‘Brits out’ call by the Corporation

September 1983

Wexford Corporation has called for the replacement of the British Army in Northern Ireland by a peace-keeping force of the United Nations.

In a wide-ranging debate on the Northern Issue on Monday night, councillors agreed that all attempted solutions to the problem had failed, and they called on Britain to announce its intention to eventually pull out of Ireland.

The originator of the debate was Cllr. Jimmy Hayes, who said he was deviating from ‘parish pump’ politics in an effort to find a solution to the Northern problem.

And he went on to lash subversive organisations in the north too, describing Provisional Sinn Féin as ‘a threat to democracy, North and South’.

Cllr Hayes also criticised the amount of money which has to be spent on border security by the Irish government, claiming it is twice as much as the British are spending.

He called for the abolition of the UDR, claiming the force has completely alienated the Catholic minority in the North. ‘A solution can only be found by the people there, and the help of the UN is needed right now,’ he said.

Ald. Philip Kelly refuted the Hayes criticism of Sinn Féain and told members he was a former member of the organisation.

‘If I was living in the North now, I would be out on the streets, fighting with the oppressed people up there,’ he said.

Ald. Kelly said Britain had never attempted to find a solution to the problem. ‘That oppressive regime has gone so far that it is now the envy or every oppressive dictatorship in the world,’ he added.

Senator Brendan Howlin said a solution would only be found when a pluralist society was achived in the South. ‘We have to create a climate to make one million people feel welcome here,’ he said.

Senator Howlin lashed Sinn Féin, whose ‘socalled struggle’, he said, involved nothing but murder and death.

Cllr John Roche remarked that mindful of the emigration situation, a climate would have to be created to get people to just stay here. ‘Never mind about bringing in one million more,’ he said.