FORMER Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams gave the oration at the funeral of Ted Howell today at Milltown Cemetery. Here is an abridged version of what Mr Adams said...
“I want to welcome all of you here today as we bury our good friend and comrade Ted with the love of his life Eileen Duffy. The two of them were devoted to each other. They were married on the 9th October 1972. Eileen was a formidable republican also. She was a champion of the people of West Belfast.”
Speaking of their time working together, Gerry Adams said of Ted: “The 1980s was a decade of significant change for Sinn Féin. At this time the two governments, most of the other political parties and sections of the establishment media were wedded to a strategy of defeating republicans.
“Sinn Féin opted for a peace strategy – of building an alternative to conflict. This required a deep process of strategising. Sinn Féin also came to understand the importance of the international dimension. We began to explore that area of work – most successfully in the USA and eventually in South Africa.
“We also began to develop public policy positions, especially around the fundamental issue of national self-determination. In 1987 we produced Scenario for Peace. And in early 1992 our Ard Fheis agreed a new policy paper – Towards a Lasting Peace in Ireland – which set out the basic tenets of our peace strategy.
“We also built on our contacts with allies in the USA and with John Hume. In the Hume-Adams Agreement we identified national self-determination as central to any agreement.
“The British government refused to grasp the imperative of peace making.
Bairbre de Brún and Liz Maskey walk alongside the hearse on the Suffolk Road this morning
“A new Taoiseach Albert Reynolds was more positive. We succeeded in getting the White House and President Clinton involved and from there Senator George Mitchel and other representatives of the international community. Eventually in April 1998 the Good Friday Agreement was achieved.
“In the course of this work our leadership established an engagement structure with teams of activists and advisors dealing with all the pertinent issues of the ongoing negotiations.
“Ted was central to all of these developments. Ted was at the heart of it all. Ted was the anchor for this work. He provided cohesion, accountability, good practice, oversight and the tracking of issues.
“Ted had great politics. He had an abiding commitment to sovereignty and independence, to equality, to fairness, and to an Ireland free of the scourge of sectarianism. An Ireland where all of the Irish people, including our unionist/Protestant neighbours, can enjoy their full democratic rights as free citizens in a free Ireland.
“Ted understood strategy and the need for the national question to be constantly at the centre of Sinn Féin strategy. He believed in the importance of Sinn Féin building political strength and of using that political strength to bring about constitutional change. He believed in creating alliances with others as part of the process of change leading to Irish unity…
Fr Gary Donegan officiated at the funeral today
“A close friend Desi Macken said during Ted’s wake that he was easy to love. And he was. All of us will have a story or stories about Ted. Stories about his humour, his generosity, his loyalty, his lifetime commitment to Republicanism. Those of us who worked with him for decades value his friendship. And his mischief making. His craic and insights into the human condition. Ted’s life was full and he loved life.
“Ted’s gift to the next generation is that he helped to create a peaceful way to end the union with Britain and to unite the people of our island, free of English rule.
“So Ted is that rare thing. A successful Irish revolutionary. Struggle is a continuum and Ted’s contribution has set us up for the next phase.”
