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Government should therefore give the parties six months in which to reach
an agreement and if they failed Joint Sovereignty should be imposed. And
this would lead to a united Ireland in twenty years.
The Labour Party Irish Society
The Irish Post of 20 July 1991 reported that the Labour Party Irish
Society (LPIS) had been launched several weeks previously at the House of
Commons with Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock and Kevin McNamara attending.
The LPIS, composed of a handful of Irish nationalists, was allowed to
affiliate to the Labour Party. Their recruitment form identified the
founders: "While we live and work as part of British society, we are proud
of our distinct Irish heritage and identity". Two of its four aims read:
"Campaign and lobby within the Labour Party on Irish issues and for a
united Ireland: Encourage Irish people to join LPIS and take up positions
of responsibility within the Labour Party."
On the 17 April 1993, in a letter to the Irish Post the Chairman of the
LPIS Frank McLoughlin wrote: "We are about to publish a paper which lays
out a programme for progress towards a united Ireland." This programme
"Ireland: Time for Peace" and described in a foreword as "A Consultative
Document" was published in May 1993. Its contents were identical, word for
word, with the proposals of 'Options'. So the document which was "intended
to have a highly restricted circulation" must have been in the hands of
LPIS at least three months before it was leaked. The conclusion that the
LPIS document was really 'Options' made public by stealth, is inescapable.
On 24 July 1993 The Irish Post carried a report that "The Labour Party
Irish Society (LPIS) has confirmed that it will propose a motion at this
year's party conference highlighting its 'Ireland - Time For Peace'
document which seeks British withdrawal from Northern Ireland after twenty
years of London/Dublin joint sovereignty."
Ending the continuum of deception
The continuum of deception throughout Labour's Irish history, deception of
the public, and deception of themselves, must be brought to an end if 'Open
Government' is to have any real meaning. The Northern Ireland Civil Rights
Association (NICRA) was formed in January 1967, with the support and
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