Molaim go léifear an Bille an Dara hUair.
I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time".
Is cinnte de thairbhe an Bille seo atá Pairtí na nOibrí ag moladh chun Airteagail 2 agus 3 a leasú go ndeanfaí ionsaithe mí-ionraice ar Phairtí na nOibrí taobh istigh agus lasmuigh den Dáil. Ar an ábhar sin ba mhaith liom a shoiléiriú don Dáil, ach go háirithe don phobal i gcoitinne, cén seasamh fadthéarmach atá ag an Pairtí i dtaca le haontu na tíre.
Tnúthaíonn Pairtí na nOibrí le haontas pobal an oileáin bhig seo. Tá sin ráite againn an oiread sin uair go gcuireann sé ionadh orm go bhfuil aon duine in amhras faoi. Ach de réir cosúláchta tá siad ann. Arís tá amhras ann faoin chineál aontais atá i gceist againne. I ndiaidh na díospóireachta seo tá súil agam nach mbeidh amhras ar bith ann a thuilleadh i dtaobh na ceiste seo. Ba mhaith linn poblacht daonfhlathach soisialach, tuatach, frith-sheicteach a chruthú ar an oileán seo.
Aithnímid an fíor thraidisiún Poblacht-ánach a shíolraíos ó Tone, na hÉireannaigh Aontaithe agus a lucht leanúna, a chuir béim ar aontas an phobail agus a dhiúltaigh don easontas a bhí agus atá préamhaithe sna reiligiúin éagsúla. Sin traidisiún Pairtí na nOibrí — aontas. Ach ní féidir an t-aontas sin a bhaint amach — aontas an phobail nó aontas na tíre — mar a dúirt Teachta Dála Tomás Mac Giolla chomh fada siar le Bealtaine 1972 sa Charraig Mhór, Contae Thír Eoghain — le pléascadh agus dúnmharbhú nó trí chogadh seicteach a thosú sa Tuaisceart. Bhí sin fíor beagnach fiche bliain ó shin agus tá sé lán chomh fíor an lá atá inniú ann. Ar an dóigh céanna, agus sin an fáth a bhfuil an Bille seo os ár gcomhair, ní bheidh aontas ar bith ann choíche muna dtagann sé go daonlathúil. Agus caithfidh an Dáil seo aitheantas a thabhairt don fíric sin.
Is iomdha uair le linn na fiche bliain atá caite gur cháin gach páirtí sa Dáil an feachtas dúnmharaithe sa Tuaisceart. Bhí sin ceart. Ach ní leor é. Cén fáth? Ní leor é de bharr an tuigbhéail is féidir leis na Sealadaigh agus a lucht tacaíochta sa bhaile agus thar lear a bhaint as Airteagail 2 agus 3. Bheadh sé bómánta nó bíthiúnta ag an Dáil seo gan sin a aíthint. Agus tá dualgas orainne go léir gan aon leithscéal a thabhairt dona dúnmharfóirí, ó thaobh ar bith, leanstan leis an scrios agus an ár sa Tuaisceart. Sin má táimid i ndáiríre faoi aontas a chothú go daonlathúil. Tá fhios agam go maith go mbeidh Baill ag éirí in mo dhiadh ag rá nach sin an chiall cheart atá leis na hAirteagail seo. Impím orthu machnamh bomaite agus a gcuid focal a thomhais sa dóigh nach gcuirfear oiread is órlach le feachtas nimhneach, dúnmharach na Sealadach. Nuair a deirim sin níl mé ag tagairt don "chiall dleathach" a bhaineas le hAirteagail 2 agus 3 ach don tuigbheail mórálta, polaiticiúil, mar a chítear dúinne é, agus, creidim, do mór fhurmhór phobail Thuaisceart Éireann. Agus mar an t-aon pháirtí amháin sa Dáil atá eagraithe fríd an Tuaisceart, creidim gur chóir don Dáil éisteacht go cúramach leis an méid atá le rá agam fiú muna n-aontaítear go hiomlán leis.
