Sinn Fein: no deals

Press, 30 May 1985, Page 13

Sinn Fein: no deals

By

MARY HOLLAND

One scene at the election count in the Guildhall in Derry spoke volumes about the bitter turmoil which lies ahead in the local council chambers of Northern Ireland. “Thirteen years ago I made a political statement when I carried a bomb into this building. It is the same political statement that I am making today,” Gerry Doherty, a newly-elected Sinn Fein councillor, told supporters. Mr Doherty was part of an I.R.A. unit which bombed the Guildhall in 1972, destroying the famous plate glass windows depicting scenes of the city’s Protestant history. Sinn Fein now has 59 seats on 17 of Northern Ireland’s local councils. In six of these it holds the balance of power with the S.D.L.P. Unionist fury at these successes has been exacerbated by the British Government’s reaction to the results. Government Ministers have reiterated that they will have no dealings with Sinn Fein representatives, but have also made it clear that they expect Unionists to work with them in local council chambers. Taken in the context of the overall poll, Sinn Fein’s success in garnering 12 per cent of the vote

was not quite as dramatic as the first reactions seem to indicate. Many of its gains were at the expense of small Republican parties, while the S.D.L.P. held its vote in the Catholic community. On the Protestant side the Official Unionist Party beat off the threat from the Rev. lan Paisley’s Democratic Unionists to re-emerge as the voice of the majority in the province. It had been thought that recent tensions within the Provos between Gerry Adams and more militaristic elements who disapprove of the time and money being devoted to political activity might damage the party’s organisation and its vote. Insteaad, Adams’s position is strengthened by this result. The most immediate political effect outside the North is likely to be increased pressure from the Dublin Government for faster and more decisive movement on the Anglo-Irish front. Government sources in Dublin have been swift to point out that the vote for Sinn Fein is further proof of the growing alienation of the Catholic community in Northern Ireland. Copyright — London Observer Service.