February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The two men sealed an agreement that will see the exchange of officers between the forces. The agreement, first envisaged in the Patten report on policing, will bring cooperation between the Garda and PSNI to a whole new level.
However, while the two top policemen on the island of Ireland have been recently exchanging notes on the investigation into IRA money laundering and any possible links to the Northern Bank robbery, a more significant game of “good cop, bad cop” is being played out in Government Buildings, Dublin.
First came the “bad cop”: Justice Minister Michael McDowell. McDowell, a lifelong critic of the republican movement, had busied himself over the weekend with broadsides against Sinn Fein.
Speaking on Today FM radio Sunday, McDowell alleged that Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams, chief negotiator Martin McGuinness, and North Kerry TD Martin Ferris were all members of the IRA army council.
McDowell was unflinching in his analysis that the three men, along with the rest of the Army Council, exercise complete control over the movement. He claimed that Sinn Fein and the IRA were one and the same and that the senior politicians coordinated the IRA’s activities, including the bank heist.
The three men issued a joint statement Monday night strongly rejecting McDowell’s assertion.
Meanwhile, the taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, stepped into the shoes of the “good cop” Monday. Not only did he restrain himself from joining in with his cabinet colleague on the Army Council claims, he said he had no personal knowledge of the council’s makeup. He also threw doubt on McDowell’s assertion that Adams, McGuinness and Ferris? can “deliver” the IRA.
“I might have my own views about whether people are, or are not, on the Army Council,” Ahern said. “I do not know the membership of the Army Council.
“They [Sinn Fein] are genuinely saying that they are trying to get to a situation where they want to see these things through [decommissioning, paramilitarism].
“Why did we break down on the eighth of December on the criminality end? We know about decommissioning. But why did we break down on criminality? It is because Sinn Fein went to the IRA and the IRA would not allow them the movement. That is what happened. Sinn Fein went to the IRA. But Sinn Fein has to work that out.”
Ahern’s comments are significant in that he appears to be contradicting himself and the line currently emanating from McDowell’s office. In the initial days following the Northern Bank heist, government sources posed a question: “Can Sinn Fein deliver the IRA or not?” In recent weeks an answer seemed to emerge: “yes, they can, but they don’t seem to want to.”
Ahern said within weeks of the Dec. 20 Northern Bank job that the “dogs in the street” knew that Adams and McGuinness would have had to sanction the heist.
For Ahern now to portray the Sinn Fein leadership as a group of peaceniks in thrall to the IRA hard men seems strange. Does he now believe that they argued against last week’s raids?
Ahern’s strategy is unclear. Some observers believe he is attempting to draw the Sinn Fein leadership out. In questioning Adams and McGuinness’ ability to negotiate for the entire republican family, he may be forcing them to prove their leadership bona fides. Others question whether Ahern has now decided to adopt a twin-track approach to Sinn Fein.
McDowell, who has had little involvement in Northern talks over the last eight years, risks nothing with his rottweiller approach to Sinn Fein. It is widely conceded in political circles that while McDowell undoubtedly feels justified in what he says about republicans, he has his eye on another prize: leadership of the Progressive Democrats. His party has long painted itself as a “law and order party,” the territory traditionally occupied by Fine Gael.
Ahern, however, must plow a more diplomatic path. While few in Leinster House doubt that McDowell’s almost daily utterances come with Ahern’s rubber stamp of approval, the taoiseach in recent days appears to be taking a more long-term view of the political process.
The softening of tone and the refusal to engage in the “name and shame” dialogue would seem to indicate that Ahern does indeed envisage progress on the political front. He will have to spend some quality time with Sinn Fein sooner or later, hence his refusal to bow to calls that Sinn Fein be excluded from the political talks.
However, Ahern’s offer for Sinn Fein to prove itself comes with a time frame. He has warned that the peace process could be in dire straits if things fail to improve by this year’s marching season. More ominously, he hinted that he had information that things may get worse for republicans before they get better.
“It requires some time,” he said. “I’m not saying that we will leave it forever. We need them to be coming back saying, the end of paramilitarism, the decommissioning of all weapons, and the cessation of all criminal behavior.”