Comment

Dealing With The OTRs

The vexed issue of how the British and Irish governments deal with the question of the On the Run (OTR) members of the IRA and other paramilitary groups has come front and centre in the past few weeks.

The debate has generated far more heat than light, unfortunately, and it has made for strange bedfellows, with the British and Irish governments lining up with Sinn Fein in their desire to put the issue to rest, and the SDLP taking the side of the Unionists in saying that the methods proposed would be detrimental to the peace process.

It is a convoluted issue, but several facts are clear. The question of the OTRs was dealt with to the satisfaction of the various parties during the exhaustive negotiations of the past few years. The British and Irish governments now wish to implement those agreements on this issue.

Another fact is that there are two sides to this matter. The British want all the OTRs to face a legal proceeding before they are free to return and have their records absolved.

They also now seem to be proposing that members of their own security forces, some of whom committed heinous crimes, would no longer be subject to legal proceedings and partake in the proposed amnesty.

There is a critical difference on this issue for Nationalists. Their OTRs would be subject to vetting and legal proceedings, while the other side would avail of a general amnesty without any further investigation of their offences.

It is this last point which has angered Nationalists, who see the British forces getting off scot free. They point to the Truth Commission in South Africa, which investigated every major crime on all sides, before all were granted amnesty.

There is no question that it is past time that a line was drawn under the era of violence in Northern Ireland. It is very unlikely there will ever be criminal proceedings brought before courts in the North on any of the unsolved and often brutal crimes committed on both sides over the 25 years or so of violence.

It is time for a fresh start, for the past to be buried and for a new era to begin. But there must be parity on how all those offences are dealt with.

Nationalists are correct in believing that singling out one side over the other is unacceptable. It is hard to argue with that.

For their part, the British and Irish governments must ensure that the issue is handled fairly, no easy task given the strong emotions.

Immigration Meeting

As we have been stating in these pages for the past few weeks, the era of immigration reform is upon us again and the Irish must have their place at the table.

We can all start this Friday night, December 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Affinia Hotel, at 31st Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. There in the Clinton room on the fourth floor, the first public meeting of the new group Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) will take place.

We urge all those, undocumented and otherwise, to attend. There is only a brief window of opportunity with all the immigration bills on the table, and the young Irish, in particular, need to make their presence felt. It is time to end the undocumented nightmare.