The Fianna Fail leader, Mr Bertie Ahern, has pronounced a clear line of demarcation between Fianna Fail and the Government in his speech commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Easter Rising. Fianna Fail honours the stance of the men of 1916. "The importance of their action of open warfare was not diminished by the fact that it was only of short duration or by their decision to bring it to an early end", he told the gathering at Arbour Hill. The Taoiseach, Mr Bruton, on the other hand, is a "warm admirer of John Redmond".
Mr Ahern's speech then went on to criticise the Government's handling of the peace process and while he stopped short of blaming it for the ending of the IRA ceasefire he clearly believes that its actions and direction since Mr Bruton came to office contributed to a breakdown of trust with the Provisionals. In the aftermath of the ceasefire, he said, the Government showed a lack of political courage and retreated with unseemly haste to a position of political correctness.
The Arbour Hill speech will be seen as marking a hardening of public position by Fianna Fail. Since the resumption of violence in January the party has been remarkably and commendably supportive of the Government at a trying time. Opportunities to make political capital out of Mr Bruton's various u-turns, his poor performance in the United States and the obvious differences of approach between himself and Mr Spring were passed up Fianna Fail did the responsible thing by a Government which found itself faced with a national crisis. But it could hardly be expected to hold fire indefinitely.
Mr Ahern catalogues a sides of errors by the Government, ranging from Mr Bruton's failure to meet John Hume and Gerry Adams together last autumn to suspending the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation in the immediate aftermath of the Canary Wharf bombing. He acknowledges the best of intentions on the part of the Taoiseach and Government but concludes that they have not been up to the task of preserving the peace. It was Dick Spring, Mr Ahern reminded his listeners, who was responsible for changing the management of the peace process at a critical juncture in deciding to end the coalition with Fianna Fail.
No doubt this is a line which Mr Ahern has to advance in order to secure Fianna Fail's position. But it is a fatuous reductio ad absurdum to argue that if only Fianna Fail were in office and if only Albert Reynolds were sitting in John Bruton's chair all would be well with the peace process. No doubt, Mr Reynolds had glad handing capabilities which Mr Bruton lacks. And Mr Reynolds had a demonstrated ability to fudge, to generalise, to slip around the core of a problem and pretend it wasn't there. But it was clear from the beginning that as the peace process advanced there would be less room for ambiguity and vagueness. It is far too convenient for Fianna Fail to assert that all would be well if Dick Spring had kept Albert Reynolds in power.
The parlous state of the peace process is not attributable to Mr Bruton's Redmondite instincts. As the Taoiseach himself said after the Canary Wharf bombing, errors of judgment by democratically committed politicians are on a different moral plane from the actions of those who resort to the bomb and the gun. If a solution ultimately emerges through the initiatives now in hand it will be precisely because of the triumph of Redmond like virtues compromise, tolerance, negotiation and a commitment to the democratic process.