Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09DUBLIN453
2009-10-30 09:24:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Dublin
Cable title:  

SINN FEIN REP: ROBINSON WANTS DEVOLUTION

Tags:  PGOV PREL PINR EI XT UK 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHDL #0453 3030924
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 300924Z OCT 09
FM AMEMBASSY DUBLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0275
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBL/AMCONSUL BELFAST PRIORITY 1097
C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBLIN 000453 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR EI XT UK
SUBJECT: SINN FEIN REP: ROBINSON WANTS DEVOLUTION

REF: BELFAST 84

Classified By: Ambassador Daniel M. Rooney. Reasons 1.4(b/d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L DUBLIN 000453

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR EI XT UK
SUBJECT: SINN FEIN REP: ROBINSON WANTS DEVOLUTION

REF: BELFAST 84

Classified By: Ambassador Daniel M. Rooney. Reasons 1.4(b/d).


1. (C) Summary: The Dublin-based Sinn Fein Representative to
the United States told us that Sinn Fein believed that
Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson wanted to move
on devolution, especially since the Secretary's visit, but
that fear of rival unionists was holding him back. Sinn Fein
was looking for something to "give" Robinson that would lend
him the credibility to move on devolution but not undermine
Sinn Fein's standing with its own base. End Summary.

--------------
ROBINSON WANTS DEVOLUTION, BUT(
--------------


2. (C) The Sinn Fein Representative to the United States,
Rita O'Hare, told Poloff on October 28 about a conversation
she had had the previous week with her Sinn Fein colleague,
Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
McGuinness told O'Hare he was convinced Robinson wanted to
accomplish devolution of policing and justice as soon as
possible. The Secretary's visit had made Robinson feel
important. He was buoyed by the "interest of the most
powerful country in the world," and encouraged in his desire
to show leadership. Nonetheless, Robinson was afraid of
backlash from hard-liners in his Democratic Unionist Party
(DUP) and other rivals in the unionist camp. (NOTE: O'Hare
opined that Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader Reg Empey's
statement, at the October 24 UUP party conference, that the
UUP would not support devolution until Sinn Fein and the DUP
allowed the UUP and the Social Democratic and Labour Party
(SDLP) into a restructured "four-party Executive" in Northern
Ireland, was relatively irrelevant to Robinson's hesitation
to move on devolution; more than anything, O'Hare said,
Empey's stance simply gave Robinson another possible excuse
for delay. END NOTE.)

--------------
MCGUINNESS WANTS TO GIVE, BUT(
--------------


3. (C) O'Hare said McGuinness wanted to give something to
help Robinson, perhaps agreeing to Robinson's demand to
abolish the Parades Commission and establish another system
for dealing with controversial loyalist parades (reftel),but
(1) McGuinness was unsure of how to do so without
antagonizing Sinn Fein's base; and (2) he was not sure
Robinson would respond positively to a Sinn Fein compromise
on the Parades Commission. Communication between Robinson
and McGuinness remained minimal, and McGuinness did not know
whether a Sinn Fein compromise on the parades issue was
really important to Robinson, or whether Robinson was using
the issue as an excuse not to move on devolution. If the
latter was the case, McGuinness feared a gesture on parades
would only result in Robinson's finding another issue to use
as an excuse.

-------------- --------------
ROBINSON WEAKENED BY OTHER FACTORS
--------------


4. (C) O'Hare added that Robinson was politically and
personally weakened by other factors. Allegations that he
and his wife, fellow DUP member of Parliament Iris
Robinson, had claimed unjustifiable and extravagant expenses
had weakened Robinson in the unionist camp. "Presbyterians
may not mind other wrongdoing, but they hate it when people
have their hands in the till," said O'Hare. O'Hare said also
that Robinson was preoccupied personally by health problems.
(NOTE: It was unclear whether O'Hare was saying that Robinson
or his wife was suffering from ill health. Neither did
O'Hare specify the nature of the health problem. END NOTE.)


ROONEY