Tensions within the SDLP: Eamon Phoenix, in Belfast, reports on a memo of a private meeting between the late Gerry Fitt and the NI Lord Chief Justice in 1975.
The pessimism of then SDLP leader Gerry Fitt at the likelihood of agreement emerging in the Northern Ireland Convention in 1975, his fears of a bloody British withdrawal and hostility towards his deputy John Hume, are recorded in an extraordinary memo released yesterday in Belfast by the Public Record Office.
The memo records a private meeting between Fitt and the convention chairman, Sir Robert Lowry (the North's Lord Chief Justice), on August 25th, 1975, as talks between the SDLP and the loyalist coalition reached crisis point. Such was the perceived sensitivity of Fitt's comments that a note on the file in Sir Robert's hand reads: "Not for file until conclusion of convention - this policy agreed by doctors."
At the meeting Fitt expressed gloom at the prospects of the convention. He considered that most of the British Labour Party and many Conservatives were keen to disengage from Northern Ireland, once the convention had failed to provide a solution and a further period of direct rule had elapsed.
He thought prime minister Harold Wilson would be one of the main advocates of this method of "solving the Irish question".
Fitt took the view that recent attacks on the secretary of state by the UUUC indicated a wish by the latter for independence. He foresaw that such a step would be economically disastrous and would result in the slaughter of many Catholics. At one time his friends in England would have tried to avoid such a severance, if only because of the fear that violence would spread to Britain; they did not now fear this and believed that the new anti-terrorist laws were a protection.
The Irish government, on the other hand, "dreaded the effect of mass deportations of 'undesirables' from England to the South".
Turning to the convention, Fitt said Belfast lawyer and former DUP chairman Desmond Boal was "a sinister influence, who held court at home and entertained Paisley, Devlin and others. Boal favoured some kind of independence and was consumed by hatred of all things England."
Fitt's SDLP colleague, Paddy Devlin, was "a good man but susceptible to flattery". However, he depicted John Hume as "an inflexible fanatic, who saw everything in terms of Derry and could not take a wider view". Austin Currie, on the other hand, was "very intelligent, able and sincere".
According to the minutes, Fitt complained at the NIO attitude to the IRA and recent evasions concerning the possible arrest of the IRA leader, Séamus Twomey. "According to sources, Twomey had been spotted in Belfast but the authorities had failed to arrest him owing to the IRA ceasefire." Fitt continued: "Dublin were disgusted, considering that for years the British government had been regarding Twomey as one of the most wanted men." Fitt claimed Dáithí O'Connell, the leading IRA figure, had got himself arrested in order to be out of the way during the forthcoming violence.
The SDLP leader stressed his party considered full power-sharing essential and their contribution to a compromise would be to support the institutions of the state. (Lowry noted: "This was exactly Hume's line when I saw the SDLP negotiators.")
Responding to Fitt, Lowry observed that both the SDLP and UUUC considered agreement to be vital, but each considered that the other party was bound to "see sense and abandon its position". Lowry expressed the view that he "did not think it likely that power-sharing would be imposed or, if imposed, that it would bring a peaceful solution". Sir Robert concluded his memo: "We agreed that it was most important that the parties (at Stormont) should keep talking in case something could be found on which they agreed, and also because it would look absurd to admit failure after the comparatively short discussions already held." In a hint of the discussions on an emergency "voluntary coalition, which were about to take place between Vanguard leader William Craig and the SDLP, Sir Robert noted: "A temporary (ie, four, five or 10 years') solution would be of great benefit if nothing better could be obtained."
According to the memo, the meeting was most friendly but, in convention terms, little was achieved. Fitt's immediate hope, Sir Robert noted, was "that I could make UUUC change their policy towards power-sharing".