Sinn Fein builds all-Ireland Strategy
Date: 1st Mar '02
Name: article from RM Irish News round up
Sinn Fein builds all-Ireland Strategy
"Irish unity is no longer a vision. It's within our grasp to
bring Irish unity into reality. But we need space to get a
common rooted ideology. We need space to strategise, to think of
how our activity can fit into an all Ireland framework, to create
the kind of Ireland we want to see."
Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams was delivering the closing
address to the All-Ireland Seminar organised by Martina Anderson,
Sinn Fein's Assembly Political Coordinator.
Over 300 party representatives and political activists from all
parts of the country came together to participate in a working
conference to examine ways forward to achieve a united Ireland.
"We were never just a Brits out party," said Adams. "We're not
just changing the colour of the post boxes. We need to widen the
democratic basis within the party, through the Cuige structures.
We're about empowering people, not controlling people. We've no
monopoly on Irish republicanism.
"We've a huge responsibility to take from here, to strategise not
only for Irish unity but for the Ireland we want to see. Unless
you've a party ideologically sure of itself, you are going to get
a hollowing out, a Fianna Fail party: a Fianna Fail Ireland.
"There is a very good mood in the party, and on the streets.
There will be harder times. But this conference has been a good
start."
The All-Ireland Agenda
The conference represented a landmark in the development of the
party. Martina set the scene, under the chairmanship of Joe
Reilly, who welcomed all to his native town of Navan. "This is a
working seminar to undertake a strategic and political analysis
of our All-Ireland programme," she said. "We have a vision
predicated on knowledge that we are in an irreversible process,
moving power from Westminster to the Assembly and from there into
All-Ireland structures. But some of us are unclear about the
tactics we're using to steer our strategy. We need a 'trajectory
for victory' that is tangible and clearly understood by all. We
must not allow ourselves to get bogged down in tactics.
"Today we will talk about some of the activities of the North
South Ministerial Council (NSMC). At these sessions, we need to
make sure that our activities here are demonstrating to the
people of Ireland the real benefits of reunification. Are there
potential dangers in such projects accelerating cross border
activity in ways that are normalising the border?
"Today should lead into a discussion about opening up new sites
of struggle, injecting a republican dynamic into the existing
areas of cooperation, such as energy and waste management. We
need to identify a number of manageable All-Ireland projects to
pursue in local areas.
"As a part of this process, it is imperative that unionists enter
into discussions now about the kind of united Ireland that will
undoubtedly emerge.
"Our work here today is to see how to drive forward our
All-Ireland strategy. Hopefully we will go home today even more
determined to do what people of Ireland rightly expect of us -
work to reunite our country."
Implementation Bodies
The Good Friday Agreement provided, at a minimum, for 12 subject
areas identified for co-operation and implementation for mutual
benefit under the aegis of the NSMC. In the case of six of these
areas, new North-South Implementation bodies were set up.
These are: Trade and Business Development (InterTradeIreland),
the Food Safety Promotion Board, the Language Body and the Foyle
Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission, each with an
implementation board (The other two Bodies, the Special EU
Programmes Body, and Waterways Ireland, do not have boards).
The ongoing work of these bodies, the problems that arise and the
potential they offer for the All-Ireland agenda, were reviewed by
the Sinn Fein activists who are members of these boards,
respectively Robbie Smyth, Anne Speed, Gearoid Mac Siacais and
Arthur Morgan. All spoke of the hold-ups each of their boards
faced from foot dragging by those who were reluctant participants
to the All-Ireland agenda and from civil servants who saw the
bodies as challenging their established practice and domains.
InterTradeIreland
For example, the largest of these boards is the InterTradeIreland
Board, with 50 full time staff. Robbie Smyth outlined the huge
potential for the All-Ireland strategy. He spoke of how 18
bodies, with broad remits for economic development, had never met
together before the body was et up. Likewise for 65 other
projects in the border regions.
He spoke of the need for a common currency, a common tax system
and the urgency of ending competition between North and South.
Smyth called on all Sinn Fein political representatives and
activists to start asking of InterTradeIreland what this body is
doing for their area, and to begin to grasp the opportunities for
local development strategies within the overall All-Ireland
agenda.
Areas for Cooperation
The further six areas identified for cooperation are Transport,
Agriculture, Education, Health, Environment and Tourism. All
these subject areas were discussed in workshops at the
conference.
The workshops ranged widely from the smallest detail of
opportunities for cross border cooperation to general overviews
of how we can promote the republican vision through cross border
strategies. For example, people spelt out the advantages of the
rationalisation of health resources, or of education and training
cooperation, North and South of the border. We need better
cross-border roads, for example from Belfast to Letterkenny, or
Dublin to Donegal, if we are to succeed in addressing rural
development and reversing the continuing underdevelopment of the
periphery, away from the Eastern seaboard.
But at the same time, people talked of the need to move beyond
these manageable All-Ireland projects towards developing an
All-Ireland strategy to promote an Ireland of equals, North and
South. For example, we need to promote a policy for an
All-Ireland health service based on equality for all: we are not
just there to promote the rationalisation of an inadequate
two-tier health service on either side of the border.
Similarly, in waste management, people argued that we could
address the sensible rationalisation of facilities for
cross-border waste disposal, but we could also look, through
cross-border co-operation, to develop and promote an All-Ireland
vision for the preservation of our clean, green, environment, and
the retention of waste management in state control.
All workshops agreed on the need for Sinn Fein members across the
whole country to engage in researching opportunities for and
development of North-South cooperation in each of the subject
areas coming out of the Good Friday Agreement. All agreed on the
need to generate understanding of the distinct advantages of
North-South cooperation in every area.
Evaluation
Alex Maskey gave an evaluation of the conference. He pointed out
that the All-Ireland bodies are a reflection of our strength, and
"the stronger we are, the stronger they become". The whole party
needs to be engaged in taking on strategies to engage with these
institutions so that we can maximise the potential which they
offer, he said.
"If we come away from today energised to the point of being
prepared to actively obtain a better understanding and to
volunteer for follow-up action in our respective local areas,
this seminar will have been a success," said Martina Anderson.
As Gerry Adams said, "we need the space to get a common rooted
ideology. It would be an awful sin, for want of learning the
lessons of the last 30 years, if we failed in this. This
conference has been a good start."
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