Posted on 07/27/2005 1:44:01 PM PDT by Irish_Thatcherite
US congressman Peter King - who is dedicated to Irish-American affairs - has said he is certain that a statement from the IRA will be issued very soon.
Mr King said he believes it will be extremely positive and a dramatic turning point in Irish history.
Earlier, the Taoiseach said he believes we are within days of seeing an enormous change in the situation in Northern Ireland.
Speaking in Galway, Bertie Ahern said he was hopeful that within the next 24 or 36 hours significant progress would be made towards full and final IRA decommissioning.
He said he was not aware what the expected IRA statement would contain.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin's Chief Negotiator, Martin McGuinness, has refused to be drawn on the timing or content of the expected statement.
However, Mr McGuinness said he believed the republican movement was up to the challenge of moving the peace process forward.
He was speaking at Dublin Airport prior to his departure for Washington with the Sinn Féin representative in the US, Rita O'Hare. The visit is seen as further confirmation that an IRA statement is imminent.
Mr McGuinness said he believed that the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement was imperative.
Asked about comments by the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell, yesterday on the alleged recent departure from the IRA Army Council of certain elected politicians, he said that the less said about Minister McDowell the better.
Mr McGuinness also refused to be drawn on the minister's remarks about IRA funding.
Asked about parallels between his visit to the US and that of the late IRA leader Joe Cahill to the US a decade ago, Mr McGuinness said he was not interested in history and that the worth of his visit could be judged on his return.
In 1994 Mr Cahill was given a US visa after the then Taoiseach Albert Reynolds and others petitioned US President Bill Clinton in Washington.
Mr Cahill's arrival in the US coincided with the first IRA ceasefire. A statement by the IRA about its future could be as important as the ceasefire announcement of 1994.
But there is guaranteed scepticism from unionists regardless of what the IRA says or does in the coming days.
It is thought the DUP and the Ulster Unionists will wait months before showing any willingness to consider power-sharing with Sinn Féin.
RTE and the Irish Government are still falling for their crap!
We should have hanged Sean Kelly, as well as Johnny Adair. The terrorists on both sides deserve no mercy and definitely no political power.
Regards, Ivan
Because Guinness isn't Irish enough.
True!
The terrorists on both sides deserve no mercy and definitely no political power.
Their parties should be outlawed - makes no sense that the political wings can operate, while their military wings are outlawed - starve them of the oxygen of publicity, as Maggie put it!
Martin McGuinness is no Irishman, just Benedict Arnold was no American!
So stuff your f***in' crown
We Irish won't lay down
And give away our guns to foreign land
No semtex nor our guns, will you ever get from us
You can stick your decommission up your arse.
Something tells me the decommission isn't going to happen.
Not while they are been appeased!
I think it's entirely possible that the IRA has reached a point where they're running out of places to hide and supporters who'll hide them.
No money, no weapons, no supporters...that should be enough to make these guys hang it up. They're not jihadists and they realize that there'll not be a reunification of Ireland anytime soon.
Of course, we can't account for the IRA splinter groups, which are mentioned here (http://www.terrorismanswers.org/groups/realira.html) but their days seem to be dwindling too.
I'll believe it when I see it!
They're parasites. You don't gorge a parasite, you kill it.
Regards, Ivan
There is enough toxic material in the Irish Sea already! LOL
I can't believe they still let Martin and Gerry into this country. I believe Martin arrived yesterday. Probably meeting with Teddy boy as we speak.
Do the Provos really expect the people to fall for this again?
Unfortunately I don't entirely agree. I think they realize the end is nearing, but I don't think they've hit that wall yet. There is still plenty of support in the heavy nationalist areas. Plus whatever they ended up with after the Northern Bank robbery was enough to buy them some more time.
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