IAUC President Responds to Statement of Consultative Group on the Past

May 31, 2008—On Friday, May 23rd, Irish American Unity Conference president Kate McCabe met with Denis Bradley of the Consultative Group on the Past in Derry, Ireland to discuss the IAUC’s position on truth recovery. In light of Thursday’s announcement by the Consultative Group on the Past, the IAUC would like to take this opportunity to respond publicly and to reiterate its position on how best to deal with the legacy of the past. The following is a statement from Kate McCabe on behalf of the IAUC:

“At our meeting in Derry, I discussed the IAUC’s support for the victims groups’ call for the establishment of an international, independent truth commission as the only way forward.

The IAUC disagrees with Mr. Bradley’s belief that this is the wrong time to be dealing with the legacy of the past, that the timing of this process is much too soon. That such a process would be beter undertaken 80 years from now, as Bradley believes, does not make sense. Truth commissions are normally established on the momentum of a regime change, and the more time that goes by with a change in government, the less likely it is for such a commission to be successful in terms of gathering support as well as evidence. The importance of timing is crucial, and this is surely a factor with which the Consultative Group is familiar.

The purported purpose of Thursday’s speech was to “define the problem” as the CGP sees it, in an attempt to further the discussion over these next few months before their recommendations are made. We are concerned with what we believe to be a cursory attempt to reframe the debate, and we take issue with several points.

First, it is simply not historically accurate to say that the British government sought to be an ‘honest broker’ during the conflict. Rather, the British government was a principal actor in the last 40 years of struggle. The British government has long attempted to characterize itself as a neutral intermediary or a middleman attempting to keep the peace between fighting factions in the north of Ireland, and this is simply untrue.

For the Consultative Group—a panel set up by the British government—to support this claim belies their position as an independent body or a group of well-meaning individuals tasked with the difficult responsibility of leading all the people of the north forward towards reconciliation. To decontextualize history is to reconfigure reality, to imply that there is equal culpability when there is not.

It is important to recognize that nationalists and republicans did not “find themselves” in an alien state or “feel” as though they were being treated as second-class citizens. The entire political, economic and social structure of the northern state was designed to perpetuate discrimination towards the minority Catholic community. This fact alone shows that there was not equal culpability, and to imply otherwise is not logical and certainly is not useful towards furthering the debate on truth.

The State must be held to a higher standard due to its very nature as a sovereign government involved in targeting its own citizens. The State’s involvement in collusion, shoot-to-kill, and state violence necessitate full disclosure—especially because their victims cut across all sectors of society. This conflict was fought through people. The State was in charge, and it gave certain people impunity for their actions. The appeal to sentimentality induced by the image of an elderly mother learning of her son’s role as an informer is both diversionary and disingenuous.

Though we recognize the pain and trauma experienced by all sectors of society, and believe that all victims have a right to know the truth about what happened to their loved ones, we believe the onus must be placed on the British government to come clean about the extent of their involvement in the ‘dirty war’ of the past few decades.

A failure to uncover the truth in these areas undermines the British government’s commitment to basic democratic principles and human rights, while giving credence to the widespread perception that members of the security forces and others in the north of Ireland have been able to operate outside the law with impunity.

As a sovereign government and a central party to the conflict, the state has a responsibility to do more than just acknowledge and apologize for its involvement in criminality, and in particular its use of informers. An apology is not a substitute for a proper investigation, and as such can only come after the truth recovery and examination process is completed. There must be official recognition of past harms and abuses, and that recognition must go on the public record. In order to ensure independence and public confidence, it is necessary that all actors involved in a truth commission were not active participants in or parties to the conflict.

In order to have the support of Irish America behind the recommendations of the CGP, the issues of collusion, shoot-to-kill, and state violence must be addressed to the fullest extent. All parties to or victims of the conflict must be given a platform to share their experiences. Such a process is necessary for sustainable peace, cross-community cooperation, and the future economic regeneration of historically marginalized areas. There can be no lines drawn under the past if there is to be confidence in the future.”

McCabe also discussed the newly formed Thar Saile and the IAUC’s campaign to seek a final resolution to the plight of former IRA prisoners living in the United States. McCabe’s remarks on this issue were positively received.

ENDS
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