PLEASE NOTE "THE ANDREW MARR SHOW" MUST BE CREDITED IF ANY PART OF THIS TRANSCRIPT IS USED On Sunday 10th April Martha Kearney interviewed Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness MARTHA KEARNEY: Well the murder of a young police constable in Northern Ireland last weekend was a profoundly shocking event, whose effects were felt throughout the UK and in the Irish Republic. Anger, grief, and a determination that it shouldn't derail the peace process was shared by different communities, and that sense of solidarity will be on display at a peace rally and march through PC Ronan Kerr's hometown of Omagh this afternoon. But following yesterday's news of the discovery of a 500lb bomb near Newry, is the security situation getting worse? I'm joined from our Foyle studio by Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness. Good morning. MARTIN MCGUINNESS: Good morning, Martha. MARTHA KEARNEY: The bomb, the death of PC Ronan Kerr, it does seem that the Republican dissidents are gaining in strength, doesn't it? MARTIN MCGUINNESS: Well I wouldn't accept that they're gaining in strength, but they certainly are trying to increase their activity. I think that people throughout the island of Ireland and here in the North, including many who stood against the British Army and the forces that supported the British Army for many years, are absolutely and totally revulsed and disgusted at the murder of Ronan Kerr - a young man who was an Irish Nationalist, Republican minded, someone who wanted to join the police service because he wanted to support the change that had happened within policing and also to support the peace process. For him to have been murdered in this way has in fact united the island of Ireland against the activities of these people. MARTHA KEARNEY: But if they are stepping up their attacks, doesn't that mean that the threat is increasing? And we're not just seeing a growing number of attacks, and the police are very worried about that, but also an increase in their capability as the very big bomb yesterday shows. MARTIN MCGUINNESS: Well there has always been activity from these groups, and we need to remember that within these groups was a group that carried out the bomb explosion in Omagh in 1998 in which twenty-nine people and two unborn twins were murdered. So I think that we've always been very conscious that over the course of the last thirteen years or so that there are groups out there who have a certain expertise and who have got minimal support within the community, but who are … MARTHA KEARNEY: (over) How many people do you think are involved? MARTIN MCGUINNESS: Well it's very hard to estimate. But I do know, for example, that they haven't got the courage, for example, to put themselves up against Sinn Fein in elections. They did put a candidate up against me in the last assembly elections, which was four years ago, and they got a couple of hundred votes. We got 21,500. This time they have chosen not to put a candidate up against me, and that's because they know they have no support whatsoever within the community. In fact these groups have found themselves I think now very isolated, and I think the best advice to offer to citizens is to shun these groups - shun those groups who would wish through violence to try to plunge us back into the past. MARTHA KEARNEY: And you've taken the very unusual step for somebody from the Republican Movement of asking people to come forward and give information to the police that in the old days used to be called being a tout? MARTIN MCGUINNESS: Well condemnation, Martha, isn't going to be enough, and everybody has had their opportunity to condemn the terrible murder of Ronan Kerr and the incident yesterday, which could have resulted in multiple deaths in the Newry area. So what we do need to do is support the police in the south, the Garda, and the police in the North. And they've had huge success over the course of the last twelve months against the activities of some of these groups. MARTHA KEARNEY: And are you yourself helping the police because, after all, the Republican Movement is pretty small? You must know some of these people or, it could be argued, perhaps even served on the IRA Army Council with them. Are you helping the police? MARTIN MCGUINNESS: Well listen, Martha, the police north and south know more about the activities of these groups than I will ever know. The reality that we're dealing with here is that people in communities have a good sense of who's involved in these activities. And what we have advised people to do is to help the police. If we can give the police information which will prevent the efforts of these people to destroy the peace process, then we should do that. MARTHA KEARNEY: But are you yourself doing that as well? MARTIN MCGUINNESS: Well that includes me also. I mean I think I have given leadership on this issue over the course of many years, and I am not afraid to stand against those people who have key objectives of, number one, trying to destroy the peace process that the people of Ireland voted for in a referendum in 1998; two, to break up my very good working relationship with Peter Robinson, my Unionist colleague in the DUP; number three, to turn back the clock on policing. They haven't succeeded on any of these objectives and there's no prospect whatsoever of them succeeding. MARTHA KEARNEY: But are you worried that they might succeed with, you know a horrible term, but with a so-called spectacular, really big bomb going off like the kind that was found yesterday? MARTIN MCGUINNESS: Well there's always the possibility that that will happen, although I have to say that over the course of recent years, it appears that they do have a limited capability. But you can't rule out anything. I think the greatest danger from these groups is to the local community. And if you look at the people who have been killed by these groups, they are mostly from the Nationalist Republican community. So I think what we have to do is be very steady in our approach. Peter Robinson and I and other colleagues within the Executive are totally and absolutely united, and we must remember we are in different times now. This is not … MARTHA KEARNEY: (over) But is that really the case? Because I mean if you look at what some of these people within the dissidence would argue, is it's similar to the situation in the 1970s when a young group of Provisionals broke away from the official IRA. You were of that generation then. They think the older men, people like yourselves, have sold out and a united Ireland is further away than it ever was. MARTIN MCGUINNESS: Well there's absolutely no comparison whatsoever, Martha. If you look at the situation in the 1970s and the situation now, for example, in the North of Ireland in 2011, there are more Irish Republicans who support the reunification of Ireland through peaceful and democratic means than ever there was since Ireland was partitioned. Sinn Fein was at the last two elections the largest political party in terms of votes. And if you look at our recent performance in the south where we gained fourteen DDs in the parliament there, you can clearly see that the Sinn Fein … MARTHA KEARNEY: (over) Okay, well I'm going to cut off the party political broadcast if you don't mind because I do want to ask you about the Queen's visit to Ireland. Gerry Adams has spoken out against it. Do you think there are going to be security dangers there? MARTIN MCGUINNESS: I don't think so. I think that for myself, I'm not in favour of protests. I think from our perspective within Sinn Fein, what we will do is celebrate the courage of all those who gave their lives for Irish freedom, the signatories of the 1916 Rising, and I think that we will you know listen very intently to what the Queen of England has to say about those people because … MARTHA KEARNEY: (over) Gerry Adams has said that it's "insensitive" for her to visit Croke Park, the scene of the original Bloody Sunday Massacre. MARTIN MCGUINNESS: Yeah and we've made our position clear, but at the same time what we want to do is urge those people who feel inclined to protest - and, as I say, I'm not in favour of protest - that they should do so and they should do so peacefully. MARTHA KEARNEY: Martin McGuinness, thank you for joining us. MARTIN MCGUINNESS: Thank you. INTERVIEW ENDS
| 
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
Bookmark with:
What are these?