A chara, - In his speech to his party's ard-fheis at the weekend, Gerry Adams is reported as saying "No matter how daunting, tedious and frustrating this process may be for the governments and the rest of us, there is no alternative way forward".
But there is: the Éire Nua programme adopted by the ard-fheis of Sinn Féin in 1971 and jettisoned by Mr Adams and his supporters in 1981/82 on the grounds that it was "a sop to unionists".
The way had to be cleared for them to enter Stormont, Leinster House, and Westminster and convert a revolutionary movement into a constitutional party as Collins, de Valera, Goulding and Mac Giolla had attempted to do before them. But one section remained steadfast in its continued rejection of British rule in Ireland, and it reorganised under the banner of Republican Sinn Féin.
It updated and re-adopted Éire Nua, which proposes a new four-province federal Ireland with optimum devolution of power and decision-making to the lowest possible level in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity of function.
On present voting patterns the nine-county Ulster projected would give unionists a working majority with nationalists within reach of power. Maximum devolution to the regions and districts would give natural, horizontal sharing of power as opposed to the artificial, enforced version being attempted at present under British rule. Of course, voting on the basis of the distribution of wealth in the community would be preferable.
Those of us who still adhere to and promote this noble concept of the future Ireland were "soft" on unionists, according to Mr Adams and his supporters. It is correct to state that all shades of++ unionism declared to us at the time that in the event of British disengagement, Éire Nua would be their second choice.
There is an alternative way forward but Gerry Adams and company abandoned it on their way to the flesh-pots. Éire Nua is that alternative and we continue to advocate it. - Is mise,
RUAIRÍ Ó BRÁDAIGH, President, Republican Sinn Féin, Dublin 1.