Politics.ie

IMC WILL PREDICTABLY IGNORE BRITISH BREACHES – SINN FEIN

18 April 2004

Sinn Féin National Chairperson Mitchel McLaughlin has said that media speculation concerning the content of the IMC Report ‘vindicated entirely his party’s position that the body is little more than a tool to be used by the British government to undermine the electoral mandate of Sinn Féin’.

Mr. McLaughlin said:

“ Reports about the content of the IMC document in the media today speculate that the body will major on alleged republican activity, slow pedal on the activities of unionist paramilitaries and ignore entirely the British government breaches of the Agreement up until now.

“ It will be interesting to see what the IMC have to say about the British government policy of state sanctioned murder recently exposed by Judge Cory, or the series of murders carried out by unionist paramilitaries over the past year, many of which are reportedly linked to British agents working within the unionist paramilitaries.

“ It has been indicated that the IMC will ignore the British government’s decision to suspend the political institutions and cancel elections on three separate occasions. It will ignore the failure of the British government to demilitarize its war machine in Ireland and it continuing failure to deliver on Good Friday Agreement commitments on policing, justice, human rights and equality issues.

“ The timing of the IMC Report in the lead up to the latest round of negotiations is clearly political and clearly designed to influence those discussions. Many people will be angered at the actions of this unrepresentative and unelected quango exerting a negative influence over the peace process.

“ The irony of a body set up by the British who are in breach of the Good Friday Agreement themselves passing judgments and recommending sanctions over participants in the peace process is not lost on the broad nationalist and republican community.

“ Our position regarding the IMC is very clear. They are a smokescreen for exclusion, operate outside the terms of the Agreement and have no positive role to play. It is my belief that the contents of their report will entirely vindicate this position.

“Sinn Féin is responsible only for the actions of Sinn Féin. No party has done more to help make this process work than Sinn Féin. Our record in and commitment to this process cannot be questioned. Sinn Féin is not prepared to have our rights and entitlements and those of the majority of nationalists in the North undermined or diminished by the British government through its proxy the IMC.