Ordinarily,
you would be hard put to make any connection between
the British ambassador to Ireland, Stewart Eldon,
and reputed IRA leader Thomas "Slab" Murphy.
However,
in recent days both of these men - though, admittedly,
one with considerably less enthusiasm than the other
- have helped to demonstrate just how close a relationship
the Irish and British governments now enjoy.
Of
itself, there is nothing extraordinary in Mr Eldon
deciding to accept an invitation from the Irish
Government to attend the Easter Rising commemorations
in Dublin. After all, once invited, he could hardly
refuse to attend. The real significance lies in
the fact that the Government asked him in the first
place. To invite the official representative of
the former colonial power in your country to join
in commemorating an event which led directly to
the achieving of independence is the diplomatic
equivalent of formally drawing a line under the
past.
Of
course, the relationship between Dublin and London
has been improving for years. Yet, for all of that,
considering the previously strained and sometimes
bloody nature of British/Irish relations and the
historical significance of what is being commemorated,
such a public display of rapprochement is still
an important and welcome gesture.
Of
no less import will be the impact it has on ongoing
efforts by the Irish Government to reclaim republicanism
from those who debased it for years. When President
Mary McAleese and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern stand shoulder-to-shoulder
with the British ambassador at a 1916 commemoration
event, they will project an image totally in keeping
with how the vast majority of the Irish people now
view themselves, their country and their nearest
neighbour. They will be seen as wholly representative
of a mature, self-confident and forward-looking
state: a modern Republic of Ireland that no longer
measures itself against the former colonial power
nor forever wraps itself in a comfort blanket of
past grievances.
If
Mr Eldon's invitation to the Easter Rising commemorations
gives diplomatic expression to the ever-improving
relationship between Britain and Ireland, then evidence
of a more concrete kind was provided by the recent
raid on Thomas "Slab" Murphy's property
on the Louth/Armagh border. In total, a combined
force of about 400 members of the Garda, the PSNI,
the Irish and British armies, the Criminal Assets
Bureau and Customs and Excise took part in the raid
on Mr Murphy's farm.
To
state that an overt operation on that scale - involving
so many different security and criminal investigation
agencies from both jurisdictions - has never before
been mounted is something of an understatement.
The
area in which Mr Murphy lives has long been seen
as virtually immune from law enforcement of any
kind and he, above all other local inhabitants,
was considered untouchable. By co-operating together
and to such a degree, security and law enforcement
officers from both sides of the Border have signalled
that no-go areas will no longer be tolerated in
any part of the island. As PSNI chief constable
Hugh Orde put it recently: "Crime recognises
no borders, so criminal investigations cannot afford
to either."
Although
it remains to be seen whether Mr Murphy will face
criminal charges, the targeting of such a high-profile
individual will, at the very least, have destroyed
the notion that any individual can continue to operate
without legal constraints.
Predictably,
unionist politicians have reacted angrily to Mr
Eldon attending the 1916 commemorations. "It
is bizarre that the British ambassador should be
invited to these celebrations in the first place,"
Democratic Unionist MP Jeffrey Donaldson is reported
as saying. "After all, this is about celebrating
the deaths of British soldiers, British policemen
in the old Royal Irish Constabulary and innocent
civilians. The Easter Rising was an act of terrorism
directed against the British state, and that a representative
of that state should in any way be involved in an
event glorifying such actions is most unwelcome."
Equally
predictably, if less vehemently, and no doubt with
one eye on possible future developments, Sinn Féin
president Gerry Adams complained of the raid on
Thomas Murphy's property.
Mr
Adams said: ". . . I want to deal with what
is an effort to portray Tom Murphy as a criminal,
as a bandit, as a gang boss, as someone who is exploiting
the republican struggle for his own ends, as a multimillionaire.
There is no evidence to support any of that."
By
their words, Mr Donaldson and Mr Adams prove the
very point that the two governments are determined
to make. The political parties within Northern Ireland
may be capable of thwarting one element of the Belfast
Agreement, but they will not be allowed to dictate
the pace of normalisation on all other fronts. Of
primary importance in that process of normalisation
is the building of a friendly, co-operative and
mutually respectful relationship between two neighbouring
sovereign states.