Dar le hAondachtóirí sa Tuaisceart, agus tá sé intuighte tar éis na mílte dúnmharaithe agus gortuithe ón Abercorn i mBeal Feirste go Inis Ceithlinn, go gcruthaíonn Airteagail 2 agus 3 "spás poiblí" do na Sealadaigh agus ar a bharr sin go gciallaíonn sin go dtugann an Stát seo tacaíocht mhorálta don fheachtas atá dírithe ina éadan.
Aithníonn Páirtí na nOibrí (agus is é seo tuigbheáil na nAondachtóirí chomh maith), nuair a deir na Sealadaigh "Brits Out" go gciallaíonn sin "Protestants Out" go háirithe, agus gach duine eile nach bhfuil sásta luí síos roimh na Sealadaigh agus glacadh lena gcreideamh fuilteach nimhneach náisiúnta atá siad ag brú ar mhuintir na tíre seo le fiche bliain. Tá dualgas orainn an rosc catha gránna sin a dhiúltú go glan díreach agus go macánta.
Sin é díreach an cheist atá romhainn: an bhfuilimid a dhul a leigint do na Sealadaigh an "spás poiblí" sin a choinneáil agus a leathnú nó an bhfuilimid a dhul a dhiúltú aon láidreacht, aon dóchas, aon tacaíocht a bhaint as Bhunreacht Stáit seo Phoblacht na hEireann. Ba chóir go mbeadh sé ar gach Teachta Dála an cheist sin a fhreagairt agus fios aige nó aici muna leasaimid an Bunreacht go nglacfaidh na Sealadaigh leis go bhfuil an Dáil seo taobh thiar dá bhfeachtas gránna. Ní áibhéil ar bith é a rá go bhfuil súile na tíre in a iomláine orainn ag an phointe seo.
Agus ní áibhéil ar bith é ach an oiread cúrsaí an Tuaiscirt a chur i gcomparáid leis an Ghearmáin díreach sul a dtáinig na Nazis chun cumhachta. Ní dóigh liom go bhfuil Hitler Éireannach ar an taobh líne ag fanacht le na sheans; is é atá i gceist agam meon-aigne na bpáirtithe polaitíochta i dtaca leis an "spás poiblí" a luaigh mé cheana, agus cé chomh toilteanach agus atá siad a chinntiú nach mbeidh seilbh ag na Sealadaigh ar an spás sin a thuilleadh. Ba é sin tragóid na Gearmáine sna triocaidí nuair a theip glan ar na páirtithe daonlathacha seasamh le chéile le chinntiú nach mbeadh todhchaí ar bith ag Nazism sa spás poiblí. Caithfimid foghluim ón stair sin. Is é mo bharúil, a Cheann Comhairle, muna dtaispeánaimid do phobal na hÉireann anois go bhfuil na ceachtanna staire foghlaimthe go maith againn nach fiú dúinn bheith ag gol agus ag mairgneach nuair a tharlaíonn uafás eile sa Tuaisceart. Caithfimid Airteagail 2 agus 3 a leasú. Tá sé d'oibleagáid orainn seasamh leis na daonlathas.
This is, without doubt, an historic occasion. First, it is the first time for more than 50 years that the question of Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution has been debated in the Dáil, and second, because potentially there are sufficient Deputies in this House convinced that they should be revised and amended.
I know that these Articles provoke strong emotions both among those who want to see them changed and among those who would wish to see them stay as they are, and the experience in this House in the past decade has been that the question of constitutional change has always produced extremely heated exchanges. That, in itself, should not be an excuse for dodging issues. Regardless of our views on the outcome of previous referenda, the fact is that the process of debate helped us all to reach a clearer understanding of each other's position and strengthened our democratic process. It is my earnest wish that the debate on our Bill should be conducted in a calm, rational and reasonable manner, free of rancour or bitterness. The debate will be watched carefully, not just on both parts of this island but also in Britain and throughout Europe. The manner in which the House conducts this debate over the next two weeks and the fate of the Bill thereafter, will be a fair measure of our maturity as a Parliament.
Our purpose in tabling this Bill was not to embarrass either of the parties in Government, to drive a wedge between them or to bring about the collapse of this Administration. If this Bill is passed I do not consider that it should be viewed as a defeat for the Government but rather as a victory for reason and reform.
