Commenting on David Cameron’s recent speech, Martin Óg Meehan of the Republican Network for Unity (RNU) said; “In a few sentences the Tory Leader has confirmed what so many of us have believed since its inception. The path to Irish unity does not exist on the pages of the Good Friday Agreement, in fact it is filled with myths and illusions foisted upon Republicans for 12 years. Those who voiced their concerns on this aspect alone have been the brunt of smear campaigns, intimidation and political policing.
Commenting on David Cameron’s recent speech, Martin Óg Meehan of the Republican Network for Unity (RNU) said; “In a few sentences the Tory Leader has confirmed what so many of us have believed since its inception. The path to Irish unity does not exist on the pages of the Good Friday Agreement, in fact it is filled with myths and illusions foisted upon Republicans for 12 years. Those who voiced their concerns on this aspect alone have been the brunt of smear campaigns, intimidation and political policing.
For years, RNU among other Republicans who contended that the Stormont deal was a thinly disguised British declaration of intent to remain in the north, were dismissed with claims that the Crown had no more selfish political, economic or strategic interests in the six counties. 'The British would now be persuaders for Irish unity'; 'the heady strategy of Stormont ministries and DUP partnership was bound to unite Ireland in 2014 or 2016', we were told over the graves of patriots each Easter.”
David Cameron’s words have not only shattered these myths but have confirmed what so many people believed to be true. When he speaks of Ireland and unification, he clearly refers to cementing unification of the Six Counties alongside England, Scotland and Wales. Cameron talks in interviews of a twenty-five year overhaul of our economy under his and his successor’s British supervision, by which he clearly means us to, become a more profitable and less troublesome asset for the British crown, not a viable and integral part of a reunited Irish nation. Those who wonder and ask why there are growing numbers of Republicans who are disillusioned with Stormont and sympathetic to a Republican alternative need only look to the words of David Cameron, or at those who attended his party conference and contrast the reality of today with the Stormont thinly veiled lies foisted upon us.”
It's ironic to say the least that this has been exposed by the most senior of British officials, with Tony Blair only having recently stated that the Good Friday Agreement was built on a web of lies.
Republicans and Nationalists, who refuse to ignore the meaning of Cameron’s words, will recognise that he envisions Stormont as merely an arm in the configuration imposing British rule and law in British interests.
RNU cannot sit back and accept that the Belfast Agreement is in any way genuinely going to provide any avenue to achieving a United Ireland. If anything, recent statements by the previous and current British Prime Ministers alone, have given more legitimacy to dissenting Republicans who have now been proven correct in their assessment. In fact, we can no longer continue to be labeled as so-called 'dissidents', but Republicans”.