Michael Monahan uses the case of Northern Ireland as an example of a successful peace process in his plea that the Palestinians and Israelis should each strive to "be the better man" and make peace. Although it is not clear what the relative masculinities of the involved parties has to do with anything (What would Gold Meir have to say about this?), what is clear is the skewed sense of the peace process in Ireland which Mr. Monahan shares with many Irish-Americans.
Firstly, it should be made clear that supporting the Republic, as Mr. Monahan says he does, is not at all the same thing as supporting the Irish Republican Army. The group has frequently been at odds and at times at war with successive governments of the Republic, which is seen as having sold out the 32-country Republic declared in front of the General Post Office by the rebels in 1916. Any fair minded observer would acknowledge that the Republic's government, and that of the Irish Free State before them, used many of the same coercive methods to try to contain violent republicanism as the British have in the North, including internment, summary executions, military tribunals and the like. The IRA and the government of the Republic of Ireland may share the goal of a united, all-Ireland republic, but they are not synonymous entities.
Furthermore, Mr. Monahan's piece fails to note that the IRA has made war not only on supporters of Britain in Northern Ireland and England, but also upon the very nationalist, Catholic communities it was nominally organized to protect in the form of extortion, racketeering and so-called punishment beatings. Likewise, the IRA has targeted the gardai (the national police force in Ireland) and others in the south who did not agree with them and their methods.
Finally, although Mr. Monahan argues that violence in the name of the Republican cause is a thing of the past, it is the refusal of violent nationalists to renounce violence and disarm which is at the root of the faltering of the peace process. Violence, it would seem, is more than just an attention-grabber of the past, it is still believed by some to be a viable option for the future if necessary. This is an insurmountable stumbling block for peace wherever it is sought.
