STRONGLY worded calls on the Provisional IRA to end its campaign of violence were made repeatedly during a well attended debates on Northern Ireland. Delegates also praised the Taoiseach's handling of the peace process.
The Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, and the Minister for Defence, Mr Barrett, backed delegates in demanding a renewed ceasefire, as the ard fheis unanimously passed a motion calling for a negotiated settlement on the basis of the Mitchell report principles.
Mrs Owen said that the vast majority of Irish people had no truck with violence for political ends, and utterly rejected it as a means of resolving disputes. "They have seen too many deaths and too much suffering as a result of campaigns of violence of the last quarter of a century. They want an end to violence and an end to the threat of violence. They want it to end now for once and all."
Mr Frank O'Kelly (Donegal mouth West) said that people no longer wanted the coat trailing, rhetoric and - definitely - the murders of the Provisional IRA. "So lay down your arms and give the democratic politicians a fair chance where your violence has failed miserably over the years."
Congratulating the Taoiseach, he said he had shown wisdom in understanding that there were two great traditions living on the island. "His job and our job in the coming years is to ensure that a peaceful, agreed, constitutional framework is established."
Mr Joe Reilly (Cavan) said the Northern question had a particular relevance to a Border county. "I come from an area that is enriched by having people from both religious traditions. I come from an area which has been devastated by the economic problems consequent on the troubles in Northern Ireland."
Now that a date had been set for all party talks, he was asking the IRA to trust the political process and the Taoiseach, as well as the overwhelming majority of the people, North and South, who had called on it to give up the gun in the recent peace rallies. "We want you to come out of the time warp. We want you to grasp the peace process.
Mr Des Whyte (Dublin South) said the peace process had lapsed into crisis when the IRA's bomb in Canary Wharf murdered two innocent men and caused £100 million of useless destruction. Ironically, this was approximately the same amount of money raised for the starving people of the world 10 years ago by Live Aid, organised by an Irishman, Bob Geldof, he added.
Mr Paul Butler (Tipperary South) said that a student petition calling for repudiation of violence had over 23,000 signatures to date. "It is a heartfelt plea by the young people of this country to the paramilitaries to lay down their weapons, to stop hiding behind the bomb and the bullet and to show courage by becoming involved in the democratic process."
Mr Karl Rock (Young Fine Gael, Griffith College, Dublin) said that young people wanted peace. "That is all they want, a simple peace."
The ardfheis also passed a Young Fine Gael motion calling on the Government to immediately seek the implementation of the Council of Europe's convention on the transfer of sentenced persons and the Repatriation of Prisoners Act 1984.
Responding to the debate, Mr Barrett said: "We are talking about uniting people. And you do not unite people by trying to bomb them into agreeing with your point of view. The sooner people realise that and gets on with the talking, the sooner we will have a lasting peace on this island."
