A Tangled Web

Dodds' Law



'The people of Northern Ireland could not stomach anyone from Sinn Fein convicted of terror offences serving as a devolved policing and justice minister' said Nigel Dodds of the DUP. After giving everybody the impression that the DUP was ready to jump into the political bed with IRA apologists, it would appear that Mr Dodds is now attempting to sweeten the blow by giving reassurances to the pro-Union electorate.



I have met Nigel Dodds. In the spring of 1996 I had the pleasure of distributing DUP campaign literature for him pertaining to the Forum elections. I found him to be a pleasant fellow who, at the time, would not have countenanced sharing governance with representatives of armed terror. Still, the onset of time and the thirst for power have, self-evidently, taken their toll on the meaning of principle.



When Mr Dodds talks about the 'people of Northern Ireland', he could not possibly mean republicans. For, as we have seen, republicans are so bereft of common decency they elect en masse cold blooded killers and bombers to positions of potential power. What Mr Dodds actually means are people higher up the emotional and conscientious evolutionary scale - people who still actually know that conferring legitimacy on prolific killers is wrong. My question is: why should the unpalatability of Sinn Fein members in government only apply to the portfolio of policing and justice? Surely it was equally odious to see an IRA Godfather in charge of education between 1999 and 2003. Yet, the DUP quietly worked the devolved institutions - contributing towards their partial success.



I have news for the ambitious apostles of the DUP: the (democratic) people of Northern Ireland are not prepared to stomach Sinn Fein in government in ANY role, let alone that of a justice minister. It is no good protesting about the choices which Gerry Kelly et al could take with regard for ministries, when your party is actively involved in creating a scenario with the logical conclusion of granting terrorists the power to make such choices in the first place.