I am asked by one reader to explain my nasty comments about the IRA yesterday given that one of my blog heroes is Michael Collins. Another reader suggests that I run a caption competition with the picture below. Okay. Here we go.
Lets start with the caption competition which is open ONLY to those who follow me on Twitter. Send your entries by Twitter with a deadline of 4 PM Monday. The prize is a meal for two including a bottle of (Chapel Down English) wine at Real Man Pizza Company. It will be the funniest entry that wins and complete lack of taste is no bar to winning the prize. To set a benchmark the butcher says to Her Maj “If you follow me I have for you a pair of your late Uncle’s deckshoes I kept as a souvenir.” Bad taste is no bar to winning. Tweet your attempts to @TomWinnifrith
And so to the IRA. I believe in the principle of self determination. Ireland should on that basis have become a Free State one hundred years ago and Collins fought for that. However in one part of Ireland the folks overwhelmingly wanted to remain British and that was recognised in the 26/6 county solution offered to Collins by the British Government and he accepted that proposal. He did not want to accept partition but the reality of his postion (the IRA was almost out of weapons and the Britsh Army was not) forced his hand and he then stuck to his word. Indeed thanks to the actions of the unprincipled opportunist De Valera, Collins lost his life defending that split. De Valera let his pathalogical loathing of the British determine his actions throughout his life – hence him sending commiserations to the Germany embassy in Dublin on the death of Herr Hitler. De Valera is not a man who I can admire.
The two state solution for Ireland is not / was not perhaps ideal (and I am fully aware that the definition of what is Ulster is bodged) but it was and is the best solution going, something the murderous scumbags of Hamas should take note of and learn from. And as such the actions of the modern IRA are not ones that I can applaud. They did not have a popular mandate in either community in Northern Ireland for their actions. To state the bleeding obvious, killing people is wrong. Martin McGuinness was actively involved in this process as a Brigade Commander in Londonderry. Did he actually ever kill anyone personally? I rather suspect he did. Whatever I think of him, he strikes me as a man who is brave enough to lead from the front rather than just to order others to risk their lives for a cause.I am pretty sure that he knows one end of a machine gun from the other. He started his life as a butcher and, as far as I am concerned, he continued in that vein even after he ceased doling out sausages and pork chops.
But we are where we are now. I am fully aware that sectarianism is not dead in Northern Ireland and that some of those formerly killing for the IRA now kill via the distribution of heroin etc. Life is not perfect but it will take generations for a place torn assunder by decades of sectarian division and conflict and by thirty years of war to heal and unite. And the path to normality will probably be smoother if men like McGuinness are working for peace rather than killing people. It is not for me to forgive McGuinness for his crimes. I am not God and I was not affected directly by what he got up to. The butcher must reconcile what he did with his own conscience and with his maker when the time comes. And if those who were directly affected (like the Queen who lost her uncle Louis Mountbatten) can forgive those involved in the conflict on both sides or at least smile, shake hands and move on that is better for all concerned. And it is a matter of enormous credit to the Queen and her husband that they did what they did last week. Though far from an ardent Royalist, my respect for her as the Queen (and for her husband) increased yet again.
My problem with the ludicrously expensive Bloody Sunday enquiry was that reconciliation must be a two way affair. I am sure that the British Army did things it should not have done during the troubles but on balance men who did not want to be in Ulster behaved with honour and extreme professionalism. But the men of violence from BOTH communities also did many things which cannot in any way be justified, even by believers in the “the cause”. There are still families who lost members during the troubles and have no idea where their bodies are buried. Men like McGuinness know where the skeletons lie. There are still many issues unaddressed.
I hope that all these matters are in due course dealt with and that at last Ireland may be at peace on both sides of the border. I fear that may not always be the case as there are some who can brook no compromise even if more or less everyone else is prepared to go half way in the cause of peace. But for now my hope appears to be the same as that of Martin McGuinness and as such, unlike some, I am terribly glad that he and his sovereign shook hands last week. In his heart of hearts, McGuinness no doubt still agrees with the woids of Seamus Heaney
“Be advised my passport’s green. No glass of ours was ever raised to toast the Queen”
But in practice the Butcher has gone as far as he can go and if that makes Ireland a more peaceful place that is a good thing. That however should not prevent you for submitting thoroughly tasteless caption entries which reflect on his past crimes for which he has yet to apologise. Reconciliation must be a two way street.