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Tuesday 22 May 2012

No, Martin McGuinness is Not a Fit and Proper Person.

Wednesday, 28th September 2011

Since I've always thought Shaun Woodward a nasty little toad it's reassuring to discover the man will do nothing to earn a reassessment. Is anyone surprised he is entirely relaxed about Martin McGuinness's campaign for the Irish presidency? Of course not. why would ayone be surprised? As the dreadful Woodward made clear, speaking at a fringe event at the Labour conference, McGuinness's campaign is in some sense the next step in the "peace process". Yes, really, Martin McGuinness, mass murderer, is a "fit and proper" person to be Head of State. According to Woodward:

But what I can do as a fellow-member of the [Labour] race and somebody who was secretary of state for Northern Ireland is I think say something about, one, how far it demonstrates the success of the peace process and the political process that we could see the deputy first minister Martin McGuinness now being a candidate in these elections and it simply says to me: ‘Look how far the whole thing has come and look how far we have moved on and look at how we are living in the new era’.

Fiddlesticks. The logic of this is that were Martin McGuinness somehow to be elected Pope this too would demonstrate "the success of the peace process" and show "how far the whole thing has come". Why limit his ambitions to the mere Presidency of the Irish Republic?

You ask a very provocative question about fit and proper. Let me say one thing about that. I cannot understand how you make a distinction here between South and North. Simply to comment not on the individual, but any individual, if any individual is up for being first minister or deputy first minister from whatever political party he, or she may be drawn, if they are good enough for the North then, frankly, they are ought to be good enough for the South.

If you are a fit-and-proper person for the North, it seems to me to be a very strange set of rules that have been put on the table to say; “You’re fine to be a fit-and-proper person to be first minister, or deputy first minister, but you couldn’t be a fit-and-proper person in the South”.

This is not a "very strange set of rules" at all (and they aren't rules anyway, though that's not the point). Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are different places. This is not a difficult point to grasp. One might as sensibly say that a footballer good enough for Glasgow Rangers is good enough for Barcelona. Nor is it hard to appreciate that what may, with some fit and proper measure of reluctance, be deemed just about acceptable in one jurisdiction is not in fact appropriate or necessary or decent in the other.

The shabby bargains made during the peace process are one thing but they're not a qualification for elected office in a different state. Accepting that terrorists (and bigots) had to be accomodated to one degree or another in Northern Ireland is not an argument in favour of voluntarily making them respectable public figures in the Republic.

There is no requirement to forget far less forgive even if the realities of Northern Irish politics require us to thole McGuinness's presence in power in the north. What must be is not the same as what should be and only a fool fails to see the difference. So of course Shaun Woodward cannot observe or appreciate that difference.

Filed under: Ireland (195 more articles) , Martin McGuiness (7 more articles) , Northern Ireland (41 more articles) , Terrorism (298 more articles) , Ulster (48 more articles)

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Bruce

September 28th, 2011 5:42pm Report this comment

...how far it demonstrates the success of terrorism that we could see the deputy first minister Martin McGuinness now being a candidate in these elections

Austin Barry

September 28th, 2011 6:03pm Report this comment

There's not a chance that the ghastly McGuinness will be elected.

Indeed, his running just serves to remind us in the South of what a bunch of unrepentant blood-soaked, criminal butchers he represents.

He will lose the election as surely as Sinn Fein/IRA lost the war.

George Laird

September 28th, 2011 6:36pm Report this comment

Dear All

Re: Martin McGuinness.

Years ago, I watched a report called the Cook Report, it featured a story of a young man who was asked to meet the IRA by Martin McGuinness.

His safety was assured, by McGuinness.

The man wound up dead.

Murdered!

Martin McGuiness, President of Ireland?

I really don’t think so.

Yours sincerely

George Laird
The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University

PhiDo

September 29th, 2011 10:56am Report this comment

Lots of soldiers have gone on to become head of state. In Ireland the likes of Collins and De Valera, in Britain the likes of Churchill and Edward Heath. I can't see what the issue is. I think you need to move on.

Baron

September 29th, 2011 9:51pm Report this comment

PhiDo, sir, how could anyone sane mention in the same sentence McGuinness and soldiers beats Baron, by the same measure, the bunch of religious nutters who flew planes into buildings were what, also soldiers?

Is it noticeably painful to be mad?

Freethinker

October 2nd, 2011 8:26pm Report this comment

The gun and politics have never been far apart in the Republic.

Much has already been made of McGuinness’s IRA past but he is hardly the first Irish politician with a background in physical force republicanism. Both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail emerged from a split in the IRA in the 1920’s and the first ever Irish President �amon De Valera was an early supporter of the IRA and a key antagonist in the Civil War. Perhaps most famously, Frank Aiken and Se�n Lemass, both later minsters of government, first entered the D�il with revolvers in their pockets.

Still today there are those in government who conceal a murky past with stone faced denial. Much of the leadership of the Labour party, including its current leader Eamon Gilmore, originally entered the D�il as members of the Workers Party, which had at that time an armed wing, known internally as ‘Group B’ but better known as the Official IRA. This group carried out robberies and attacks on political rivals.

To talk of McGuninness's past association with violence without acknowledging their own is sheer hypocrisy

Miriam Webber

October 16th, 2011 6:47pm Report this comment

I am a resident of the UK. I see no reason why Mr. McGuinness should not put himself forward for the President of Ireland. I know many people have suffered and lost their loved ones during the troubles. I appreciate it is not easy to forget but surely, the time has come when all can consider forgiveness. Mr. McGuinness has served the North well and proved he is capable of moving on and building bridges. Britain had to face Archbishop Makarios following the troubles in Cyprus, not forgetting 1947 in Palestine, the atrocities of Germany and Russia. Britain itself is not lily white, as I am sure many people in Ireland are aware. After all who is?
My advice is: don't look back in anger, nor forward in fear but around in awareness. I hope the people in the Republic give him their vote. Good Luck to Mr. McGuinnes.

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