McDowell playing dangerous game with peace process.

dublin | politics / elections | opinion/analysis

Tuesday March 09, 2004 11:23

by Shinner

Establishment parties quaking in their boots at the rise of Sinn Fein.

It’s the Elections Stupid.
The Minister for justice has continued today to make his largely unsubstantiated claims against Sinn Fein. This is a reckless tactic by this government, which can only be a result of the fear that recent opinion polls, which show a huge growth in the popularity of Sinn Fein, have created. Yesterday the Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said that this had nothing to do with the forthcoming polls but only the very naïve would believe this.
The allegations being put forward MR McDowell that senior members of Sinn Fein are on the Army council of the IRA are nothing new, the minister has been peddling this claim for a long time. However the way that the Minister has intensified his campaign in the last few weeks has been plain for all to see. Martin McGuinness called on the minister to "put up or shut up" and accused him of being anti-working class and anti-republican. "It's very well to make accusations but it is a whole other thing to substantiate those allegations. I think Michael McDowell needs to remember that he is the Minister for Justice. He is not the Minister for Judges and he is certainly not the Minister for Juries," he said.
This electioneering is extremely dangerous as it gives fodder to those who do not support the peace process such as the DUP. In the grand scheme of things it won’t actually affect Sinn Fein’s vote. Remember just before the last election when a similar campaign was carried out against Martin Ferris, I recall he went on to top the polls in Kerry North.