It is now 53 years since what is known as de Valera's constitution was debated by the Dáil and then approved by the people in a referendum. The late Seán Lemass was quoted as saying that our Constitution should be changed every 25 years "as our society develops into a modern State". Even if there were peace in Northern Ireland and even if these Articles did not cause offence to so many people in Northern Ireland, there would still be, after more than 50 years, a case for reviewing them anyway. But the continuing Provisional IRA murder campaign with the clear evidence that the existence of Articles 2 and 3 in their present form constitute an impediment to political progress in Northern Ireland, provide compelling reasons why the revision of these Articles can no longer be deferred.
I believe the time is right. I believe the public mood is right. I believe Members of this House on all sides must face up to their responsibilities to give political leadership. We must lead public opinion and not wait to follow it.
Some people might feel it is ironic that the only party in this House which is itself organised on a 32-County basis and the only party which has elected representatives on both sides of the Border should be the one which is introducing legislation to tackle Articles 2 and 3. I do not consider it ironic at all. The unity of our party and the all-Ireland nature of its organisation is based on the free will and consent of our members. If unity of this island is to come about, it must be on the basis of the free will and consent of all its people. There can be no other way. I believe also that the fact that we are organised in both states gives our party a particular insight into the problems of Northern Ireland, a unique ability to view issues from both sides of the Border, and a special appreciation of the way in which Articles 2 and 3 are perceived in Northern Ireland.
Social and political conditions on both sides of the Border have changed dramatically since our Constitution was adopted. The Constitution was drafted within 15 years of a bitter civil war, when the memory of what many people considered to be the betrayal by the Boundary Commission was still fresh. It was the decade of the economic war, and Britain still occupied a number of ports in the Twenty-six Counties. The Constitution was put before the people at a time when most people considered that Partition would be a temporary phenomenon, which would not last for more than a few decades at the most.
De Valera's document was seen by many as a "constitution-in-waiting" for an all-Ireland state. Those who drafted it could not have foreseen the way in which events on this island would evolve. But we have the benefit of more than 50 years hindsight, and we should use that experience to enable us to redraft Articles 2 and 3 in a manner which would make them more acceptable to all of the people of this island.
There was then and there has been since a number of voices which spoke out against Articles 2 and 3. The Leader of Fine Gael at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, W.T. Cosgrave, described them quite accurately as "make believe". The then Secretary of the Department of Finance, J. J. McElligott, said of them that they were a fiction "which will give offence to neighbouring countries with whom we are constantly protesting our desire to live on terms of friendship". "It is not clear" he said, "whether we are on safe ground in claiming sovereignty and jurisdiction over land recognised internationally, de jure and de facto, as belonging to another country”. Mr. McElligott displayed considerable foresight when he expressed the view that “these Articles will not contribute anything to effecting the unity of Ireland, but rather the reverse”.
The 1967 All-Party Committee on the Constitution adopted what was for its time a remarkably progressive attitude. While they made no rcommendations with regard to Article 2, they recommended a total rewriting of Article 3, doing away with all the self-deception about "re-integration of the national territory" and the right of the Dáil to exercise jurisdiction over Northern Ireland. The wording they proposed for Article 3 was: "The Irish nation hereby proclaims its firm will that its territory be united in harmony and brotherly affection between all Irishmen". The committee included such distinguished Fianna Fáil politicians as the former Taoiseach, Seán Lemass, George Colley, as well as the current Minister for Agriculture and Food, Deputy O'Kennedy, and the current Minister for Energy, Deputy Molloy. It is a great misfortune that the then Government did not act on the committee's recommendation.
Credit must also be given to people like Deputy Jim Kemmy who for many years, along with people like Senator John A. Murphy, chipped away at the phoniness represented by Articles 2 and 3, and the courage of the Progressive Democrats has also to be acknowledged. In their draft constitution published in 1988, they proposed doing away with Article 2 and in regard to Article 3 recommended a wording similar to that proposed by the 1967 committee.
