At Last a Peace Breakthrough?

By Niall  O’Dowd

ONCE again the Irish peace process seems poised on the verge of a major breakthrough as November elections loom and the parties face intense pressure. Of course it would not be the peace process without the obligatory crisis as we reach crunch time.

This time, however, there are clear signs that the logjam in place since the suspension of the Northern Assembly is about to be broken. There are several reasons for this, but the most acute ones relate to political survival on all sides.

For Sinn Fein and the Ulster Unionists the reality has sunk in that the only real way forward for their parties is to cut a deal. Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness made an important statement over the weekend which crystallized his party’s position.

McGuinness made it clear that his party was committed to working with “progressive Unionism,” and that idle talk of deals with the Rev. Ian Paisley or his party, the Democratic Unionists, was completely unrealistic. Sinn Fein now fully comprehends that like him or hate him, David Trimble remains the only “progressive force” in Ulster Unionism.

Likewise for Trimble, there is a grudging acceptance that only a deal with Sinn Fein will provide him with the opportunity to surpass Paisley’s party in the polls and lead his Ulster Unionists back to power.

Trimble probably thought that he could postpone elections indefinitely and that British Prime Minister Tony Blair would always back him. However, there now appears to be clear evidence that Blair too has reached the end of his tether, and realizes that to postpone elections again would effectively bring an end to the Good Friday Agreement.

It appears that both Blair and Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Bertie Ahern have also worked very hard at closing the gap between Sinn Fein and Trimble, and that they may be on the cusp of succeeding. It must also be pointed out that American special envoy Richard Haass has also played a major role in helping close that gap.

The needs of both sides are obvious. Trimble wants a clear statement that the IRA campaign is over, and Sinn Fein needs to know that if they can secure that, they will be welcome back in the power sharing government which would be reconstituted.

It seems a fair tradeoff. Sinn Fein can no longer maintain that there is any role for the IRA in a peaceful and power-sharing state. 

Equally, Unionists have to give up their blatant, exclusionary approach to government which sought to keep Sinn Fein and a majority of the Nationalist population permanently disenfranchised.

The very same set of circumstances appeared to be in place in April, but the deal collapsed at the last moment and the elections were postponed.

There is no question that whatever is put together will be a difficult sell for both leaders. For Gerry Adams to convince the IRA to essentially put themselves out of business is a mammoth task which carries a host of dangerous consequences if it does not work out.

Equally, Trimble has a large rejectionist rump in his own party that has tried to thwart and defeat him at every turn. With a party conference coming up he will have to ensue that the deal is securely in place before he sells it.

For all that, the omens still look good. The interdependence of the major players, the confluence of interests and the timing all seem to be on par. 

It is now or never for the process, and it is good to report that confidence level is high that the breakthrough can finally occur.

Police Climbdown in Queens

WHAT is happening in Queens, where there are many conflicting reports on sexual abuse charges against Irish women there? The sexual assaults appear to occur late at night when the women leave Irish bars to go home and predator taxi drivers pick them up. 

This newspaper reported two such cases in the past few weeks. Last week we quoted one of the victims who bravely allowed her name to be used, and she told us her story.

She made clear that she had gone to the police 24 hours after the assault occurred, accompanied by another girl who had suffered the same fate a few days previously.

There is absolutely no reason to doubt the testimony of this brave young woman who undoubtedly suffered the assault.

Yet the week before, after City Councilman Eric Gioia organized a press conference calling for police action against the rogue drivers after our report, this newspaper was inundated with calls from police officials denying there was any investigation or reports from victims of such assaults.

Some senior figures were involved and Gioia, understandably, backtracked at his press conference, stating the police had not got involved. We duly reported the police statement that they had received no report.

Now, however, the victim has come forward and stated baldly that she had indeed gone to the police and reported the crime and that she was essentially turned away, allegedly because they told her to report it to her own precinct in Maspeth. Clearly someone had this story very wrong, and we now know that it was the police.

If this is so then there are major questions about the investigation of these crimes by the police in Queens, and questions too about why it was so important to discredit this young girl’s story after she came forward to give it.

There may, of course, be a rational explanation, a missed report or misplaced file or a wrong date. There is no question that we have one of the best police forces in the world, but it is also self-evident that the Irish community in Queens has several questions that it wants answered.

Why were the police so insistent to this newspaper that no report had been filed? Why have they taken this long, and only when the victim herself has come forward, to admit the woman did report it?

Obviously our report and the press conference by Gioia created a powerful media interest. At the Gioia press conference most of the major local networks showed up.

No doubt this was a source of embarrassment to the police, but their inability to comb their own records to discover the fact of the victim’s report is disturbing to say the least.

After all, the sense of dread that many undocumented have about reporting such crimes will only be heightened by inaction on the part of the police. Meanwhile, the perpetrators can continue to seek out young women.

It has been an ongoing problem for many years in Queens. Young Irish women have been attacked by drivers who wait for them to leave local bars, usually in an inebriated state.

There are signs that the police are finally acting. There are already reports that the gypsy cab drivers who are suspected of harboring the sex criminals are no longer allowed to trawl for customers outside bars late at night. If true that is a positive step forward. 

The reported crimes, however, also raise some other issues. Two weeks ago we editorialized about the need of young women drinking late into the night to ensure that they take precautions for their personal safety.

We received a number of calls from people saying that the bars must do their share too. Allowing young women to pass out inebriated, or to serve them long after they have reached their limit, is just as irresponsible as the drinking itself.