Backs Violence Against British : IRA’s Legal Wing Sparks Furor in Ulster Councils

The businesslike atmosphere and commonplace agenda suggested that the meeting was like any other where democratic local government is practiced. But it was not, for this was the Derry District Council.

Ever since four Roman Catholic candidates of the radical Sinn Fein party were elected last May, there has been nothing resembling normality in the council chambers.

For the Sinn Fein (“We, Ourselves” in Gaelic) is the legal political wing of a terrorist organization, the outlawed Irish Republican Army, and it supports the use of violence to expel the same British government that permits it to take part in Northern Ireland’s elections. As such, it is one of the most unusual political parties in any Western democracy.

British government officials defend their decision to allow Sinn Fein to take part in the elections. They say it is better to have Sinn Fein above ground contesting elections than underground.

But even the most tolerant members of the Derry council admit that it has been difficult adjusting to the presence of members who advocate violence as a legitimate political tactic, representatives of a movement that has been accused, among other things, of using money acquired in bank robberies.

Some members have simply left, leaving a bank of vacant seats in the council’s wood-paneled meeting room.

The rage over the presence of Sinn Fein radicals on the council is magnified by the knowledge that one of them was once imprisoned for his role in bombing Londonderry’s town hall, where he now sits as a council member.

There are feelings of this sort in the 17 of Northern Ireland’s 26 district councils where Sinn Fein members now sit. Sinn Fein representatives occupy 59 of the 556 seats in the 26 councils. Their presence constitutes one of the more bizarre developments in the conflict that has set Protestant against Catholic in Northern Ireland for as long as either side can remember.

To achieve its political goal of uniting this British-ruled province with the Republic of Ireland under a banner of democratic socialism, Sinn Fein officials like to say they are fighting with “a ballot paper in one hand and an Armalite (rifle) in the other.”

Sinn Fein’s roots go back nearly 100 years. And in the early part of this century, led by American-born Eamon de Valera, it was the driving force behind Ireland’s violent break with Britain. The organization’s refusal to accept the agreement that left six of the nine northern counties, known as Ulster, under British control, triggered civil war. It has since existed as a militant group on the fringe of Irish nationalism.

“We have a solidarity relationship with the IRA,” Danny Morrison, Sinn Fein’s publicity director and national executive member, said in an interview at the party’s ramshackle headquarters in the heart of Catholic West Belfast. “There is a degree of dual membership.”

Members Linked to IRA

There is no definitive list of IRA members and no chart of its hierarchy. But Martin McGuinness, a Sinn Fein member of the Ulster provincial assembly, is believed to be an influential figure in IRA affairs, as is Gerald Adams, the Sinn Fein chairman and member of the British Parliament.

Sinn Fein’s decision to take part in elections was bitterly opposed by its hard-liners. To do so, in their view, was little short of collaborating with the British.

But since the stunning electoral victory of four years ago, when Sinn Fein managed to elect an imprisoned Irish nationalist militant to Parliament, the party has won a string of victories that have been as important in terms of propaganda as in terms of political power.

“A decade of British propaganda maintained we had no popular political support,” Morrison said. “In one stroke, this was overturned.”

In Northern Ireland’s district council elections in May, Sinn Fein received more than 13% of all the votes cast. The depth of this popular support is the most striking example of a political polarization that has diminished the hope of reconciliation despite 16 years of fighting that killed about 2,500 people.

Catholics Disillusioned

Also, it reflects disillusionment and impatience among Catholic voters, the feeling that moderation has done little to resolve the conflict.

On the other hand, many moderate Protestants had believed that Sinn Fein appealed only to a radical minority of Catholics, but now they have become suspicious of the inter-communal relationships that have managed to survive the troubles.

“Even with (Catholic) friends, an element of doubt has crept in,” a Protestant businessman said. “I catch myself wondering how he voted.”

A senior civil servant who plays golf at a club in an affluent East Belfast suburb where relations between Catholic and Protestant have been uncommonly good, recalled his shock when a Protestant friend, known for his moderate views, confided that the local elections had convinced him that no Catholic could ever be trusted with membership on the club’s governing council.

But if Sinn Fein’s electoral success has further strained relationships between Ulster’s two religious communities, it has absolutely poisoned them in the council chambers.

Infuriated Council Members

In Derry, many council members were infuriated by a Sinn Fein proposal to sell off the city’s treasures, including the mayor’s ceremonial garb, and distribute the money to the poor.

Previously routine motions--for example, a call for a moment of silence to honor a police officer killed by terrorists--have touched off bitter debate.

“The real issues have been submerged and the level of business has descended to accusations and shouting,” Sammy Wilson, a Protestant member of the Belfast council, said. “We’re as guilty as they are, but it’s happened.”

Sinn Fein councilmen have not had to do much to ignite the ire of their Protestant colleagues.

In one council, the Protestant majority attempted to exclude its two Sinn Fein members by conducting substantive business in a subcommittee made up of all but the two Sinn Fein members. Sinn Fein challenged the legality of the ploy, and the incident ended as a major defeat for the Protestants.

Morrison, the Sinn Fein publicity director, said, “We’re just sitting back and letting them destroy themselves.”

Some Cooperation

However, there have been some instances of cooperation between the two sides. In Fermanagh, the head of the central government’s housing executive, a Protestant, invited the Sinn Fein council members to a meeting to be informed of the bureaucratic details involved in allocating public housing.

“I got the feeling she was interested in working with us,” said Sinn Fein member Paul Corrigan, a 50-year-old Fermanagh farmer who is his party’s only council chairman.

For an elected official responsible for improving the social order, there is a clear contradiction in Sinn Fein’s advocacy of violence.

One Sinn Fein councilman, asked by a television reporter if he would try to block an attempt on a fellow councilman’s life if he knew that an IRA terrorist was about to strike, said only that such things were up to the IRA. The remark triggered considerable public anger.

And Corrigan of the Fermanagh council said in an interview that he would have no difficulty advocating construction of a public housing project even though he knew that it might end up as a target of the IRA. “If the IRA blows it up, that’s their business,” he said.

Benefits for Sinn Fein

Sinn Fein appears to have benefited more than anyone else from the British government’s decision to permit it to take part in elections.

“We’ve gotten nothing but dividends from the elections,” Morrison said. “We’ve destabilized the councils, we’ve unleashed the fear that we can become the biggest nationalist political element and it has become harder for moderates to distance themselves from us.”

Others, however, predict that Sinn Fein’s popularity will wane among hard-line nationalists unless the party can produce results quickly.

Sinn Fein contends that IRA violence is the only thing that has pushed the British into substantial talks with the government of the Irish Republic--talks that could result in some role in Northern Ireland for Dublin. And should the talks produce some form of agreement, Sinn Fein will claim the success as its own.

But the very nature of Northern Ireland’s age-old impasse is likely to overtake Sinn Fein at some point, and then its popularity could wane.

“They aren’t in government to help to play a positive role,” a provincial civil servant said. “One day, people will turn away from them too.”