An editorial in The Irish Times, published at the end of 1987, to mark the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution, spoke for a growing number of people when it said of Articles 2 and 3:
It is a claim which is expressed in a dangerously simplistic idiom, in terms which are suggestive of a desire for conquest, subjugation indeed, and which can have no place in the dialogue which must come about with the Unionist majority in the North. The concept of territorial occupation, of the Gall flying to the sea before the conquering might — military, social or cultural — of the Gael may well have had its place as part of a necessary political or cultural mythology in 1937. It has none today. And it contradicts the declared desire of the great majority of people on this island for the achievement of unity by peaceful means alone.
It is clear therefore that for a number of years there has been public opinion in favour of changing — in one way or another — Articles 2 and 3. What has given the matter new urgency is the judgment of the Supreme Court in the McGimpsey case delivered on 1 March, which described the territorial claim in Articles 2 and 3 as a "constitutional imperative". Defenders of Articles 2 and 3 have tended to say "well, they should not really be taken at face value, they do not really constitute a territorial claim over the North, they are really just an expression of the desire of people down here for unity. They are only an aspiration".
This theory has been blown out of the water by the Supreme Court judgment. What the court found was that Articles 2 and 3, as currently worded, constitute a claim of legal right over Northern Ireland and that not only have the Government a right to pursue this claim but were obliged to do so — irrespective of the wishes of the people of Northern Ireland. Writing in The Irish Times, following the judgment, the distinguished law lecturer, David Gwynn Morgan said that the significance of the judgment was that it meant that the Government lacked the capacity to renounce the de jure claim to Northern Ireland. He also said: “If these Articles are matters of law, then an Irish government is simply not legally competent to reach certain kinds of agreements with the unionist majority,” adding that the net result is that the Government are rather constrained in any future bargaining with the Northern majority.
In my view the Supreme Court judgment has provided the most compelling argument for not deferring any longer decisive action to amend these Articles.
There is a number of reasons for changing Articles 2 and 3. The most important is that in their present form they are an impediment on the path to peace on this island. Many people in Northern Ireland, including Unionists, consider the present bald, territorial claim contained in these Articles to be arrogant and offensive. In their present form the Articles assert the right of the people of the Republic of Ireland to impose their will on the citizens of Northern Ireland, without any reference to the democratic rights of these people. These Articles are viewed by many people in Northern Ireland as a political pistol pointing at their heads. They lead to suspicion and distrust of this State among the Unionist community there.
It is not just a handful of Unionist "backwoodsmen" who find these Articles offensive. Progressive, modern, forwardlooking people like Christopher and Michael McGimpsey, who travel regularly to the Republic and who want friendly relations between all of the people of this island, have urged politicians in the South to stand up and be counted. Serious Unionists, such as Ken Maginnis and Frank Millar have pointed to them as an obstacle to peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland. The Presbyterian Synod last March, speaking for its members not just in the North but throughout the entire island, expressed a desire to see Articles 2 and 3 changed.
We should try to see it from the point of view of Unionists. Let us suppose the United Kingdom had a written constitution, and that it had in it an article which said that the national territory of the United Kingdom consisted of Great Britain and Ireland, its islands and territorial seas. Let us suppose that it had a further article which said that pending the reintegration of this national territory, and without prejudice to the right of Westminster to pass laws for all of the island of Ireland, its laws would apply only to Britain and Northern Ireland. Just imagine the sense of offence, outrage and indignation that this would provoke in this State. Let us suppose further that the Law Lords ruled that this was not just an aspiration but a "constitutional imperative", how would we react?
In bringing forward this Bill The Workers' Party do not claim to have any monopoly of political wisdom or ideas about ways of helping political progress in Northern Ireland. After all, it was Seán Lemass who first put political realism about Northern Ireland on the political agenda in this State back in the sixties. He recognised, as had Parnell before him, that Irish nationalism had to come to terms with the fact that a million or so Ulster Protestants were deeply committed to their allegiance to Britain. It was Lemass who took the important symbolic step of going to Stormont to meet the then Unionist Prime Minister, Terence O'Neill, in 1965. It appeared to many at the time as the beginning of the end of the cold war between the two states that had lasted since partition. Subsequently, as I pointed out earlier, he was a key figure in the 1967 Committee on the Constitution.
