Frame up trials designed to quell press outrage after bombing incidents in Bri- a report on the Birmingham Six frame up, televiof Ann Irish people in Britain that they cannot exNew Ireland Forum documented the direct and in(which direct costs to the exchequers of the Irish Republic and the United Kingdom tional of the crisis in Northern Ireland since 1969. The direct cost includes security army, services, judiciary, prison service and the destruction of The indirect cost includes damage to industry through disruption of production, deterrants to potential investment and a loss of trade, parThe overall estimate for the cost of the northern Ireland conflict over the period 1969 1982 in 1982 money values was £11,064 The distortion of the economy produced by partition is largely responsible for the collapse of economic life in the Six Counties. It is now the most heavily subsidised area in Western Europe, and has the highest rate of unemployment.
Partition is also responsible for the weakness or le mrisn economy as a whole. The Republic has the highest per capita national debt in Western Europe, a high unemployment rate and unstable investment patterns based on the whims Republic From the point of view of the island's economic developthe separation of the initially more highly industrialised areas of the their hinterland was disastrous and prevents of The national sovereignty of Ireland and the right of its people to decide their own government was fundamenby the imposition of IN 1949 in response to British government of Ireland Act established the constituguarantee loyalists) unanimous declaration in the Dail reasserted the right of the Irish nation to unity and integrity of the national territory. It reaffirmed the sovereign right of the people of Ireland to choose their own form of government through democratic institutions to decide all questions of national policy, free from outside interference. It pledged the determination of the Irish people to continue struggle against the unjust and unnatural partition of the country and called upon the British government to end the occupation of the six north eastern counties to enable the unity of Ireland to be restored and the age-old differences between the two nations to be brought to an end.
The Republic of Ireland is a neutral state which refused to participate in the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation number Conservative MPs have made it clear that they see membership of Nato as a precondition for negotiations with the over Ireland's sovereignty. Both Enoch Powell MP and Sean MacBride SC have accused the Government of the United States and Great Britain of acting in collusion to pressurise the Government of the Republic to participate in Nato.
Power Irish CND and the Irish Sovereignty Movement have both expressed concern the over the activities of the Western European Union (of which Britain is a major force) which undermine Irish sovereignty. There is a widespread belief that Britain and the United States have covertly installed high technology systems in the Republic for military use. These installations and the military facilities in the North have made the 'neutral' 26 Counties a nuclear target in the event of hostilities involving Britain its against the declared wishes of the Irish people and government.
A further attack on the sovereignty of the 26 County State is being made through pressure applied by the British Government to facilitate extradition of individuals seeking political sanctuary.
The parton of fostered working class disunity in two ways. By dividing the Irish nation, it has separated the working class in the 26 Counties from the working class in the Six Counties which has led, as the Trade Unionists for Irish Unity and Indenendence founding statement, weakening of the trade union movement in Ireland'. Partition Partition also gave a material basis sectanansm County state which has further divided working people. In the North, the trade union movement has become identitied with defence of the sectarian state and has been unable to defend the interests of its members — either through attending to their political aspirations, fight against discrimination, or to de fend civil liberties.
Partition has cemented church and state prevented secularisation. In the formation of the 26 Countv state the Catholic hierarch exercised an undue influcence, codified suboor measures microwave