Television Coverage:
Socialist TD confronts Justice Minister on Questions & Answers

by Kevin Squires

ON MONDAY 19 May, Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins appeared on RTE's Questions & Answers political talkshow. Also featuring on the show's panel were Minister for Justice Michael McDowell, a Sunday World journalist, a member of the Northern Ireland Policing Board and an Access Officer from Trinity College.

Each member of the panel answered various questions from the audience. Questions were asked about the proposed reintroduction of third level fees this summer by the government, the 'Stakeknife' scandal in Northern Ireland and the Minister for Justice's 'plan' to enlist volunteers for an unpaid, 'reserve' police force. This plan has come about as a result of the Minister discovering that he had no money to pay for the 2000 new Gardai that was promised in the government manifesto. "There's no money. That's it folks", said McDowell on the show.

Government Failure

In fact, as Joe Higgins pointed out on the show, the government has largely failed to deliver anything promised in their pre-election manifesto. The government is under attack from all sides on these accusations of lying to the electorate, so much so that they today published a 13 page document in their defence. That document must have been spun so hard, the spin doctors probably got motion sickness.

The Socialist Party TD also pointed out, that if 'community policing' is to work, it is only on the basis that communities are actually involved in the policing and decision making processes, and not simply subjected to an undemocratic police force.

'Stakeknife'

On the question of the 'Stakeknife' (a.k.a. Freddie Scappaticci – alleged IRA security chief and informer) revelations, it is impossible at this stage to know exactly what the truth behind the whole matter is. However, what is clear is that there were no depths to which the British state would not go in order to fight the 'dirty war' in Northern Ireland. The apparent revelations about Stakeknife come on the back of similar revelations of the British state running informers inside Loyalist terrorist groups such as the UDA and UVF. The state, through the Force Research Unit (FRU), handled informers in both the militant Republican and Loyalist organisations and in some cases supplied weapons and information to these groups, in effect sponsoring and colluding in sectarian murders. Coupled with the Stevens Report on collusion, what light does all of this now throw on Tony Blair's 'commitment' to transparency, democracy and peace?

Fees

On the question of fees, Joe made it clear that the Socialist Party is totally opposed to the reintroduction of third level tuition fees, in any form whatsoever. It is interesting that the Justice Minister denies that his party (the PDs) were involved in any discussions on this issue, but that it is simply a Fianna Fail (the majority coalition government party) imposition. If one leaves aside the fact that the issues of fees has been floating around for many months, both in government and outside, what does this say about McDowell's own government's 'commitment' to transparency and democracy?

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