It was unfortunate that the committee's recommendations proved too visionary for many Members of the Dáil and in particular of the Government party. As the Northern Ireland state slid into chaos and violence more traditional voices drowned out those who were arguing for modernisation and rationality in our attitudes to Northern Ireland. Now 23 years on, Stormont has gone, many significant reforms have been introduced although much remains to be done, the Unionist monolith has splintered, a new modernised and sophisticated nationalist party has emerged in the SDLP and we have had the Report of the New Ireland Forum and the Hillsborough Agreement. Such radical changes have had their pathological dimensions as well — the forces that are prepared to kill and maim to maintain a constituency for the traditional zero-sum ideologies of fundamentalist nationalism and "not an inch" loyalism.
Our progress is aimed at building on the undoubtedly positive things that have occurred in both states and which the recent Presidential election has symbolised in such a graphic way. In Northern Ireland the Secretary of State, Peter Brooke, has got much further along the road to getting inter-party talks off the ground than many sceptics had thought possible. We need to recognise and give some credit to all the political leaders involved in these talks. In particular we should acknowledge the distance the leaders of the two main Unionist parties have come since their early response to the Hillsborough Agreement. We in The Workers' Party have always argued that Unionist politics is more complex and divided than is often thought the case down here. If political progress is to be made in Northern Ireland everything possible should be done to strengthen the forces of compromise and accommodation in the two communities up there. The Anglo-Irish Agreement was an attempt to strengthen the forces of compromise and accommodation in Catholic politics and it succeeded to a degree in this. It was also designed to sidestep the Unionist veto. We feel that the economic effects of Thatcherism undercut the Agreement's aims to a substantial extent and that a much more thoroughgoing set of reforms in areas like the economy and security are necessary. Nevertheless we feel that as well as addressing the alienation of Catholics from the state in Northern Ireland responsible politicians down here need to address Unionist alienation and their fears about their future.
These fears are not irrational or products of bigotry as far as the majority of Protestants are concerned. In large part they are the products of the most sophisticated terrorist organisation operating in the world at the moment, the Provisional IRA. Since the middle of the seventies the bulk of the victims of this organisation's campaign have been Ulster Protestants — ranging from the so-called "legitimate targets" to millworkers, electricians, Border farmers and their sons, and men, women and children who committed the crime of attending a Remembrance ceremony.
Down here the true enormity of what the Provisionals have been doing and are continuing to do to Ulster Protestants only comes home with one of their horror spectaculars like Enniskillen. We need to remember that the slow drip-drip of almost daily murders goes on and has gone on for two decades. Given this and the generalised Protestant feeling that the Hillsborough Agreement has been imposed on them, the degree of flexibility that Unionist leaders are prepared to show is quite remarkable. We need to acknowledge, strengthen and encourage that flexibility. We need to demonstrate to the Unionists that our priority is the accommodation of diversity on this island and that we are under no "constitutional imperative" to pursue unification against their wishes.
Just as we would expect them to accept and respect the legitimacy of Irish nationalist political and cultural aspirations, we in this State need to show that we respect their British political and cultural aspirations. Our proposal aims to build on the revision of Irish nationalist aspirations which is implicit in the Report of the New Ireland Forum and in Article 1 of the Anglo-Irish Agreement. We need to end the double-think in our political culture on the North so clearly embodied in Articles 2 and 3. We do not suggest that this would turn Unionists into Irish nationalists; that would be patronising and arrogant in itself and, anyway, that is not our purpose at all. What it would do is to remove one significant contribution to the siege mentality in the North. It would greatly assist those, and they are a growing number, who are arguing for an end to the politics of siege and the beginning of a new politics based on an historic compromise between nationalism and unionism.
There are those who argue that our proposal is a betrayal of the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland. Are they seriously suggesting that the great majority of Catholics in Northern Ireland see the present Articles as a defence of their interests? For 30 years, from 1937 to 1967, the values of de Valera's Constitution remained intact as did the system of Unionist one party rule in Northern Ireland. In 1967 the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association was formed. Within two years it had produced more positive changes for Northern Ireland Catholics than decades of verbal republicanism and anti-partitionism from Southern politicians. Rather than these Articles helping Northern Catholics they have been of a negative, destructive contradiction with the most rigid and unsavoury aspects of loyalism. Successive Unionist Prime Ministers and subsequent Loyalist demagogues have made much of the aggressive claim on Northern Ireland embodied in our Constitution. The Articles have only served to homogenise and consolidate Unionist opinion behind reactionary leaders. The great majority in Northern Ireland, Protestant and Catholic, have an interest in undermining this negative confrontation between Nationalist rhetoric and Loyalist intransigence.
