. The only negative note was one struck by a right wing member of my own party who questioned my presence in the UUP room.
Republicans, however, seemed despondent, apparently at not getting everything their own way. In contrast, Gusty Spence was sitting in the bar contentedly smoking his pipe – the alleged cause of consternation when it set off a fire alarm.
Outside the lonely figure of Ian Paisley was trudging slowly through the crowds heading for his worst DUP press conference ever when PUP supporters tirelessly heckled him. He seemed in a state of denial – wanting into the building, but having burned too many bridges to get in. Today he complains about being excluded and looks increasingly uncomfortable in his traditional guise of the disgruntled critic behind the door. The Robinson wing now seeks to regain what Paisley lost.
Last week on the anniversary of the Belfast Agreement I went to the SDLP celebrations at the Waterfront Hall. I already knew that the process was in jeopardy when Mitchell McLaughlin said there would be no public act of decommissioning. Republicans don't seem to understand that they face an unavoidable choice that cannot be fudged. Unionists, nationalists, governments and almost all interested parties are losing patience with reading between lines and waiting for acts of completion. The naysayers were always impatient and will never be content should republicans repent in sackcloth and ashes and kneel at the penitent form. But they are not the problem; the core problem is the inability of republicans to let go of their traditional props.
The SDLP celebrations were hopeful and encouraging. Ulster Unionist Trevor Ringland spoke in Biblical terms of "your people becoming my people and my people your people" and used illustrations from the world of rugby.
'Different Drums' – Lambeg, Bodhran and other – beat out a powerful message of harmony, but the IRA remains as a major obstacle to agreement.
Possibilities of change and reconciliation remain and having set our hands to the plough we cannot look back. The guns are, by and large, silent. This is not enough to restore the Assembly but it does provide space to move on and rebuild. Many young people attended the Waterfront Hall and it is for them and their future that we must build.
