The Five Demands

WikiLeaks: Why IRA chose ‘hard army man’ to deliver peace message (Belfast Telegraph)
By Tom Brady
The IRA leadership chose a “hard army man” to deliver its statement declaring it was going out of business to send a clear message to potential dissidents, according to a leaked embassy cable.
The then secretary general of the Republic’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Dermot Gallagher, said the IRA declaration in July 2005 was “as good a statement as you can get”.
And he said he believed it contained a clarity that had not been in any previous statement.
Mr Gallagher told US Ambassador James Kenny and his officials that by choosing “a hard army man” to read the message, the IRA meant to convey to people in the field that the army, including the most devoted volunteers, and not just the politicians, was behind the statement.
His views are disclosed in a leaked cable sent by Mr Kenny from Dublin to the US State Department in Washington.
Mr Gallagher said Seanna Walsh had been chosen because he was a trusted member of the IRA, who had served one of the longest sentences (21 years) for his crimes.
He had been jailed in the “infamous cages and H Block of Long Kesh”, the cable said.
It added he was one of the first to “go on the blanket” and protest imprisonment by refusing to wear clothes or bathe.
Significantly, Walsh was a friend and cell mate of Bobby Sands.
“His friendship with Sands is important both because Sands is a hero to the IRA and because Sands’ sister married Michael McKevitt, founder of the breakaway Real IRA,” the cable added.
By having Walsh deliver the message, the Irish Government believed the IRA was trying to dissuade any potential dissenters and show “the guys on the ground that the army is in charge”.
The cable said Mr Gallagher thanked the US for its role as honest broker throughout the peace process.
It added he and Ambassador Kenny agreed the united front since the breakdown of talks the previous December had helped Sinn Fein and the IRA understand they had to make this move.
Mr Gallagher said the Irish Government was particularly concerned that the UK would not “sit on its hands” until the following January, but rather take steps that signalled the Good Friday agreement was on track.
He said Sinn Fein would want front loading of demilitarisation. Decommissioning, British demilitarisation and Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) reports about IRA actions would be mutually reinforcing.
If the IMC had issued two successive, positive reports on IRA behaviour, the onus would be on unionists. Good IMC reports would also pave the way for movement on other issues.
Northern Ireland office director Brendan Scannell indicated the UK and Ireland would move in tandem to deal with “on the runs” (activists on the run) as soon as the acts of completion had been achieved, the cable added.
It said Mr Gallagher had made a point of stating that the issue of releasing the men convicted of killing Garda Jerry McCabe was “off the table” and investigations into money laundering and the Northern Bank robbery were ongoing and the law of the land would stand.
Mr Gallagher told the US officials their government could be very helpful on policing and possibly on economic development as Sinn Fein sought to show its followers that peace brought a better standard of living.