With the focus of media largely playing on the main protagonists at Stormont, it is easy to forget there are many other views beyond the tight (and not so tight) choreography inside and outside the Assembly chamber.
Thanks to Badgers Radio for this transcript of a speech by Des Dalton published on the Republican Sinn Fein website. It outlines the classic revolutionary Republican case against partition:
"...it put in place a state, whose foundations were naked sectarianism, discrimination and bigotry, all of which have only been further entrenched by the 'Stormont Agreement' , as evidenced in the streets of Belfast, Portadown and Lurgan. Meanwhile the 26 County State in its 80 years of existence has been characterised by its endemic corruption, failing in its primary duty to provide for the mass of its citizens, for many years using , just as the British had done before, the emigrant boat and plane as its safety valve.
He also picks up an interesting quote from just before the 1920 treaty was signed, expressing a sentiment that Unionists might even concur with:
"It also fulfilled the prophecy made by Liam Mellows during the Dail 'Treaty' debates when he forecast the the Free State Government would become the 'barrier government between the British and the Irish people.'"
Though his final statement clearly signals a major and profound point of departure:
"If Irish history teaches us anything it is that a British withdrawal and the dismantling of both 'Treaty' states are essential steps In the building of a New Ireland based on the All-Ireland democracy as embodied in the All–Ireland Republic."
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