Those who claim to speak for a Northern Catholic community, supposedly united in defence of Articles 2 and 3, ignore the evidence of surveys, for instance, the recent British Social Attitudes Survey, which showed that only a minority of Catholics in Northern Ireland saw Irish unity as a practical solution. Researchers from the centre for the study of conflict at the University of Ulster have just published a report on "Violence and Communities", which includes a survey of political attitudes from which they concluded that "there seemed to be little real demand for a break in the link with Britain" among the Catholic population. The study shows that the primary objective of most Catholics in Northern Ireland is a share of political power and justice within the State rather than the high-faluting, bombastic, exaggerated perspectives of some politicians who seem to believe in some transcendent final solution to the Irish question. To try to use Articles 2 and 3 as a bargaining counter to get Unionists involved in talks with the Southern Government — aimed at sliding them out of the United Kingdom — is simply unrealistic; it is a recipe for continued political stalemate in the North.
We are not suggesting this as a way of placating Unionists and ignoring Nationalists. We believe that the claim is undemocratic and poisons relations between Unionists and Nationalists throughout Ireland. The Unionist case against these Articles is a just one. It is only those steeped in the zero-sum polarities of northern communalism who see justice for Unionists on this issue as a betrayal of Nationalists. The changes we recommend would represent an important step to political honesty about Northern Ireland down here and help to advance the incredibly complex and difficult process of political accommodation in Northern Ireland.
Primarily, however, Articles 2 and 3 should be changed as I put it at our last Ard-Fheis "as a matter of basic good neighbourliness and for the health of our own political system". While the vast majority of people of the Republic unequivocally reject the Provisional IRA and their murderous activities, the Provos and their fellow travellers cite Articles 2 and 3 as part of their perverse mandate, and to justify their claim that they seek only to complete unfinished business. Again nobody would suggest that if we pass the proposed amendments, the Provos would lay down their arms. But changing Articles 2 and 3 in the way we suggest would clearly demonstrate that the people of the Republic are saying to the murder gangs: you have no mandate to operate in our names; you have no right to make war against the people of Northern Ireland or Britain.
In this context it was significant that, when we published our Bill last week, the only public criticism of it came from the Provisionals. Those who believe that the Provos attach no importance to Articles 2 and 3 should read the comments of the Vice-President of Sinn Féin, Mr. Pat Doherty, quoted in the Irish News of Friday last, 30 November. Articles 2 and 3 he said:
reflected the desire for a united and independent Ireland, the wish of the majority of the people of this country...
This is the language which the Provos use to back up their claim of a mandate from the Irish people for their murderous activities. By amending Articles 2 and 3 along the lines we suggest we will further undermine the Provos claim to a mandate.
I want to turn now to the detail of our proposed amendments. In relation to Article 2 we are proposing the inclusion of an extra sentence, which incorporates the sentiments of Article 1 of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, viz:
This shall not be held to mean that there will be any change in the status of Northern Ireland other than with the consent of a majority of the people of Northern Ireland.
This formula was suggested some months ago by the President, Mrs. Mary Robinson. I do not believe there will be any great controversy about this proposal. When the Dáil adopted the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985 it accepted this principle. When Fianna Fáil came into power in 1987 and agreed to operate the Anglo-Irish Agreement, they also accepted this principle. The effect of incorporating it into Article 2 is to modify what the Supreme Court recently described as a constitutional imperative to pursue unity.
The formula we are suggesting for Article 3 is somewhat similar to the proposal made by the All Party Committee on the Constitution which reported in 1967. As recommended by the 1967 committee it drops the claim of a right by the Parliament of this State to exercise jurisdiction over the whole island. Unlike the committee's recommendation which spoke of unity of the nation, our proposed new wording speaks about unity of the people of Ireland. It proclaims the firm wish of the people of this State "that the people of Ireland be united in peace, harmony and by consent".
