Neal Backs Irish Republican Army Disarmament
WASHINGTON, Sept. 28 – Congressman Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) Wednesday praised the Irish Republican Army’s weapons disarmament after meeting with a top Sinn Fein political leader.
On Monday, international weapons inspectors announced the IRA’s complete disarmament, marking the potential end of a violent era in Northern Ireland’s history.
In the last 35 years, more than 3,500 people have been killed as a result of political and religious upheaval in Northern Ireland, with the IRA responsible for numerous assassinations and bombings.
Mr. Neal and other legislators said that the disarmament was a strong move toward peace in Northern Ireland and a potential catalyst for negotiations between the Catholic Sinn Fein party and the majority Protestant Democratic Unionist Party.
“The historical significance of this announcement on the island of Ireland cannot be minimized,” said Mr. Neal, co-chairman of the Ad Hoc Committee on Irish Affairs. “The confirmation of full and final IRA weapons decommissioning will have a swift and dramatic impact on the Northern Ireland peace process.”
Neal and other members of Congress met Wednesday with Martin McGuinness, Sinn Fein’s number two leader.
The Democratic Unionist Party has questioned whether the IRA’s disarmament is for real, arguing that the IRA should have lived up to its promise to disarm in May 2000, in accordance with a 1998 joint Catholic-Protestant peace accord.
The IRA refused to start disarming until October 2001 and then stopped the disarmament process for two years, hiding most of its weapons in rural areas of the Republic of Ireland.
On Tuesday, the Democratic Unionist Party and its leader, Rev. Ian Paisley, said they do not believe that the IRA has fully disarmed and accused the organization of hiding information.
The unionists also said that they have no intention of cooperating with Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA, anytime in the near future.
“Ian Paisley’s intransigence will be put under the magnifying glass of world opinion,” Mr. Neal said in a telephone interview. “It appears to me that the only person on the entire island of Ireland not in support of [peace from disarmament] is Ian Paisley.”
At a press conference on Wednesday, Mr. McGuinness stressed the importance of unionist cooperation in facilitating political unity in Northern Ireland.
“We now have a golden opportunity to more forward in the realm of politics on the island of Ireland,” Mr. McGuinness said. “We have the opportunity to replace conflict with peaceful politics dialogue. Irish Republicans want to make peace. I urge that Ian Paisley embrace this opportunity in the interest of all our people.”
