FORMER IRA LEADERS are considering issuing an unequivocal apology to all of the IRA victims through the years, including members of the British Army, according to a report in today’s Sunday Business Post.
The report says that discussions are underway among republicans and senior figures are pushing for the apology to be made.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Saturday Night with Miriam, Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said he did not know where the SBP story was originating from “because the IRA are gone; I don’t know who’s going to [apologise]“.
However, he indicated that he believes a ‘collective’ apology should be issued by all parties involved, including the British government:
It is absolutely heartbreaking that we have been through almost 100 years of partition in the North, decade after decade of conflict – and a very bitter conflict that lasted 25 years in which an awful lot of people lost their lives. How could you not be sorry that all that happened?But if people are going to say sorry, then everybody should say it collectively, in my mind. And that includes the British government. The British government cannot exclude themselves from the debate that we’re seeking to have which I think will be good for all of us. We have come a long way, but there is still an awful long way to go.
McGuinness accused British Prime Minister David Cameron of being ‘disengaged’ from the peace process, pointing out that McGuinness and First Minister Peter Robinson had met with the US president more often than the prime minister.
Victims
McGuinness also said that he told the Queen and Prince Philip last week that he recognised that they too had lost a loved one during the Troubles. He said that he would not repeated the queen’s words in response “because that would not be proper” but that she was understanding of the need for everybody to work together to move forward; “She was very gracious about it.”
“The peace process has come an awful long way” and is the most successful in the world today, the Deputy First Minister said. However, he added that the one flaw in the peace process so far was that no way had been found for dealing with the past and for dealing with victims.
McGuinness has previously called for the establishment of a peace and reconciliation commission in Northern Ireland along the lines of that of South Africa.
In last night’s interview, he confirmed earlier comments that “very important meetings” are being held by Sinn Féin leaders and senior Protestant clergymen and Unionist figures in order to build on the reconciliation phase of the peace process.
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