By Nadine Finch

Labour for Irish Unity is holding two fringe meetings in Liverpool during Labour Party Conference. At first glance, one appears to be historical and the other more contemporary. But both address the civil rights deficits and the consequences for Northern Ireland of continuing to be part of the United Kingdom. Neither of these issues is being sufficiently addressed by current Labour Party policy or debate.

A pledge to be an ‘honest broker’ maintains the narrative that there is a persistent divide in the North of Ireland based on religion and past conflicts. It ignores the complexity of the society that has emerged since the Good Friday Agreement was signed; with many new migrant communities and young and older people, whose priorities are diverse and mandated by the challenges of climate, internationalism and austerity. It also fails to take into account Britain’s active role in past conflicts and the sometimes pivotal position of Northern Ireland Unionist parties in the Brexit debate.

In addition, whilst the Labour Party is quite rightly stating that it will give communities control over their own destiny, it needs to recall that Article 1(ii) of the Good Friday Agreement has already pledged, in international law, that it is “for the people of Ireland alone, by agreement between the two parts respectively and without external impediment, to exercise their right to self-determination on the basis of consent”. This needs to be acknowledged, along with the fact that the role that a future Labour Government may play is restricted to an assessment of whether the conditions for a border poll on unity have been met.

This is a challenging assessment for which little guidance is given in the Good Friday Agreement. As an island, Ireland is already involved in a complex and public debate designed to ensure that everyone understands the many economic, social and political issues that will underpin such a border poll. Groups, such as Ireland’s Future, are also working to ensure that every community has the necessary sense of engagement and to avoid the many adverse consequences that followed on from the British EU referendum. The Labour Party needs to keep itself better informed of these developments.   

The Shadow Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has stated that a future Labour Government will repeal the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act 2023. But the debate on the Act has too often been restricted to assertions that it would protect terrorists. Too little has been said, in Britain, about the fact that recent and long-delayed inquests have revealed a high level of involvement of members of the British security forces in the death of civilians and unarmed individuals. These inquests were often only held after legal challenges by way of claims for judicial review, action by the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland or decades-long campaigns by family members of those killed. The 2023 Act prevents such inquests, civil actions and enquiries into such deaths, if they took place in the period of more than thirty years between 1 January 1966 and 10 April 1998.This creates a blanket immunity that exceeds anything that was legislated for in Chile by General Pinochet in 1978.

These inquests and enquiries are also an essential part of exposing the extent of not only the deaths that took place during the so-called “Troubles” but also the suppression of civil rights that was the context in which many of these deaths took place. In 2022 a new inquest was held into the death of ten year old Stephen Geddis, who had been shot with a plastic ballot round (otherwise known as a plastic bullet) in 1975 in Belfast in the courtyard of the Divis housing estate, often targeted by the British security forces for its perceived Republican sympathies. HHJ McGurgan, sitting as a coroner, found that the British soldier, who fired the round, was unjustified in discharging it, as the force used was more than absolutely necessary when it was discharged. He also found that the operation carried out was not planned, controlled or regulated in order to minimise to the greatest extent possible the risk to life.

Other inquests exposed the prevalence of death by association. Operation Demetrius took place between 9th and 11th August 1971, to detain and intern without charge alleged members of the IRA. In 2021, the Honourable Mrs Justice Keegan, now Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, found that ten unarmed civilians were killed on those three days in the Ballymurphy Estate by British soldiers. One of them, Father Mullen, was trying to assist another man who had been shot and was waving a white object, as a sign of his peaceful intentions. She concluded that the killings breached Article 2 of the European Convention of Human Rights and were disproportionate. She also found that all of the deceased were entirely innocent of any wrongdoing on the day in question. This brought to an end the false narrative that had persisted since an earlier inquest in 1972, which was criticised by the Judge, which had reached an open verdict which perpetuated the narrative that those killed had been combatants and their deaths justified.

The LFIU meeting at The World Transformed will focus not only on the opposition by the Troops Out Movement and its allies to the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland but also on the wide range of civil rights abuses which led up to the conflict there and were increased and perpetuated by the presence of the security forces and their paramilitary allies.

The meeting in the evening will look at the parts of the Good Friday Agreement that are yet to be implemented and the strategies needed to make sure that they are.

Nadine Finch is a former barrister who specialised in human rights law and is the author of several books. She writes in a personal capacity.

Moving towards a Border Poll

John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington

Mary Doolin, PCS industrial officer and former chair, Liverpool Irish Centre

Geoff Bell, author of The Twilight of Unionism

John Finucane, Sinn Fein MP for Belfast North  Chair: Nadine Finch, Labour For Irish Unity

Tuesday 10 October at 6:30-8pm

The Quaker Meeting House, 22 School Lane,

Liverpool L1 3BT

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Troops Out Movement: Anniversary and Lessons

Aly Renwick, TOM founder member

Nadine Finch, Chair of Labour for Irish Unity

John McDonnell, Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington

Chair: Geoff Bell, author and historian with short film – Ireland: what was that about?

Part of TWT programme on

Tuesday 10 October 10:30am – 12 noon

Toxteth TV Station, 37-45 Windsor Street,

Liverpool L8 1XE

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Labour for Irish Unity
Are you interested in building a socialist movement for a United Ireland? Labour for Irish Unity campaigns in the British labour movement and the Irish community in Britain. Our goal is the reunification of Ireland, on a basis to be decided by the people of Ireland. We welcome members who are interested in generating a discussion on a united Ireland, civil liberties and historical issues, and who are members of any or all of the Labour Party, a trade union and the Irish community. We aim to support the conversation about unity within Ireland itself, by raising awareness of Irish issues and campaigning in Britain. General enquiries: labourforirishunity@gmail.com. Membership enquiries: LFIUMembership2022@gmail.com
Facebook: Labour for Irish Unity
X (formerly Twitter): @LFIU2019
http://www.labourforirishunity-newchapters.com

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