Sir - The American Irish Political Education Committee (PEC) would like to welcome the speech (April 30th) by the Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, in Finglas. We hope he will follow through with the strong statements he made.
We in Irish America were very concerned when John Bruton became Taoiseach.
His record was cause for grave concern. He has always supported the abandoning of Articles Two and Three. He savagely attacked Albert Reynolds throughout the peace process. He opposed President Clinton's granting of a visa to Gerry Adams in 1994. John Hume was also a favourite target for Mr Bruton's wrath for engaging in the very negotiations with Gerry Adams which led to the IRA cessation. If John Bruton had come to power a few months earlier, it is safe to say that there would have been no ceasefire or peace process.
Britain has been stalling the peace process for over a year now. Mr Bruton, when he declared in the US on St Patrick's Day, 1995, that IRA decommissioning should be a pre condition to all party talks, gave Westminster the perfect opportunity (which they have used) to stall the process. Mr Bruton's failure to stand up forcibly to the British government on the decommissioning issue, his failure to maintain the pan nationalist front and his failure to hammer the British, on the issues of all party talks, unnecessary elections and Mr Major's obvious pandering to the unionist agenda are the main reasons that the IRA ceasefire collapsed and that the peace process has been on the brink of failure.
Hopefully Mr Bruton's speech is his first step in living up to his responsibilities as the leader of nationalist Ireland. The ultimate responsibility for the peace process and the nationalist agenda is with Mr Bruton. Hopefully, his future actions will back up his words. As we are fond of saying here in the US actions speak louder than words. We shall see. - Yours. etc.,
Director of Operations,
American Irish Political
Education Committee (PEC),
South Liberty Drive,
Stony Point,
New York.