We are putting forward these proposed amendments in the belief that they would be acceptable to the people of the Republic. We are not claiming any absolute infallibility in relation to the proposed wording. If people have suggestions to make as to how it might be improved, we are quite prepared to consider them, provided they are consistent with the objectives I set out earlier.
Only the most uncompromising, militant Nationalists now suggest that Articles 2 and 3 should not under any circumstances be changed. But there are two principal arguments which I anticipate will be put forward against this Bill. One is that Articles 2 and 3 should only be revised as part of a total review of the Constitution. The other is that the Articles should only be amended as part of an overall settlement to the problem of Northern Ireland.
My party's concerns about the 1937 Constitution are not limited to Articles 2 and 3. There are many other areas we would like to see addressed. There is, of course, the constitutional prohibition on divorce. We are now one of the few countries which refuses to give those whose marriages have irretrievably broken down the opportunity to remarry. In the past few weeks there has been a groundswell of opinion — extending even into the heart of Fianna Fáil — in favour of looking again at that constitutional prohibition. In time there will, I am certain, be a similar groundswell in favour of reviewing the unnecessary, divisive and sectarian amendment which was inserted in 1983. There is the whole question of the guarantees in regard to private property which have been cited by successive Governments as a reason they cannot move to end the relic of mediaeval times — ground rents. The Preamble is particularly out-dated and anachronistic. There are many other issues.
I would like to see a totally new Constitution to guide this country into the 21st century. I would like to see it done by consensus, but how long would that take? Our record as a Parliament is not good. Relatively non-controversial legislation, like the Children Bill, was first published in 1985 and is still not enacted. How long would a new Constitution take — five years, ten years, 15 years? I do not believe we can wait that long to address Articles 2 and 3 of the Constitution. The other shortcomings of our Constitution are not claimed by the Provisional IRA as part of their mandate for their terrorist crimes, are not providing an impediment to peace and progress in Northern Ireland; Articles 2 and 3 are. Their impact is so damaging we cannot wait for a new Constitution to address them.
The Taoiseach when questioned in the Dáil, has expressed the view that Articles 2 and 3 should only be addressed as part of an overall settlement of the Northern Ireland problem. This is asking people of Northern Ireland to give the Irish Government a blank cheque. It is asking the people of Northern Ireland to accept that a state which has no great record of any generosity towards the rights of minorities in its own midst will be generous towards them. It also ignores the priority that if we do not now address Articles 2 and 3 then there may well be no settlement in Northern Ireland.
A Cheann Comhairle, "new thinking" has swept the world in the past few years, new thinking which has seen the end of the Cold War, de-escalation of the arms race and demolition of the Berlin Wall, to give but a few dramatic examples, but we cannot honestly applaud such developments internationally and yet ignore the necessity for a major re-examination of our own attitudes and traditions. "New thinking" does not demand that to meet our traditional position. Shouting old slogans for a united Ireland and surrender must be looked at in a new, cold light. They have badly served the people of this island; indeed they have served them murderously.
We must remember that Northern Ireland is populated by real people, with real fears, hopes and expectations, which in most respects are no different from our own concerns about jobs, wages, health, education and a clean environment, but there is one significant difference apart from the differing political traditions. That difference is the daily fear of the death squads who roam the towns, cities and countryside, who callously murder, who regard compassion as a sign of weakness and describe it as "bleeding heart liberalism", and who regard compromise as treachery. They are driven by their own heroic self-image and believe they are fulfilling the "historic destiny" of the Irish people. We can strike a mortal blow against this philosophy of death by tackling Articles 2 and 3, by questioning the political culture that underpins them.
I will conclude by quoting a statement made by our former President, Dr. Patrick Hillery, earlier this year when he was speaking at a function organised by the Economic and Social Research Institute. He said:
There is never any dearth of people who are eager to advise caution, to postpone the initiation of change, to avoid breaking old moulds, to wait until this or that until finally the great enthusiasm which is there could be dead and what should have been today's initiative is deferred for another generation.
We should not allow that to happen in this House over the next two weeks.