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I
apologise for any delay in replying but I am grateful
for J. Riordan’s contribution, Irish News
October 23. I am, however, at a disadvantage, as he/she
claims to know me and be sufficiently acquainted to
offer some value judgements on my politics past and
present. He/she is wrong, however, on several fronts.
To save space and time I’ll deal with that which
is perhaps the biggest spoof i.e. that I fail to “get
my head round the strategy of holding out the hand
of friendship to Unionists”.
Since
1991 I have been involved in initiating and developing
good working relationships between nationalists and
unionists within the communities on the Springfield
/ Shankill interface. In the early days my work was
not universally accepted, to say the least, within
the Provo family. Indeed a senior Shinner dubbed me
“half-a-prod” for my efforts.
Ten
years later I was to come face to face with this same
man, this time across an interview table when I was
short-listed for a post in a cross community project
that offered counselling to those who suffered trauma
during the conflict. As it transpired he was Chair
of this particular project. Needless to say I didn’t
get the job as he adjudged me to be “too confrontational”.
I wonder was the irony lost on him?
To
finish I would to pose a few questions to J. Riordan
“secular socialist” and anyone else still
within the ranks who perceive the ‘Movement’
to be anything close to socialist.
Q:
How do ye feel when Sinn Fein leaders “ready
and willing to administer British rule in Ireland”
are party to the closure of hospitals?
Q:
In the face of the fact that Sinn Fein has accepted
contributions from Coca Cola, do you support the
boycott of this drink organised throughout the world?
Q:
Where do ye stand on the issue of Public Private
Partnerships and Private Finance Initiatives, where
private companies are allowed to accrue massive
profits from the education and health provision
budgets?
Q:
How many left wing parties has the U.S. administration
supported and their leaders feted in the White House?
Anyone receiving an endorsement from that particular
source is most often termed ‘contra’.
Q:
Where ye not in the least bit discomfited when
Sinn Fein leaders attended the World Economic Forum
in New York in February of 2002 where they were
ensconced in $1,500.00-a-night suites at the Waldorf
Astoria whilst tens of thousands of anti-globalisation
protesters paraded in the street below their windows?
Q:
Do ye agree when Gerry O’Hara tells the
moguls of Wall Street that “we have no problem
with capitalism”?
Q:
In the face of all of the above, how come the
number of ‘socialists’ is, according to
Ms./Mr. Riordan, actually increasing within Sinn
Fein?
Q:
How many of these same people believe in Santa
Claus?
What
J. Riordan cannot get her/his head around is that
the Provos, in all their guises, offer neither threat
to the socio-economic or constitutional status quo
nor hope to ‘those noble people of no property’.
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