Letter to the Editor
It was my privilege and pleasure to attend some of the Jubilee events during last week’s Royal visit, and the highlight must surely have been the party in the grounds of Stormont when Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh travelled in an open-top vehicle to the cheers of thousands of their loyal subjects. When we compare this Royal visit with previous ones, it must surely be regarded as one of the best ever. There is no doubt that we have come a long way in Northern Ireland, and the Union is stronger today than ever.
It’s therefore a great pity, but no great surprise, that the media chose to focus to an inordinate degree on the handshake between Her Majesty and Martin McGuinness, and I do think that the significance of this brief event has been grossly over-played. Peter Hain, for example, is reported as having said, “what this really puts the seal on is that the past is the past.” If only it were as simple as that. But perhaps it is that simple in the world inhabited by those in politics and the media who appear to operate on the premise that the “peace process” is all about choreography, sequencing, sound-bites and box-ticking. Last Wednesday’s handshake was carefully stage-managed, but it cannot erase the past or the hurt caused by decades of brutal, bloody and merciless IRA terrorism... While all the focus has been on the courage of Sinn Fein,. We must never forget that the Royal Family suffered in a very deep and tangible way at the hands of a killing machine of which Martin McGuinness was a leading member.
So, to me, the handshake actually changes nothing for the choreography is badly out of sequence. A crucial piece of the jigsaw remains missing and it needs to be found and put into place before any more steps are taken. What is needed now is not, as some commentators are suggesting, a papal visit to Northern Ireland, but a clear, honest and forthright apology from Sinn Fein for the murderous campaign of the IRA. Such an unconditional apology is long overdue and should have been forthcoming well in advance of last week’s handshake. The Word of God makes it very clear that there can be no forgiveness without repentance, so until Sinn Fein make the crucial move we cannot really move on. However, I am not filled with any great optimism that such a move will take place, for even as Sinn Fein speak with forked-tongues about the need to reach out in friendship to their “Unionist brothers”, they continue to glorify their “patriot dead” and to praise the IRA’s campaign of murder and destruction.
As always, Sinn Finn will now demand a quid pro quo from the Unionist side in return for the handshake, but we owe Sinn Fein absolutely nothing. The next step must come from Sinn Fein. It’s time for Adams and McGuinness to make an unqualified and genuine apology for the hurt they have inflicted upon the Protestant and Unionist people. Until this happens, it won’t matter how many handshakes there are, or what Mr Hain and others might think. Until it happens, we cannot put the past behind us.
Councillor John Finlay
233 Ballyveely road
Cloughmills
Bt44 9nw
