The `annual decommissioning debate'

There was a predictable amount of feeling at the annual Northern Ireland debate held in Trinity's Historical Society (the Hist to its friends) last Wednesday night. Speakers included former taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, Ken Maginnis of the UUP, Joe Hendron of the SDLP and the Taoiseach's chief adviser on Northern Ireland, Martin Mansergh. Gerry McGeough, a second-year history student in the college and a former prisoner, represented Sinn Fein. The motion, which was too close to call, was that "this house believes that no guns should mean no government".

A packed chamber heard all the speakers rehearse positions that have become all too familiar in recent years. The truest words spoken may have been those of a speaker who suggested the event be renamed the "annual decommissioning debate". Away from the crowds before the meeting, all the speakers mingled amicably. Perhaps the most optimistic note was that Maginnis (a former major in the UDR) and McGeogh even found time to reminisce about their old stomping grounds. The picture shows Garrett FitzGerald brushing up his arguments.